Yale SOM offers a wide array of elective courses that explore issues related to social enterprise, ranging from non-profit management to public policy, from environmental stewardship to business ethics. A list of all syllabi can be found at courses.yale.edu.
Business Ethics
MGT 532 - Fall and Spring
Business is an activity in which parties exchange goods or services for valuable consideration. The goal of this course is to examine the ethical dimensions of such activities and develop skills for identifying and weighting ethical considerations. We will discover the tools we use for reasoning about right and wrong at the individual, firm, and policy levels, as well as explore “blind spots” – reasons why people fail to see the ethical dimension of decisions and thus, how they fail to live up to their own ethical standards.
Education Policy
MGT 581 - Spring
This course is designed to describe the major policies defining today’s education system in the US. The course topics will include, but are not limited to, governance, accountability, choice, finance, and personnel policies for K-12 education, with a focus on the role of teachers; it will also briefly cover issues related to early childhood education and higher education. The focus will be on policies made at the federal, state, and local levels, and on the implications of these policies for students, families, and communities. Discussions will touch upon the goals of policies and the extent to which the intention, implementation and ultimate effects of the policies align. Class sessions are a mixture of lectures, a guest lecture, and student presentations of existing research. Assessment will be based on these presentations and on a final project. The course is designed as a complement to MGT 537-01 (Inequality and Social Mobility), but the two courses can also be taken in isolation.
Energy Systems Analysis
MGT 563 / ENV 814 - Fall
This course offers a systems analysis approach to describe and explain the basics of energy systems. Students gain a comprehensive theoretical and empirical knowledge base from which to analyze energy-environmental issues as well as to participate effectively in policy debates. Special attention is given to introduce students to formal methods used to analyze energy systems or individual energy projects and to discuss also traditionally lesser-researched elements of energy systems (energy use in developing countries; energy densities and urban energy use; income, gender, and lifestyle differences in energy end-use patterns) in addition to currently dominant energy issues such as energy security and climate change.
ESG Investing
Edward Watts and Stefano Giglio
MGT 929 - Fall
This course discusses incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) information in investment portfolios. ESG objectives are important for investors representing trillions of dollars and may affect their portfolios’ risk and return. We will consider ways of blending portfolios’ financial and non-financial goals, and the potential for ESG-minded asset owners to impact the companies in which they invest. The course will blend academic research with case studies from investment practice.
Ethical Choices in Public Leadership
MGT 629 - Fall
All public leaders must make choices that challenge their code of ethics. This interdisciplinary seminar draws on perspectives from law, management, and public policy in exploring how leaders develop their principles, respond when their principles fail or conflict, and make real-world choices when, in fact, there are no good choices.
Financing Green Technologies
MGT 842 - Spring
This course will explore how investing in renewable energy is different than in investing in more prosaic sectors. These differences include capital intensity, commodity markets, mature industry structure, local and federal regulation, and market imperfections. The course will also review the differences in policy support given to renewable energy in other countries. While the emphasis is on renewable energy, many of the same issues obtain in considering other green technologies—from water to new packaging.
Global Leadership: Topics in Business and Society
MGT 633 - Fall
This course is designed to foster participants’ ability to think more holistically about globalization, global trends, and the role of business. It is structured around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 objectives, backed up by 169 specific targets, that were adopted by the UN in 2015 after broad-based consultations involving governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics, and the business community.
Global Social Entrepreneurship
MGT 529 (India) Fall - Spring, with Asha Ghosh
MGT 865 (Kenya) Spring
The Global Social Entrepreneurship (GSE) courses link teams of Yale students with mission-driven social entrepreneurs (SEs) to focus on a specific management challenge that the student/SE teams work together to address during the semester. The course covers both theoretical and practical issues, including case studies and discussions, and in-country field work. Meets SOM's Global Studies Requirement.
GNAM: Natural Capital: Risks and Opportunities in Global Resource Systems
MGT 920 - Spring
Natural resource constraints affect most, if not all, functional areas of the modern corporation. Many large companies are taking proactive approaches to managing these risks and capturing the opportunities they create. As such, they are increasingly expecting their employees to have a basic familiarity with the environmental and social, as well as the economic, megatrends affecting these systems.
Housing Connecticut: Developing Healthy and Sustainable Neighborhoods
Kate Cooney, Andrei Harwell, Anika Singh Lemar, and Alan Plattus
MGT 632 - Fall
In this inaugural interdisciplinary clinic taught between the Schools of Architecture, Law, and Management, and organized by the Yale Urban Design Workshop, students will gain hands-on, practical experience in architectural and urban design, development, and social entrepreneurship while contributing novel solutions to the housing affordability crisis.
Inclusive Economic Development Lab: Special Topics
MGT 826 - Spring
The course will invite guest speakers nationally to help us think through the current state of knowledge and examine cutting-edge models to support, capitalize, network, grow, and integrate minority-owned businesses into a regional and global economy as a strategy for inclusive economic development. As in previous years, the Lab will provide opportunities for students to engage with key actors in the focal neighborhoods in New Haven, and a class project that will provide a set of analyses that city actors can use to navigate this new opportunity.
Inequality and Social Mobility
MGT 537 - Fall
This course provides a description of current trends in inequality and social and intergenerational mobility in the US and abroad, their possible causes, and the impact of public policies in shaping these trends. Drawing primarily on empirical evidence from the economics literature, we will examine the role of income, racial, and residential segregation; of access to education; and of labor market policies in determining economic opportunities within and across generations. The course will also provide a set of analytical tools required to understand and critically “consume” empirical academic research, as well as public commentary and policy, related to this topic.
Insurance and Finance for the Poor
MGT 823 - Fall
This course will focus on insurance, savings, credit, and other financial services for the poor. We will use the tools of economic theory and quantitative analysis to explore these topics, including: the potential role these instruments play as drivers of well-being, poverty alleviation, income growth and social and economic development; why households lack access to these instruments; and potential solutions. We will consider the role played by the state, market and broader society, including both the formal and informal sectors.
Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship
MGT 612 - Fall
In this course, we combine theory and practice, applying a systematic framework to guide students through the social entrepreneurship experience. We start by identifying a social or environmental challenge each student is interested in tackling. Students form interdisciplinary teams to immerse themselves in characterizing the challenge, ideating potential solutions, and building business models around those solutions.
Managing Social Enterprises
MGT 621 - Spring
Following initial content reviewing perspectives on the trend of social enterprise, topics covered include: choosing the right organizational legal form, managing competing or conflicting goals, tools for double and triple bottom line decision making, calculating a SROI (social return on investment), the challenge of integrating interdisciplinary human resources, raising capital at different stages of the organizational lifecycle, scaling a social innovation/ product, and exits.
Metrics, Tools and Indicators in Corporate Responsibility
MGT 566 - Spring
This is an applied course on the metrics, indicators and tools used by businesses to implement strategically relevant Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) or Sustainability programs. It is relevant for any potential corporate manager or consultant.
Modern Philanthropy: Perspectives and Challenges
Judith Chevalier and Paige MacLean
MGT 867 - Fall
Co-taught by a philanthropic advisor and an economics faculty member, this course will examine alternative approaches to philanthropy and address many of the challenges and tradeoffs facing modern philanthropists. We will examine the history of philanthropy and foundations, the current state of philanthropy, debates about the role of philanthropy in society, and the complicated relationship between philanthropy and social justice.
Public Health Entrepreneurship
MGT 631 - Spring
This is a case based course about innovation and entrepreneurship for health equity and drivers of health. Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, racism, gender and other biases and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, healthy foods, safe environments, and health care. We refer to these as drivers of health. COVID-19 has brought to light for many the complexities in drivers of health, and the role of entrepreneurship and cross-sectoral collaboration in eliminating health disparities. No prerequisites, all are welcome.
Private Capital and Impact Investing
MGT 891 - Spring
This course, which is taught from the perspective of an institutional investor, provides an introduction to Private Capital and Impact Investment markets including 1) the development of the venture capital industry 2) an overview of the private equity industry 3) an exploration of how venture capital and private equity investment firms are embracing ESG factors, and 4) the development of impact investment and how the private capital model is used for positive environmental and social impact.
Race and Money in America, Contemporary Business Application
MGT 861 - Spring
This course explores the history of race and money in America, dating to the mid-1800s with a focus on Black Americans. The course ties past events to the present and challenges people to explore solutions that would move the needle in creating a more equitable society. The course will be relevant to managers in many industries including insurance, banking, media, technology, education, real estate and more. In viewing the throughline of this history through today’s business lens, there will be many revelations along the way for both people who haven’t studied much history and for those who specialized in Black history.
Social Entrepreneurship Lab
MGT 612 - Fall
Social Entrepreneurship Lab is a practice-based course in which students from across campus form interdisciplinary teams to work on a social challenge of their choice. Students start by identifying a topic area of focus, then form teams based on shared interests and complementary skills. Over the course of thirteen weeks, student teams delve into understanding the challenge through root cause analysis, research on existing solutions and populations affected; then apply human centered design thinking and systems thinking to design, prototype, test, and iterate solutions. No prerequisites, all are welcome.
Social Innovation Starter
MGT 637 - Fall
This course is about experiencing social innovation. Over the course of the semester, students form innovation teams working with real-world organizations representing multiple topic areas including health, education, climate, civic engagement, and other topics. We will apply the ten-stage framework of the textbook “Social Entrepreneurship: Building Impact Step by Step.” This course runs during the same semester as the Social Entrepreneurship Lab at Yale School of Management, which is also cross-listed. The key distinction is that in the former, students pick their own topic to research and ideate on, whereas in this course students work on projects for existing organizations.
Start-up Founder Practicum
MGT 646 - Fall and Spring
The purpose of this course is to provide full-time Yale SOM students with a mechanism to work on their start-up ventures for credit, applying principles derived from their other coursework, particularly the integrated core curriculum. Students in this course articulate milestones for their ventures and work with faculty, staff, and mentors to meet those milestones.
Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations
MGT 527 - Fall
The purpose of this course is to study, discuss, and debate many issues of concern to managers of nonprofit organizations, including mission definition, competing internal and external demands, resource scarcity and uncertainty, governance systems, and managing strategic change.
Tribal Resources and Sovereignty Clinic
MGT 682 - Spring
We will identify and describe the varieties of tribal resources and the limitation of the management prerogatives facing Tribal Nations under the current legal regime. We explore those resources governed by the trust duty and the federal government’s role. We also look at the emerging resources in the green economy and investigate the relations between tribes, states, and private actors. Co-management, the trust duty, and tribal sovereignty are the main themes around which the clinic is structured.
Urban Poverty and Economic Development
MGT 536 - Fall
The course topics includes: (1) measurements and theoretical explanations of poverty, incorporating both panel data and ethnography; (2) analytic tools for assessing community and regional economic flows; and (3) strategies for economic development and wealth building among low-income urban populations and communities. We examine innovative approaches in the traditional areas of economic development, workforce development, housing, education, and individual income support and wealth building.