Guest Lecture: Somik Raha

Im really looking forward to having Somik Raha in on Friday to discuss the value of values in business. Somik has suggested the following reading and prep for class on Friday:

Here is the beyond-profit reading that I’d suggest assigning, with an appropriate opening question on the lines of, “What is the core value that you wish to embody in your venture, for which you will need resources (that profits can generate)?”. Here are some more resources that may or may not be helpful:

  1. The Purpose of Marketing
  2. Quantifying intangible value to get to decisions – outlines a decision-making approach to invest to save the Amazon rainforests. This was work done for the Moore Foundation, and the part that might be of interest is of defining the value function, although my caveat is that it if people are clear on their intrinsic values at the time they start the business, then profits will be subservient to that, and a great metric of feedback, as opposed to the end-in-itself. In such situations, one may not need to place dollar amounts on intangibles. This is still an open question for me, and there might be specific places where valuations of this sort can help.

Also a final reminder that your project groups and topics are Friday.  We will start off class with each group introducing themselves to Somik.

ICT4SE Social Hour – Friday @ 3PM

Please come join us this Friday from 3-5PM in South Hall 205 to mingle with this years cohort of ICT4SE students!  Refreshments will be provided. In this the third installment of this course, we have students considering a range of exciting social entrepreneurship opportunities. They will benefit from more contact with experienced social innovators such as yourselves, as we try to make this course as successful as in years past. Looking forward to see you on Friday!