By Jonathan Koppell, Associate Professor of Politics and Management & Director of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance

Management 684: Social Venture Management was created in response to student demand for a course that addressed contemporary business issues often grouped under the heading of “Corporate Social Responsibility.” In putting together the class, I wanted to concentrate on the management challenges associated with achieving multiple objectives rather than the arguments for social responsibility. Thus I made the focus of the class on the difficulty in reconciling pursuit of profits and non-financial goals. The course is case based; we examine companies that seek to create some type of public good at each step of the value chain. In this sense, it is a general management course, integrating lessons drawn from all the disciplines taught at SOM. I am pleased that several students with no particular interest in social responsibility of business have found the class useful and engaging for this reason.

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By Nadia Gomes, SOM’07

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, SOM’86, was named President and CEO of Women’s World Banking this past September. Heading up a global non-profit organization, Ms. Iskenderian oversees its inspiring mission of supporting economic development for low-income women by providing access to finance, knowledge, and markets.

With over 20 years of experience in development finance and the creation of global financial systems, Ms. Iskenderian previously held several leadership positions with the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and the world’s largest investor in emerging markets.

As microfinance continues to gain attention from both private and social sector interests worldwide, the Yale School of Management was pleased to host Ms. Iskenderian as the keynote speaker at the 2nd annual Future of Philanthropy Conference on November 10th, 2006. Nadia Gomes had the opportunity to interview Ms. Iskenderian following her keynote address and delve a little deeper into a field that will certainly play a pivotal role in the future of social enterprise.

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By Sharon Oster, Frederic D. Wolfe Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Program on Social Enterprise

Since Yale SOM began, we have always had opportunities for students to work with outside organizations while still in school. In theory, these workshop experiences, as we sometimes term them, are a win-win venture. Students gain the benefits of learning how to apply their new-found skills in real world settings while helping deserving organizations, often in the nonprofit or small business setting, while those same organizations get the benefit of pro bono work by a bright group of soon-to-be expensive MBA students. The lure of this value proposition both for students and for community organizations has led SOM, along with many other MBA programs, to offer these opportunities.

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The First Book Marketplace (Washington, DC) provides new books at deeply discounted prices for nonprofit organizations that serve children from low-income families. Internship projects included expanding the customer base by creating new partnerships with chambers of commerce and developing the Marketplace’s first ever inventory management system to analyze sales data and to track business performance. It was great to work with fun, interesting, and dedicated people who love their jobs. The Executive Director and I worked closely together and were able to easily implement new ideas. He took a great interest in my career and continues to provide me with advice, professional resources, and networking opportunities.

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