NGO Education Survey

Changing the World: Life Choices of Influential Leaders

Study and learn from the life choices of a variety of remarkable people who left a legacy that changed the world and discover the recipe for their outstanding achievements. During the second half, work on a project to apply learnings by interviewing someone you admire and writing up your findings.

Professor Robert Simons

Cities, Structures, and Climate Shocks

Analyze buildings, infrastructure, and economic development of cities. Develop the skills to invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change

Senior Lecturer John Macomber

Department: Entrepreneurial Management

Courses:

Business at the Base of the Pyramid

Between a well-served top of the socio-economic pyramid and an almost indigent bottom, lies the majority of humanity, accessing goods and services, not through government or civil society, but through markets. Yet this remains largely unstudied. Through 24 cases, module summaries and guest protagonists, this course seeks to fill the gap. Composed of the emerging middle class and low-income sectors, the base of the pyramid encompasses 5.0 of the 7.5 billion people in the world. In most nations, it accounts for the largest aggregate expenditure of the economy, yet continues to be significantly underserved. This makes possible innovative, disruptive models that dramatically expand access while generating commercial returns equal to or greater than conventional businesses. This success has drawn the attention of large multinational corporations, looking at the base of the pyramid for the growth that has become ever more challenging in their saturated, intensely competitive traditional markets. But why do some businesses at the base of the pyramid succeed while others fail? The course examines the opportunities and the challenges of the base of the pyramid markets and seeks to identify the key factors behind commercial success and failure. How is technology and the digital age changing this space? And when businesses generate strong financial returns, does it come at the expense of social impact --- can business play a significant role in addressing social issues? When is an enterprise generating high social value or destroying it? In the process, the course delves into the intersection of business, government, and civil society. Cases are drawn from around the world, including some from the developed economies, where 40-50% of lower-income citizens access goods and services differently than those at the top of the pyramid.

Natalia Rigol Benjamin N. Roth

Department: Social Enterprise

Courses:

Public Entrepreneurship

This course is designed for students who may found, join, or fund private startup companies that sell to (or around) governments to solve giant problems or who may want to become extreme innovators inside government at some point themselves. The cases feature a broad range of contemporary technology applications, and the course may be of particular interest to students curious about AI, autonomy, blockchain, sensors, crowdsourcing, platforms, and related topics. The course also tackles career questions for students who wonder how to spend time making a difference in both the private and public sectors.

Mitchell Weiss