An annotated literature review is a written discussion of published or unpublished research, commentary, and information on a topic. The “literature” refers to books, journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles, company records and documents, and even personal interviews with knowledgeable industry observers.
Your task is to search the social entrepreneurship literature to: (1) discover the most common underlying causes of the type of problem symptoms you have observed; and (2) discover the various solutions to the problem that have been recommended and tried in other organizations. For example, if your problem is measuring performance, you will find a large number of articles and studies that have identified a list of common causes and another list of recommended solutions. Your job is to compile those two lists and to cite your sources.
In addition to the above tasks, and to ensure you have incorporated all aspects of the project, please include the following subtopics in the outline of the paper: 1. What is the process you plan to use to address the problem or opportunity (review Module 2 for models and frameworks you might use); 2. What form of capital will be required to solve the problem or meet the need of the opportunity? How will the capital be raised? (review Module 3); 3. What alliances will need to be formed and why? How will growth be managed to ensure what you plan to do is sustainable? (what models will you use and what is your rationale for doing so? What alliances would be considered to achieve a more holistic impact? 4. Consider all aspects of the project and performance requirements such as capital, facilities, human capital, brand, etc. Recall the difference between social entrepreneurship and commercial or traditional forms of entrepreneurship when determining what will be measured and why. Clearly define how performance will be managed and measured? What will determine success and how will success be measured? What rationale is being used to substantiate the measurement?
You should supply some commentary on what you find in the literature. Don’t just describe what’s written in 4 articles. You should talk about the concepts, ideas, or insights that have the most value for helping you make sense of your project. What theories can you use? What writers say something of value? And why? Which models are the most helpful, and why?
You should cite at least 6 sources in addition to the course text (4 sources should be from scholarly or peer-reviewed journals and 2 from contemporary literature such as professional magazines is “B” level work, “A” level work would cite more). Note the Citation and Bibliography Guides and Style Manuals at the ESC Library. While newspaper articles can be excellent sources of information, it’s important that not all of your citations be newspaper articles. You should access articles in academic journals as well.
A good place to start your review is in the course text and in the chapter notes at the end. Then, you can access ESC’s online library and its search engines. You can enter key words such as “raising capital” and you will access recent articles on the subject. Scan the titles of the articles that come up and look for interesting ones to read in full. Also, be sure to check the references of interesting articles or books. They will lead you to others. If initial searches don’t produce what you’re looking for, try using different key words. If you find yourself totally spinning your wheels, send me an e-mail and ask for help.
Your objective in this section is to demonstrate that you can access the social entrepreneurship management literature to help you diagnose and identify possible solutions for specific management problems. The long-term benefit is that after this class is over, you will be able to use the literature to confront unfamiliar problems.
