Course catalog descriptions for courses offered in all currently published terms.

Strategy

STRATEGY 646	Solving Societal Problems Through Enterprise and Innovation
	2.25 hours	Elective	Terms Offered: F09(A), F08(A)
	Course Prerequisites: No credit in BIT 645/STRATEGY 645
	Cross-listed with: BIT 646

	Solving Societal Problems Through Enterprise and Innovation --- The world's toughest problems can become opportunities for for-profit companies, non-profits, and other enterprises. These include challenges in the areas of poverty, health, education, the environment, and other social issues, such as treating women and children better. We will pay significant attention to how companies working at the economic base of the pyramid in the developing world and the West can develop successful businesses, though we will focus on other opportunities as well. We will see how many innovations in this area embrace new business approaches that are supported by leapfrog applications of information and communication technology. We will look at many examples of societal development through enterprise, try to spot trends, and look for frameworks. We will see that part of what makes such solutions work is finding ways to adopt innovative perspectives and devise innovative solutions. This course is non-technical, highly interactive, and requires no special background. It should be of interest to those wishing to understand where new business opportunities for serving society lie and how organizations can innovate to take advantage.