The Ivey Business School’s Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship will host the top minds in the field of social entrepreneurship at an international academic symposium on April 6-8, 2017 at the Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre.
The event is an opportunity to showcase Ivey’s leadership in the area of social entrepreneurship, led by Oana Branzei, associate professor and co-director of the symposium.
“Social entrepreneurship is not the new kid on the block, but it’s something that has grown organically. Ivey leading in the space itself is a natural extension of its leadership in entrepreneurship,” said Branzei.
Presentations will include research on benefit corporations or B Corps. They are for-profit companies specially designed to pursue social goals as well as business ones. The phenomenon has been gaining popularity in the past five years and today, there are over a 1,600 certified B corps in 42 countries.
“They have a blended mission that’s intrinsic to their identity and their purpose. This way they signal to consumers that their social mission will not be abandoned to make profits, but that profits increase if social impact increases,” said professor and co-director of the symposium, Simon C. Parker.
The symposium will feature a number of London-based social enterprises and charities, including Melissa Power’s For the Love of Laundry, Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Growing Chefs. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Kelsey Ramsden, MBA ’04, and Michelle Quintyn, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries.
Click here for a complete agenda of speakers and presentations
The Journal of Business Venturing Special Issue Developmental Symposium on “Enterprise Before and Beyond Benefit: A Transdisciplinary Research Agenda for Prosocial Organizing” will pave the way for a special issue with the Journal of Business Venturing, the world’s leading entrepreneurship journal. The special issue is the first concerted effort to map out new developments in the social entrepreneurship space. The symposium will be followed by a Thematic Doctoral Consortium, which will bring together 30 PhD Candidates from across the globe.
The symposium is also co-sponsored by the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship – Montana State University, Hill School of Business – University of Regina, Western University. The doctoral consortium is sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.