9/28 Speaker: Michael Gordon

"Poverty Alleviation in the US and Beyond"

Recommended pre-reading: browsing www.bop-protocol.org and perhaps skimming the protocol document.

Please post a thought, comment or question for Friday's speaker as a comment to this post by Thursday night. This is for class discussion/participation purposes only, but will also serve to prepare you to ask a question or make a comment in the Q&A period after Dr. Gordon's talk. Thanks.

Dr. Michael D. Gordon is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Business Information Technology and past Associate Dean for Information Technology at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is actively teaching and researching issues of social enterprise – means by which organizations can make lasting differences by addressing problems of poverty, healthcare, education, and the environment. He has worked with leading scholars on these issues, including Stuart Hart, C.K. Prahalad, and Al Hammond. He is co-author of the Base of the Pyramid Protocol, which guides companies wanting to co-create new businesses with local communities and organizations in the developing world. He has been involved in BoP Protocol efforts in Kenya and in Michigan (USA). He is currently completing a book about the relationships among social enterprise, information and communication technology, and innovation. He has published empirical research about the scope and extent of current involvement at the base of the pyramid, how BoP activity depends on innovation, and how it benefits firms and local communities.