BS 301 - Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership for the 21st Century: The Latin American Context

The course provides students with opportunities to engage with concepts around global corporate citizenship, ethical leadership, and social entrepreneurship. It focuses on examples and case studies from Latin America, with special attention paid to Chile. Additionally, the concept of “new” business as defined by Gunter Pauli will be explored. Through various course related trips and group activities, the students will have the opportunities to develop and learn about themselves, on a personal as well as professional level, through an active participatory process.

The course will have two parts. In the first part, the students will be introduced to notions of citizenship and ethical leadership with a focus on social responsibility. Each week a separate theme from a variety of perspectives (political, legal, academic, and popular) will be addressed, using a practical real-world example to analyze the topic.

In the second half of the course, students will explore new transformative business concepts and the required leadership changes to operate in a world based on relations and interlinked systems. The lectures and literature for the course will provide a basis for understanding the complexity of globalization, citizenship, and social responsibility as well as allow students to develop a critical understanding of their application in differing fields.

Topics addressed will include corporate citizenship and governance, labor practices, and sustainable development. Course-related trips will include a visit to CORFO headquarters, Social Innovation Centre and a debate with social entrepreneurs from Chile. Course activities will include an Artificial Intelligence robot-building workshop. In the final weeks, students will create and present a consultancy report on a new product or emerging industry that embodies the spirit of new business and social entrepreneurship.