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We invite you to submit your working paper abstract or case study to the 1st International Social Business Symposium 2016 held on 19 and 20 August 2016 at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia in partnership with UQ Business School.

10 years ago, Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and pioneer of micro-credit, was honoured with the Nobel Peace Laureate for his achievements in fighting poverty. With increasing pressure from global social issues such as poverty, inequality and climate change, public, business and academic interest in solving social issues using market mechanisms is steadily increasing. In his Nobel address Yunus introduced his new, more expansive concept of Social Business. Marked by a number of seminal contributions such as Mair & Marti (2006) and Weerawardena & Mort (2006), academic interest to date has largely been focused on social entrepreneurship. Despite similarities between social entrepreneurship and Social Business there is a lack of consensus on how to define and delineate both concepts, with separate communities of academics and practitioners formed around each concept. For example, Beckmann et al. (2014) use the criteria of innovativeness and financial sustainability to distinguish Social Business from social entrepreneurship. Sullivan Mort (2015), instead, highlighted the difference as more about the vision and capacity for system level change. However, we are far from a conclusive understanding of the distinct characteristics of Social Business and how this will affect the operationalization of Social Business in key domains. Thus, we believe the time is ripe to focus more academic attention on Social Business as a distinct phenomenon, enhancing conceptual and theoretical development. This symposium aims at facilitating discussion about and deepening our understanding of Social Business/Social Entrepreneurship, bringing together academics/corporates in Social Business, Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility and allied fields, including leading researchers, corporates and pracademics from Australia and around the globe. 

TOPICS OF INTEREST - PAPERS

•  Defining and delineating Social Business 
•  Developing theoretical underpinnings for Social Business 
•  Challenges for Social Business 
•  Social Business in developed vs. developing countries/ different contexts 

 TOPICS OF INTEREST - CASE STUDIES

•  Collaborating with NGOs/ Non Profit Organizations/ Government for Sustainable Growth 
•  Building human capital (scholarships for Social Business capacity growth) 
•  Social business for sustainable growth and employment 
•  Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developed vs. developing countries/ different contexts 
•  Social Business/ Entrepreneurship/ Social Entrepreneurship start-ups 
•  Social Business/ Social Entrepreneurship joint ventures with corporates 
•  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through Social Business/ Social Entrepreneurship 
•  Funding/Crowd funding in Social Business and Social Entrepreneurship 
•  Joint Ventures with local small and medium enterprises 
•  Sponsoring events for social cause/ capacity building 
•  Sustainable business through green products / supply chains 

Please submit your working paper abstracts (500-2000 words) or Case Study (500-1000 words) to the Symposium Secretariat by emailing to Mr. Rafiuddin Ahmed at r.ahmed@latrobe.edu.au CC to Dr. Anna Krzeminska at a.krzeminska@business.uq.edu.au by 10th June 2016. For more information and to register for the Symposium please contact the Symposium Chair Professor Dr. Gillian Sullivan Mort at g.sullivan-mort@latrobe.edu.au. Please see the attached Calls for further details.

Online Registration: 15th – 20th June 2016. 

We look forward to receiving your submissions. Apologies for cross-posting. 

Best wishes,

Anna