Thought Leadership in the Classroom

The Social Enterprise Program, a specialization within the MBA program, offers a full range of elective courses, activities, and initiatives that give students maximum exposure to the field. Students who focus on social enterprise can apply the business fundamentals learned in their core courses to electives in such specialized areas as social entrepreneurship, board and nonprofit management, corporate social responsibility and sustainability, political economy, and international development.

Because there are no minimum course requirements, the Social Enterprise Program affords students great flexibility in designing their course of study. The MBA core curriculum is designed to give first year students, including those focusing on social enterprise, the ability to choose two elective courses in their second term.

In addition, curricular sessions in Orientation and in core courses incorporate the Individual, Business and Society (IBS) curriculum, which was developed under the auspices of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics.

Dean

“The Columbia MBA degree prepares the next generation of leaders with an understanding of the social and environmental context of decision making. Learning how to anticipate and respond to these issues is an essential part of the Columbia Business School experience.”
— Glenn Hubbard
Dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics

Director Ray Fisman doesn’t question that “doing well by doing good” is a noble notion governing the social enterprise psyche, but he offers a new take on why the notion can be dangerous.

Read an article by Stacy Blackman, from BNET.com.