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Course Profile 11 tested scaling strategies for social enterprises image of Course Scaling Strategy Header High Resolution

11 tested scaling strategies for social enterprises

This course is designed to help social entrepreneurs identify relevant strategies to scale up their venture. We define scaling as different from growing: while growing is a gradual and incremental process, scaling involves adopting a clear and specific approach to propel the venture forward in an accelerated manner.

We identified 11 strategies to unlock scaling potential:

  1. Outsourcing labor and other COGS to users
  2. Substituting physical assets with digital ones
  3. Optimizing capacity and asset utilization
  4. Behavioral change (transforming a need into a want)
  5. Making product/service addictive for users (transforming a want into a need)
  6. Lobbying to create competitive advantage
  7. Leveraging existing assets (owned by others)
  8. Leveraging partnerships
  9. Growing through franchising
  10. Leveraging users or clients as salesforce
  11. Leveraging the intelligence and knowledge of others

For each strategy, you will find:

  • a video with a case study from a large corporation which successfully implemented the strategy, to showcase its key elements and full potential
  • a slide to download with the key elements of the strategy
  • a video interview with a fellow social entrepreneur who is adopting that same strategy (or some elements of it), to illustrate how it can be applied, adapted and be relevant in the context of a social venture.

You are free to review the full course content in sequence, or jump directly to the strategies that are most relevant to you and your venture.

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Instructors

Jessica Graf

Jessica Graf

Jessica Graf (Zurich-Switzerland) is the Founder and Managing Director of LeFil Consulting. Before LeFil, she spent 8 years in developing countries, serving public and non-profit institutions, such as the UNDP, Action contre la Faim, the OSCE and the Swiss Foreign and Economic Affairs. She then worked at McKinsey & Company and managed Vietnam Holding Asset Management for another 6 years. She graduated in Political Sciences at the University of Geneva and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Cecilia Gamba

Cecilia Gamba

Cecilia Gamba is a Project Manager at LeFil, where she leads impact tracking efforts. Before joining, Cecilia worked as a data analyst at WegoWise, Inc. and Elevate Energy, both US-based organizations providing energy efficiency services for affordable housing. In these positions, she specialized in leveraging data for effective product/program development and delivery. Prior to that, she was a researcher with the Chicago Booth School of Business’s Initiative on Global Markets. Cecilia holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Bologna.