Stanford Social Innovation Review Celebrates Five Years With New Design and Sections

2008-10-15 04:31:01 -

www.gsb.stanford.edu - In the five years since the Stanford Graduate School of Business rolled out the inaugural May 2003 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the award-winning quarterly journal has doubled its circulation and broadened its scope to include more cross-sector themes and content.

"In terms of its reach and visibility, SSIR has grown tremendously," said James Phills, co-academic editor, who was among the members of the publication's founding editorial board. "Even more exciting, by defining and drawing attention to social innovation, SSIR has had an enormous impact on the community of people who want to make a positive change in the world. Moreover, this has taken place in the span of less than five years," said Phills, who is a professor of organizational behavior and the Claude N. Rosenberg Jr. Director of the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The Fall 2008 issue currently on newsstands continues to shape the field by contending in the featured article that social innovation -- rather than the more narrow concepts of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise -- is the best construct for understanding and producing lasting social change. "We redefine social innovation to mean: A novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals," write Stanford Business School coauthors Phills; Kriss Deiglmeier, executive director of the Center for Social Innovation; and Dale Miller, the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior.

In their article, "Rediscovering Social Innovation," the coauthors identify 10 recent social innovations and discuss the potential sources of future innovation at the nexus of the nonprofit, business, and government sectors. Recognizing "the fundamental role of cross-sector dynamics: exchanging ideas and values, shifting roles and relationships, and blending public, philanthropic, and private resources," they write that "only by leveraging these dynamics can we begin to solve the world's most vexing social problems."

SSIR also celebrates its fifth anniversary with a makeover.

"The most obvious change we made is to the journal's look, introducing an updated design that is cleaner, more elegant, and more coherent," according to the Editor's Note in the current issue.

It is also more eco-friendly. The cover is now printed on 100 percent recycled paper, 50 percent post-consumer content; the inside pages are printed on 30 percent recycled paper content. And starting with the next issue, SSIR will be delivered in a biodegradable poly bag that can be recycled or composted.

Changes under the covers include the addition of color, renaming and regrouping of Departments to make them easier to find, and the addition of new sections such as What's Next, which highlights the latest, most promising ways that organizations are creating social change, and What Didn't Work, which examines innovations that ultimately failed to create their intended impact. The Up Front section is now called Research, and 15 Minutes is now Q&A. Readers will find all the sections on ideas about social change in the front of the journal grouped into a super-department, Ideas; sections on organizations and initiatives focused on creating social change can be found in the back under the department heading Action.

The redesign, built upon months of online survey, individual and group meetings, and discussions with key stakeholders, was created by award-winning designer David Herbick, the Chevy Chase, Md.-based creative force behind the redesign of Foreign Policy, Civilization, Technology Review, and Preservation.

The Stanford Social Innovation Review is published by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The award-winning quarterly journal is the pre-eminent publication for executives and leaders in the field of social innovation, covering the latest ideas, research, and solutions in an engaging and thought-provoking manner. The Center for Social Innovation cultivates leaders to solve the world's toughest social and environmental problems. Center participants lead corporate efforts to improve sustainable practices, manage nonprofits through strategic growth, and launch social enterprises that bring life-changing solutions such as loans to small businesses and safe lighting to the world's poorest places. The Center provides research, education, and experiential programs that reach across the usual silos separating the business, nonprofit, and government worlds and that promote development of innovative solutions to build a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world. For more information, visit the Stanford Social Innovation Review website at www.ssireview.org.

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SSIR
Eric Nee, 650-724-2173
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For Further Information:
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Helen Chang, 650-723-3358
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Alana Conner, 650-736-4341
Senior Editor
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