Social Venture News from Yale SOM

By now we’ve all heard of corporate social responsibility (CSR) — the movement that has been so “hot” for corporations and controversial among the public in recent years. But with the downturn in the economy still not seeing an upward swing anytime in the forseeable future, CSR initiatives are often the first to get tabled. So what next?

It seems that some corporations are now starting to look towards Corporate Social Enterprise (CSE). At my internship with Rubicon National Social Innovations (RNSI), we are working with a major corporation on helping them start their own social enterprises throughout the U.S. Because RNSI is all about taking social enterprise to the next level and bringing them to scale (a problem heretofore faced by many successful SEs), working with corporations can be one way to accomplish this. They can provide much of the capital, marketing know-how, and network connections that smaller SEs lack. Done right, all can gain, with corporations getting good press, sustainable returns and a deeper connection with their customer base while SEs expand their reach and social impact . Done wrong corporations could bring negative press and stymie the positive momentum that SE is currently experiencing.

What are your thoughts on CSE?