ENSn4656 Developing an eco-social enterprise

Fakulta sociálních studií
jaro 2025
Rozsah
0/0/0. 3 kr. Ukončení: zk.
Vyučující
Tim Crabtree (přednášející), RNDr. Naděžda Vlašín Johanisová, Ph.D. (zástupce)
Garance
doc. Mgr. Karel Stibral, Ph.D.
Katedra environmentálních studií – Fakulta sociálních studií
Kontaktní osoba: Mgr. Kateřina Hendrychová
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Katedra environmentálních studií – Fakulta sociálních studií
Předpoklady
TYP_STUDIA(N)
None
Omezení zápisu do předmětu
Předmět je nabízen i studentům mimo mateřské obory.
Předmět si smí zapsat nejvýše 20 stud.
Momentální stav registrace a zápisu: zapsáno: 0/20, pouze zareg.: 0/20, pouze zareg. s předností (mateřské obory): 0/20
Mateřské obory/plány
Cíle předmětu
The main objective of the course is to introduce students to the concept of eco-social enterprise, to the intellectual background and rationale for the development of such enterprises and to the key features of such enterprises within the broader field of the social economy. These include organisational structure, financing, operations, ethos and the role of secondary structures. Eco-social enterprises will be framed as a medium for mitigating current problems associated with globalised economic systems, especially issues of environmental sustainability and inequality.
Výstupy z učení
At the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Learning outcomes
At the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Understand the rationale for the development of eco-social enterprises, as a way to address the problems associated with globalised, neo-liberal economic systems, such as growing inequality and the exceeding of critical environmental limits.
- Understand the key features of eco-social enterprises within the social economy – including organisational structures, financing, operations, ethos, the role of collaboration and secondary structures, etc.
- Explore the key intention and purpose of an actual or proposed venture, and how this can be translated into a mission statement within the business plan.
- Understand how new economic models of finance, the commons, democratization and localisation can be incorporated into a venture.
- Explore how approaches that support a “right relationship” to self, others and the environment could be incorporated into a venture.
- Apply ecological design principles (such as diversity, modularity, networking and feedback loops) and assess how these could support the organisation’s sustainability, resilience and capacity for adaptation over time.
- Apply learning from the course to the design of an eco-social enterprise.
Osnova
  • 1 Local economic systems
  • The first lecture will begin with a presentation of the tutor’s work in South West England over the last 20 years. The practical initiatives presented will then be used as a basis for an exploration of the purpose of the economy and the potential role of eco-social enterprises. The session will conclude by looking at the purpose of the participants’ actual or potential enterprises, and how this purpose can be translated into the key elements of a business plan.
  • 2 The development of successful eco-social enterprises
  • The second lecture will draw on systems thinking and ecological design principles - beginning with an exploration of the 5 capitals model, and the way in which these five inputs can be combined to create economic goods and services. This will entail: - Understanding the importance of the environment and the need for regenerative rather than extractive approaches. - Assessing the requirement for physical equipment and buildings. - Understanding the motivations and potential roles of the people involved in an enterprise, including the potential for citizens to become active agents within the enterprise (for example as investors or volunteers). - Understanding the role of money – including grants, equity, debt and retained surpluses. - Exploring the importance of social capital and legal structure and the inter-relationship with finance. The lecture will also explore business operations, and the potential to create a “circular” model of enterprise which entails recycling wastes, eliminating pollution and being powered from renewable sources.
  • Applying the theory to a hypothetical eco-social enterprise
  • Students will describe their chosen eco-social enterprise – this can be real or hypothetical – and apply the learning in the course to this example. This will include describing the key inputs required, and describing the key operations of the enterprise and the way in which those operations will be managed. Students will explore how outputs will get to consumers, through marketing and distribution. They will also explore how waste will be eliminated or recycled. Finally, students will explore opportunities for collaboration with other eco-social enterprises.
  • 4 The development of eco-social enterprises within local economic systems – networking, collaboration and support mechanisms in situations of complexity and uncertainty.
  • The final lecture will explore how individual eco-social enterprises could collaborate with other organisations. Such collaboration could be at a less formal level, for example the creation of networks or “communities of practice”, or through “secondary structures” designed to provide inputs (the 5 capitals) or allow collaboration around operations, marketing & distribution or waste recycling. Participants will also explore the implications of approaches such as process philosophy and complexity theory for the operation of eco-social enterprises, when we see them as constantly evolving complex relational processes rather than static „things“ that are easily managed.
Literatura
    doporučená literatura
  • Axelrod, R. and Cohen, M. (2000). Harnessing complexity. New York: Basic Books.
  • Building sustainable communities :tools and concepts for self-reliant economic change. Edited by Ward Morehouse. 2nd ed. New York: Bootstrap Press, 1997, xiii, 218. ISBN 1-897766-34-3. info
  • Benyus, J. (2008). Biomimicry. New York: Harper.
  • Chouinard, Y. (2006). Let my people go surfing. New York: Penguin.
  • Daly, H. E., Cobb, J. B., & Cobb, C. W. (1989). For the common good: Redirecting the economy toward community, the environment, and a sustainable future. Boston: Beacon Press.
  • The living economy : a new economics in the making. Edited by Paul Ekins. London: Routledge, 1989, xviii, 398. ISBN 0415039371. info
  • Hopkins, R. (2011). The transition companion. Totnes: Transition Books.
  • JACOBS, Jane. The nature of economies. New York: Vintage Books, 2000, x, 190. ISBN 0375702431. info
  • Kelly, M (2009) Keeping Wealth Local, Tellus Institute, Boston
  • KELLY, Marjorie. Owning our future : the emerging ownership revolution. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012, xi, 247. ISBN 9781605093109. info
  • LEWIS, Mike a Pat CONATY. The resilience imperative : cooperative transitions to a steady-state economy. Gabriola, BC: New Society Publishers, 2012, x, 389. ISBN 9780865717077. info
  • MacLeod, G. (1997). From Mondragon to America: Experiments in community economic development. Sydney, N.S: University College of Cape Breton Press.
  • Schumacher, E. F. (1981). Small is possible. New York: Harper & Row.
  • Murray R. (2010) Cooperation in the Age of Google, Cooperatives UK, Manchester
  • Murray R., Caulier-Grice J. Mulgan G. (2010), The Open Book of Social Innovation, [on-line] www.nesta.org.uk
  • Nadeau, E. G., & Thompson, D. J. (1996). Cooperation works!: How people are using cooperative action to rebuild communities and revitalize the economy. Rochester, Minn: Lone Oak Press.
  • OSTERWALDER, A. a Y. PIGNEUR. Business model generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &Sons, 2010. info
  • Pauli G (2010), The Blue Economy, Paradigm Publications, Taos
  • Polanyi, K., Stiglitz, J. and Block, F. (2012). The great transformation. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
  • Restakis, J. (2010). Humanizing the economy: Co-operatives in the age of capital. Gabriola, B.C: New Society Publishers.
  • SCHUMACHER, E. F. Small is beautiful : economics as if people mattered. 1st ed. New York: Perennial library, 1975, viii, 305. ISBN 0-608-03525-4. info
  • Shaw, P. (2002). Changing conversations in organizations. London:
  • Shaw, P. and Stacey, R. (2006). Experiencing risk, spontaneity and improvisation in organizational change. London: Routledge
Výukové metody
Learning activities and teaching methods will include presentation-supported lectures, structured class discussions, work in groups and development of individual eco-social enterprise case studies by students.
Metody hodnocení
Students will be asked to propose a real or hypothetical eco-social enterprise which they can explore further during the course. They will then be asked to prepare and give a presentation, describing their eco-social enterprise and summarising their learning during the course.
Vyučovací jazyk
Angličtina
Informace učitele
Course Tutor
Tim Crabtree, MA (Oxon), works part-time for Schumacher College as Senior Lecturer in Economics on a Masters programme, and part-time for Wessex Community Assets, developing renewable energy, sustainable housing and local food initiatives. He has 30 years experience of social economy development, in policy (with the New Economics Foundation), in local economic development agencies, and as a social entrepreneur developing a range of eco-social enterprises.
Další komentáře
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Předmět je zařazen také v obdobích jaro 2021, jaro 2022, jaro 2023, jaro 2024.