Social Innovation

  Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term used that reflects how a business interacts with the world in a positive way which impacts people and society. The four types of CSR are: Environmental - Ex: Reduce carbon footprint  Ethical - Ex: How employees are treated Philanthropic - Ex: Donations (money, products, services) to non-profits Volunteering - Ex: Participating in community causes Companies using best practices will increase their profit through:  Increased revenue  Reduced energy Reduced waste Reduced materials Increased productivity Reduced turn-over Reduced risk Ex: Additional revenue and fewer expenses Sustainablitlity based on a "Triple Bottom Line": Economic (Profit) Social (People) Envirionmental (Planet) WHY CSR? In recent years, the internet has made the world small. It is practically impossible to be ignorant of the tragedies going on throughout the world.  I believe the internet has brought awareness to the social issues in the wor...

  When starting a business, it takes more than dreaming about a sign in the window declaring you are, "Open." For a business idea to come to fruition, a plan is needed. This week we will explore two methods for creating a business, the lean start-up and the business model canvas.  THE LEAN START-UP The lean start-up begins with simple questions, "Should this product be built? Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services? and What are the five why's?" If affirmative, determine what the problem is that needs to be solved (what the business will create/do). Experiment through the lean start-up "build, measure, and learn" feedback loop. In the article,  Why the lean start-up changes everything , Steve Blank states, "Rather  than engaging in months of planning and research, entrepreneurs accept that all they have on day one is a series of untested hypotheses—basically, good guesses. So instead of writing an intricate bus...