Statement of Purpose (circa 2006)

See previous post on what this is.

SOP Final

During my most recent visit to Brazil this past spring I was unfortunate enough to arrive just days after organized crime units launched a coordinated attack on police in Sao Paulo prisons and the surrounding areas. While I was there I met with two Japanese brothers who run JACTO, a manufacturer of farm equipment that operates as the sole employer in a small town. Last year poor economic conditions caused by instability in the government forced the company to lay off many employees. As we watched the 2,000 or so workers the plant employed leave for the day. I was struck by the burden of responsibility one brother felt for them and the community.

My experiences only confirm something I have been learning for years – the private, public, and social sectors in developing countries, and especially in Latin America, are intimately connected. I believe their dependent relationship is not always a liability, but can present an innovative avenue for development in a rapidly globalizing world. My research suggests that the emergence of social entrepreneurship and multi-sector partnerships, though in their infancy, could prove to stabilize institutions and improve democracy and civic participation.

I was greatly influenced by the theories of Peter Drucker prior to college, especially his belief that, "The most significant opportunities for converting social problems into business opportunities may therefore not lie in new technologies, new products, new services. They may lie in solving the social problem, that is, social innovation, which then directly and indirectly benefits and strengthens the company or the industry." (The Essential Drucker, 2003, pg. 56). From 2000 until 2002 I was involved with the Drucker School of Management where I would help transport Professor Drucker to his Saturday classes. Through his lectures and the mentorship of Professor Jean Lipman-Blumen at Claremont, I became especially interested in how businesses and non-profits worked with governments towards mutually beneficial ends.

In college I focused my study in political science, continuing to research business and non-profits as possible means to the goal of establishing democratic institutions. I was influenced by de Tocqueville in a course on civic participation which included an internship with the Chamber of Commerce in my hometown. In the summer of 2003 I studied the impact of an international development NGO in Bolivia that focused on holistic health and emphasized participation of marginalized groups. The following summer I returned to Brazil to research transformational leadership in a church that operates internationally. This included experiences in urban centers in the south as well as rural villages on the Amazon.

The culminating moment in my decision to turn this research into a career in academe came while presenting my research from Brazil at a national conference that included practitioners, researchers and students in leadership. At the lunch roundtable where I presented my research, I realized that the elderly gentleman across from me wore a name tag that read "James MacGregor Burns." Though it made me nervous to share my research with someone so knowledgeable, I proceeded, and at the end requested that he share his thoughts. In his reply he commented, "if this generation does not put all of its intellectual resources towards the end of improving the situation of the poor in the world, then it will be the greatest ethical failure of the age." I realized then that continuing my research through a PhD was not less important than the "doers" who worked in international development, but was equally important and more fitting to my abilities and future goals.

One of my reasons for going to work for Cravath, Swaine, & Moore after graduation was my desire to gain some experience in business, observing corporations and learning more about how they function. As a Corporate Legal Assistant I worked with Fortune 200 clients on deals that demonstrated emerging trends in business. Among many securities transactions, I worked on one of the first Initial Public Offerings for a Greek holding company and helped our client Time, Inc. in their first foray into Latin America with the purchase of Expansion. This professional experience filled in gaps in my understanding, especially the relationship of scholarship to practice.

My research is interdisciplinary in nature, combining the fields of political science, comparative government and management with development economics. I was surprised at the themes that emerged through my research. The model of sustainable development through grassroots organizations, though intriguing, was limited in its reach by excluding the private sector. Separate from the dominant world of development economists, activists, and state actors were a small but growing number of social sector organizations pairing with motivated businesses in mutually-beneficial partnerships focused on the poor; this was a dynamic response to globalization that seemed separate from governmental and non-profit projects. The literature also appeared distinct, with little collaboration between business schools engaged in social enterprise ventures and education on the one hand, and on the other, political scientists focused on grassroots social sector organizations working towards sustainable development. I believe a cross-pollination of the literature that reflects the growing practice of multi-sector partnerships can deepen knowledge in both field and increase the effectiveness of practitioners joined in social ventures.

In my research I hope to pose the question, “Are multi-sector partnerships part of a viable solution to overcoming social problems in Latin America?” Through qualitative research methods, specifically case studies, I hope to uncover some examples of how this might work. The larger question should lead me to more specific areas in which to focus my research methodology. In my graduate studies at _________ [state here the specifics of the program that appeal to me]. In the future I envision myself not only as an academic, but as a member of a vibrant, complex community of knowledge workers collaborating to solve social problems with the tools of of management applied across sectors.