BUS 3306 UOPEOPLE Business and Society Learning Journal

BUS 3306 UOPEOPLE Business and Society Learning Journal – Description

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Unit 4, Social Business Enterprise. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to create economic and social development. Muhammad Yunus has demonstrated leadership by turning visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh but also in many other countries. Due to his innovative work and dedication to the alleviation of poverty, there are now micro-credit programs in nearly one hundred countries all over the world, including Norway.
These programs provide loans to poor people, most often women, without any financial security. Yunus did his first work with Grameen Bank, and has since developed micro-credit into an essential component in the struggle against poverty. Grameen Bank has been a source of ideas and models for the many institutions in the field of micro-credit that have sprung up around the world.
As you navigate through the unit (using the arrows), make sure you click on the different links, read through the content, and watch the videos. Consider any parts that are unclear to you, including new terms, and make note of them in your learning journal.
Licenses and Attributions
Image: Muhammad Yunus – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009. World Economic Forum. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

INTRODUCTION
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

While there is no universally accepted definition of social entrepreneur, the term is typically applied to an individual who uses market-based ideas and practices to create “social value,” the enhanced well-being of individuals, communities, and the environment. Unlike ordinary business entrepreneurs who base their decisions solely on financial returns, social entrepreneurs incorporate the objective of creating social value into their founding business models. Social entrepreneurship has become exceedingly popular in recent years and a number of prestigious business schools have created specific academic programs in the field.
It is often said that social entrepreneurs are changing the world. They are lauded for their ability to effect far-reaching social change through innovative solutions that disrupt existing patterns of production, distribution, and consumption. Prominent social entrepreneurs are celebrated on magazine covers, praised at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and awarded millions of dollars in seed money from “angel” investors, and applauded as “harbingers of new ways of doing business.” Social entrepreneurs are thus often hailed as heroes—but are they actually affecting positive social change?
Blake Mycoskie decided to create TOMS Shoes largely as a reaction to his travels in Argentina, which had exposed him to terrible poverty that left many school-age children without shoes. An important part of the corporate mission of TOMS Shoes lies in its pledge to give away a free pair of shoes for every pair purchased by a customer. TOMS Shoes’ model has been imitated by many others, including the popular online eyewear brand, Warby Parker.
The difference between social entrepreneurship and CSR is that, with social entrepreneurship, the positive social impact is built into the mission of the company from its founding. Other examples of social entrepreneurship include The Body Shop, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and Newman’s Own.
READ and TAKE NOTES on the following:

When corporations and social enterprises work together, they can change the world. To gain an understanding of what social enterprise is and how it can be used to better understand how corporations can use the social enterprise models to fulfill unmet needs in their organizations and the community.

WATCH: SOCIAL ENTERPRISE 101
WATCH: WHAT’S A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?
Licenses and Attributions

Good Corporation, Bad Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Economy. Authored by: Elizabeth Pulos and Guillermo C. Jimenez. Located at: https://textbooks.opensuny.org/good-corporation-ba…. Project: Open SUNY Textbooks. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Image: Kate Ter Haar (CC-BY 2.0, 2011) Figure 5.1 The proud owners of TOMS Shoes are often willing to help promote the brand.
INTRODUCTION
THE CASE OF GRAMEEN-DANONE FOODS LIMITED
In 1974, a Bangladeshi economics professor named Muhammad Yunus visited a small rural village in Bangladesh in an effort to connect the economic theories he was teaching with the reality of poverty in his native country. Amidst the tragedy of rural poverty, Yunus believed he saw an opportunity to transform perceptions of poverty relief. Yunus felt that, although rural people were skilled and hardworking, they were unable to obtain loans from banks primarily due to a lack of collateral. Yunus’s innovation was to seek to alleviate poverty directly by establishing a bank for the poor. This bank would make microloans (very small loans, often less than $100) with low interest rates to enable small entrepreneurs to slowly build up their capital to reinvest, grow their businesses, and rise from poverty.Yunus was able to launch this idea in 1976 in the form of Grameen Bank, which began operations by making a small number of loans to members of a local village. The business grew quickly, with an extraordinarily high loan repayment rate of 99%. The explosion of cellular access served as a catalyst for the microfinance market. Through their mobile phones, rural entrepreneurs had access to a global network of investors and business tools, where traditionally they might have had to travel hundreds of miles to a city to borrow money or buy goods and services.By 2005, the Grameen Bank had more than 1,500 branches in nearly 50,000 villages, covering about 70% of India, with approximately five million borrowers and annual revenues of about $80 million. The success of the Grameen experiment fostered the modern microfinance industry, which connects thousands of entrepreneurs to donors all over the world, through sites like Kiva, GiveDirectly, Accion USA, and the Grameen Foundation. In 2006, Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize, which recognized him as a pioneer in microfinance. The social entrepreneurship revolution was underway.Read and take notes on Social Business Enterprises – Maximising Social Benefits or Maximising Profits? The Case of Grameen-Danone Foods Limited for an understanding of how free markets and capitalism have contributed to worldwide social and economic aspects, as well as how SBE can be used to better serve communities and organizations.Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.Licenses and Attributions

Describe what you did. This does not mean that you copy and paste from what you have posted or the assignments you have prepared. You need to describe what you did and how you did it.
Describe your reactions to what you did.
Describe any feedback you received or any specific interactions you had. Discuss how they were helpful.
Describe your feelings and attitudes this week.
Describe what you learned – was there anything that you were confused by?
Another set of questions to consider in your learning journal statement include:
What surprised me or caused me to wonder?
What happened that felt particularly challenging? Why was it challenging to me?
What skills and knowledge do I recognize that I am gaining?
What am I realizing about myself as a learner?
In what ways am I able to apply the ideas and concepts gained to my own experience?

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