Coursera is a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. They envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions with technology that enables the best professors to teach students all over the world.
Through their online courses, Coursera hopes to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. Their mission is to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.
Ed Freeman’s 4 week Coursera course, “New Models of Business in Society,” is now being offered.
Students examine the critical role that business plays in society, and learn about the exciting new models of business that are changing the way that we create value.
Based on Freeman’s theories of Stakeholder Management, this course examines the emergence of a new story about business. This new story locates business within a societal framework. Almost every business creates or destroys value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities and society, in addition to shareholders and other financiers.
A number of new models of business can be built on this idea such as corporate responsibility, philanthropy, shared value, and sustainability. Profits and stakeholder value go together, and this course explains how.
The final session explores the idea of how to become a stakeholder entrepreneur and create a business that makes money and makes the world a better place.