DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A BUSINESS GAME FOR THE TRAINING OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS IN POOR COMMUNITIES IN BRAZIL

摘要

Bodytext This paper presents the Game of Social Entrepreneurship, which is used in the training of entrepreneurs in Brazilian needy communities. The methodology adopted follows the approach of learning through a process in which students act as the main actors of learning. The final result is not the most important one, but the exercise of planning and decision making, which allows participants to learn through a sequential process of decisions and feedback. At the end of the game participants should re-evaluate all decisions and try to tell poor decisions apart of right decisions. The social entrepreneur is an agent of process transformation in the social sector where the main result of this process is neither a commodity nor a service (as in business) or a regulation (as in government), but a human being transformed. He actually produces a change in circumstances and in human lives. The social entrepreneur has some specific characteristics like the valuation of human being (cooperation, solidarity, fairness, competence, accountability and economic stringency), the historical and geographical knowledge of the community and of the evolution of mankind (he understands the cultural differences that exist in Brazilian society, which allow him to experience the effects of social exclusion, such as urban violence, child exploitation, marginalization of the elderly, prejudices and drug trafficking), and needs to have managerial ability (values both operational routine and organizational innovation). That is, he is able to reconcile operational part with projects, which constitute the core activity of social institutions, justifying its existence. The Game of Social Entrepreneurship is an eight week-game, with a three hour-class per week. The subjects covered in the first four classes are Vision and Mission, Principles of Excellence; Costs and Pricing, Revenue and Expenditure, Income Statement, Assets, Liabilities and Balance Accounting. It is during the four last weeks that what we call plays occur, that is, all the recreational activities of purchasing, production, sales, completion of reports. The game ends with two moves and their respective feedbacks. After each move, a comparative analysis of a business session is made during an assembly.