Social Entrepreneurship: A Blueprint for Humanistic Business Organizations

HUMANISM IN BUSINESS, pp. 248-259, Heiko Spitzeck, ed., Cambridge University Press, March 2009

12 Pages Posted: 12 Jan 2010 Last revised: 2 Nov 2013

See all articles by Michael Pirson

Michael Pirson

Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business; Humanistic Management Network; Harvard University

Date Written: January 11, 2009

Abstract

‘Business as usual’ has come under heavy scrutiny. Public outrage over crooked corporate officers, the looting of pension funds, the defrauding of stockholders, and the wholesale firing of hardworking employees has reached a new high (see e.g. Jackson and Nelson 2004; Pirson 2007). Not only the anti-globalization movement of the far left, but also more traditional thinkers and the public in general are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with corporate power and influence. Overall, the criticism leveled at current capitalism is that it fails to be life-conducive. It is insufficiently set up to fulfill authentic human needs (Diener and Seligman 2004) or, in humanistic terms, it fails to make "humans the measure of all things" (Protagoras). Consequently, current business organizations are facing a predicament that Jackson and Nelson (2004: 19) compare to a “perfect storm.” In the following chapter, the author examines how organizations can weather the “perfect storm” by learning from a newly emerging field called social entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship, crisis management, Humanistic Management

JEL Classification: L20, L30, M10

Suggested Citation

Pirson, Michael, Social Entrepreneurship: A Blueprint for Humanistic Business Organizations (January 11, 2009). HUMANISM IN BUSINESS, pp. 248-259, Heiko Spitzeck, ed., Cambridge University Press, March 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1535167

Michael Pirson (Contact Author)

Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business ( email )

140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10018
United States

Humanistic Management Network ( email )

St. Gallen
Switzerland

Harvard University

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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