Social Entrepreneurship: An Evidence-Based Approach to Creating Social Value

INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING AND USING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Even a cursory look at the daily news will be enough to convince the viewer that pressing challenges present themselves at all social levels. We are all familiar with issues such as neighborhood crime and struggling schools, city-wide poverty and unemployment, lack of funding for state services, and the global problems brought about by overpopulation. Moreover, our ever more connected and more rapidly changing world is making these issues far more complex and difficult to solve. Stephen Goldsmith and William Eggers echo the views of many observers:

In many ways, twenty-first century challenges and the means of addressing them are more numerous and complex than ever before. Problems ...