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2025/2026  KAN-CGMAA8006U  Strategies for Social Enterprise Replication

English Title
Strategies for Social Enterprise Replication

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 1.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 15
Max. participants 30
Study board
Study Board for cand.merc. and GMA (CM)
Programme Master of Science (MSc) in Economics and Business Administration - General Management and Analytics (GMA)
Course coordinator
  • Kai Hockerts - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
For academic questions related to the course, please contact instructor Kai Hockerts kho.msc@cbs.dk. Other academic questions: contact academic director Martin Jes Iversen at mji.si@cbs.dk.
Main academic disciplines
  • CSR and sustainability
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 28-11-2025

Relevant links
Learning objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
1. Identify and articulate key replication challenges for social enterprises aiming to scale their impact across diverse market and non-market environments.
2. Leverage generative AI tools by fine-tuning existing large language models to support the external replication of social enterprise business models.
3. Design a scalable replication strategy rooted in theories of market disequilibria and sector-wide transformation.
4. Co-create and iterate a generative AI prototype that supports core replication functions, collaborating effectively in mixed teams.
5. Evaluate the potential for long-term social impact, financial sustainability, and strategic partnerships.
6. Develop and pitch an AI-supported replication plan, ready for external engagement.
Course prerequisites
This course is a special course limited to graduate students returning from exchange. To qualify for the course you:

1. Enrolled in a graduate program at CBS
2. Have to have passed 28 ECTS during your exchange
3. Have to submit a motivational statement to outboundexchange@cbs.dk
Examination
Strategies for Social Enterprise Replication:
Exam ECTS 1,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 5 pages
Students will be required to complete a final report summarizing their learnings from the class. The report will be comprised of 5 pages plus appendixes where required
Assignment type Essay
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration 2 weeks to prepare
Grading scale Pass / Fail
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Spring
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

Your exam task will be to carry out a critical analysis of your group experience. You will reflect both on the result (the GenAI) as well as the process (your teamwork experience). You are expected to refer to readings from class. Find formal exam requirements here: https://cbscanvas.instructure.com/courses/38495/files/1310029?module_item_id=906713
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Strategies for Social Enterprise Replication:  Leveraging Generative AI Tools to Create Market Disequilibria and Drive Sector-Wide Transformation

 

Content, structure, and pedagogical approach:

 

This intensive course brings together international MBA students and social entrepreneurship practitioners to co-develop strategies for scaling social enterprises through external replication. A key focus of the course is leveraging generative AI (GenAI) tools to support this process. Participants will fine-tune existing GenAI models to create customized tools that facilitate replication. International MBA students will work with local social entrepreneurship practitioners who can enroll through CBS and who may apply for a partial EURIDICE grant. The MBA students and practitioners will be supported by a dedicated CBS faculty advisor and a PhD or postdoctoral researcher. These academic mentors will remain involved for up to six months after the course, providing guidance to help implement and scale the AI-based replication strategy if the practitioner decides to do so. One of the course’s key outcomes will be a working prototype of a generative AI-based tool tailored to each participating social enterprise, designed to support and accelerate their replication journey.
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • New theory
  • Teacher’s own research
Research-like activities
  • Data collection
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
  • Peer review including Peer-to-peer
  • Students conduct independent research-like activities under supervision
Description of the teaching methods
Description of the teaching methods:
The course combines lectures, collaborative workshops, mentorship, and applied AI development. CBS professors provide theoretical foundations in social entrepreneurship, replication, and market transformation. MBA students and practitioners co-develop generative AI tools tailored to real-world replication challenges, supported by faculty and research mentors who remain involved for six months post-course. Activities include fieldwork, user testing, and iterative tool-building. The course culminates in a final pitch of the AI-enabled replication strategy to peers and stakeholders.
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback during the teaching period
The course will be held in CBS´s spaces that are designed for active and student-centered learning. Groups will receive feedback from the instructor as well as their peers in real time. In addition, groups will receive online feedback and mentoring.
Student workload
In classroom or online learning 25 hours
Preparation for classroom activities 5 hours
Examination 11,5 hours
Expected literature

 

What is Social Enrepreneurship

 

Required Readings: Kannampuzha, Merie, and Kai Hockerts. 2019. "Organizational social   entrepreneurship: scale development and validation.” Social Enterprise Journal, Vol 15(3): 290-319. 

 

Optional Reading: Choi, Nia, and Satyajit Majumdar. 2014. "Social entrepreneurship as an essentially contested concept: Opening a new avenue for systematic future research." Journal of Business Venturing 29(3): 363-376.

 

For the truly Obsessed: Drayton, W. 2002. The Citizen Sector: Becoming as Entrepreneurial and Competitive as Business California Management Review, 44(3): 120-132.

 

Ideation Techniques for Social Entrepreneurship

                            

Required Reading: Pittaway, L. (2021). Entrepreneurship theory and ideation techniques. Advances in entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, 23.

 

Optional Readings: Drucker, Peter, 1989: What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits.

Harvard Business Review, Jul/Aug89, Vol. 67 (4): 88-93.

 

For the Truly Obsessed: Erro-Garcés, Amaya. "Creativity and emotions as drivers for social entre-preneurship." Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 11.3 (2020): 300-316.

 

From Social problem to Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities

 

Required Reading: Hockerts K. 2015. ”How Hybrid Organizations Turn Antagonistic Assets into Complementarities,” California Management Review, 57(3): 83-106, 2015.

 

Optional Readings: Corner, Patricia Doyle, and Marcus Ho. "How opportunities develop in social entrepreneurship." Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 34.4 (2010): 635-659.

 

For the Truely Obsessed: Janssen, Frank, Alain Fayolle, and Amélie Wuilaume. "Researching bricolage in social entrepreneurship." Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30.3-4 (2018): 450-470.

 

Creating Revenue for Social Enterprises

                            

Required Reading: Guan, S., Tian, S., & Deng, G. (2021). Revenue diversification or revenue concentration? Impact on financial health of social enterprises. Public Management Review, 23(5), 754-774.

 

Optional Readings: De Vericourt, Francis, and Miguel Sousa Lobo. "Resource and revenue management in nonprofit operations." Operations research, 57.5 (2009): 1114-1128.

 

For the Truely Obsessed: Yunus, M. 1998. Poverty Alleviation: Is Economics Any Help? Lessons from the Grameen Bank Experience. Journal of International Affairs, 52: 47-65.

 

Introduction to the Value Proposition

 

Required Reading: Baden-Fuller, Charles; Morgan, Mary S., 2010: “Business Models as Models,” Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), Pages 156-171.

 

Optional readings: Honig, Benson. "Entrepreneurship education: toward a model of contin¬gency-based business planning." Academy of Management Learning & Education 3.3 (2004): 258-273.

 

For the Truely Obsessed. Thompson, J; MacMillan, I, 2010: “Business Models: Creating New Markets and Societal Wealth”, Long Range Planning, 43(2-3): 291-307.

 

Financial Analysis

 

Required Reading: Ruby Cup, available for free on the Case center Webpage:

https:/​/​www.thecasecentre.org/​products/​view?id=138598

 

Optional Reading: Popov, Evgenii V., Anna Yu Veretennikova, and Kseniya M. Kozinskaya. "Financial tools to develop social entrepreneurship." Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast 12.5 (2019): 91-108.

 

Applying the Business Model Panorama to your Peer Analysis

 

Required Reading: Hockerts, Kai, and Rolf Wüstenhagen. "Greening Goliaths versus emerging Davids—Theorizing about the role of incumbents and new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship." Journal of Business Venturing, 25.5 (2010): 481-492.

 

Optional readings: Villela, Malu, Sergio Bulgacov, and Glenn Morgan. "B Corp certification and its impact on organizations over time." Journal of Business Ethics, 170.2 (2021): 343-357.

 

For the Truly Obsessed: Chen, Ming-Jer. "Competitor analysis and interfirm rivalry: Toward a theoretical integration." Academy of Management Review, 21.1 (1996): 100-134.

 

Introduction to Impact Investing – How to develop a Pitch?

 

Required Reading: Hockerts, Kai, Lisa Hehenberger, Stefan Schaltegger, and Vanina Farber. "Defining and Conceptualizing Impact Investing: Attractive Nuisance or Catalyst?." Journal of Business Ethics, (2022): 1-14.

 

Optional Reading: Casasnovas, Guillermo, and Jessica Jones. "Who has a seat at the table in impact investing? Addressing inequality by giving voice." Journal of Business Ethics 179.4 (2022): 951-969.

GIIN Website – case studies: https:/​/​thegiin.org/​case-studies/​

 

For the Truly Obsessed: Höchstädter, Anna Katharina, and Barbara Scheck. "What’s in a name: An analysis of impact investing understandings by academics and practitioners." Journal of Business Ethics 132.2 (2015): 449-475.

 

Organizational Form and Impact Assessment

 

Required reading: Villela, Malu, Sergio Bulgacov, and Glenn Morgan. "B Corp certification and its impact on organizations over time." Journal of Business Ethics, 170.2 (2021): 343-357.

 

Optional reading: Moody, Michael, Laura Littlepage, and Naveed Paydar. "Measuring social return on investment: Lessons from organizational implemen-tation of SROI in the Netherlands and the United States." Nonprofit Management and Leadership 26.1 (2015): 19-37.

 

For the Truly Obsessed: Yates, Brian T., and Mita Marra. "Social Return On Investment (SROI): Problems, solutions… and is SROI a good investment?" Evaluation and program planning 64 (2017): 136-144.
Last updated on 28-11-2025