This intensive course brings together international MBA students and social entrepreneurship practitioners to explore how generative AI (GenAI) can support the growth and impact of social enterprises and sustainable impact ventures. Social enterprises are organizations that pursue a primary social or environmental mission through financially sustainable business activities, whether they operate through market, public, or hybrid arrangements. Practitioners contribute a live organizational challenge and contextual knowledge, while MBA students contribute relevant international management experience and analytical capacity. Working in mixed teams therefore makes it possible to develop and test a practical GenAI application grounded in a participating enterprise, while allowing students to connect international perspectives with an applied Danish and European social enterprise context.

The GenAI application consists of stakeholder AI “personas” (using the free custom GPT feature in OpenAI. These are carefully configured conversational roles that represent relevant stakeholder perspectives, such as beneficiaries, customers, impact investors, public-sector partners, franchise partners, or other social innovators. Teams use them for structured role-playing and scenario testing in order to examine strategic choices, stakeholder engagement, and approaches to scaling social impact.

Throughout the course, students combine theoretical perspectives on social entrepreneurship, growth, market and non-market environments, and sector-wide transformation with applied GenAI development. Teams collect and structure relevant non-confidential information, configure prompts and source materials, test the personas against defined scenarios, and redesign the application in response to practitioner, peer, and faculty feedback. They also assess its potential value, limitations, and appropriate safeguards.

Students and practitioners are supported by CBS faculty and research mentors throughout the course. Following the course, participating social enterprises may opt into a light-touch six-month follow-up arranged by the course team, subject to mentor capacity. This comprises periodic check-ins with a CBS academic mentor and support for continued testing, integration, and practical use of the GenAI application; it is not a separate consulting programme.

A key outcome of the course is a customized GenAI stakeholder-persona application and an AI-supported implementation plan developed collaboratively by each student-practitioner team.

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

• New theory
• Teacher’s own research

• Data collection
• Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
• Peer review including Peer-to-peer
• Students conduct independent research-like activities under supervision

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.