During his M.B.A. studies at University of California at Berkeley, Jeff Denby told everyone his ultimate career goal: to start an underwear company.

    Soon, professors and classmates at the Haas School of Business began to call him 'the underwear guy.'

    But Mr. Denby -- who had formerly worked in industrial design and went to business school interested in supply-chain management -- decided early in his program that he wanted to create a company that was about more than just boxers or briefs. In his view, it was critical to create a product that was environmentally friendly and sustainable -- and whose sales could help support good causes.

    This type of social entrepreneurship -- that is, building a for-profit company with a social conscience or linked with a social cause -- is becoming increasingly attractive to would-be business founders. The idea is to make money while either directly impacting consumers with its services or funneling a portion of profits to charities. Often, these companies employ people or source resources from economically depressed areas of the world.

    And with an increased interest in socially responsible money-making, business schools have been pushed to create a whole host of courses and study tracks to help M.B.A. students sort out the best way to pull it off. Schools like Oxford University, Cornell University and Dartmouth College have all seen increased demand for instruction in social entrepreneurship.

    Some administrators say it is a generational progression of business-school students who have grown up socially aware. Others say a lack of traditional jobs has spurred an interest in entrepreneurial ventures -- and the focus on societal impact is partly a matter of trying to escape the stigma of the 'greedy M.B.A.'

    'I think the interest in entrepreneurial ventures with social value [is about] more than the fact that people can't get jobs as easily,' says Colin Mayer, dean of Oxford's Said Business School in the U.K. 'There's also a sort of underlying sense of guilt about what happened during the crisis.'

    For his part, Mr. Denby, who graduated in May 2008, has long wanted to use his business skills for good. Before Mr. Denby launched PACT Organic Underwear as an online-only company in August, he researched all aspects of manufacturing and distribution to make sure his products would be legitimately sustainable, from the labor he employed to the inks used in the garment dye. Then he decided to pair each pattern used on the underwear with a themed charity. For example, 10% of the proceeds from one blue pattern inspired by a Japanese woodcut, go to a marine-conservation group.

    Mr. Denby says his entrepreneurial spirit was fostered by Berkeley's curriculum. In one social entrepreneurship-focused course, guest speakers would make weekly appearances to discuss their for-profit business models. Mr. Denby also enrolled in a start-up workshop where students 'spent a lot of time figuring out who we wanted to work with,' he says.

    At Oxford's Said Business School, students use the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship to insert these concepts into their business plans.

    Recent projects include building water-purifying systems in Africa and developing Internet banking systems in regions without significant technology infrastructure. Oxford has offered electives in social entrepreneurship through the center for years but recently expanded its options.

    The school also provides a venture fund that students can tap to fund worthy projects. In those cases, the school has a stake in the company -- and its success -- says Mr. Mayer, adding that the increased focus among students stems from the dearth of traditional jobs in finance, as well as the malaise surrounding the economic collapse.

    'There is a real sense that doing good business can promote real change in economically depressed regions,' Mr. Mayer says.

    What's more, a for-profit enterprise with a socially responsible backbone is more attractive to nervous investors during economic turbulence than traditional business plans, argues Gregg Fairbrothers, director of Dartmouth College's Entrepreneurial Network at the Tuck School of Business.

    'Financing is tough for start-ups,' says Mr. Fairbrothers. 'For investors to take a risk with you, it helps to have tangible social good coming from it, not just the promise of a fat IPO that will make everyone rich.'

    在加州大學(xué)伯克利分校（University of California at Berkeley）就讀MBA時(shí)，鄧比（Jeff Denby）就告訴每個(gè)人他的終極職業(yè)目標(biāo)：開一家內(nèi)衣公司。

    很快，哈斯商學(xué)院（Haas School of Business）的教授和同學(xué)們都開始叫他"內(nèi)衣男".

    但鄧比就讀MBA后不久就決定，他希望創(chuàng)建一家不僅僅是賣男式平腳或三角內(nèi)褲的內(nèi)衣公司。他此前曾工作于一家工業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)公司，就讀商學(xué)院的時(shí)候?qū)�供�?yīng)鏈管理方向產(chǎn)生了興趣。在他看來，重要的是制造一件環(huán)保又可持續(xù)的產(chǎn)品──其銷量有助于支持這些善意的理由。

    對潛在創(chuàng)業(yè)者來說，這種社會(huì)公益創(chuàng)業(yè)正變得越來越有吸引力。社會(huì)公益創(chuàng)業(yè)就是組建一家擁有社會(huì)良知或與社會(huì)事業(yè)有關(guān)的盈利性公司，意在獲取利潤的同時(shí)，通過其服務(wù)直接影響消費(fèi)者，或?qū)⒁徊糠掷麧櫽糜诖壬剖聵I(yè)。通常來說，這些公司會(huì)從全球經(jīng)濟(jì)困難地區(qū)雇傭人員或是使用當(dāng)?shù)刭Y源。

    鑒于對社會(huì)責(zé)任感盈利的興趣增強(qiáng)，商學(xué)院已經(jīng)受此影響推出了一整套講座和課程，意在幫助MBA學(xué)生們尋找實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)的最佳途徑。在牛津大學(xué)（Oxford University）、康奈爾大學(xué)（Cornell University）以及達(dá)特茅斯學(xué)院（Dartmouth College）等學(xué)校，社會(huì)公益創(chuàng)業(yè)的教學(xué)需求都出現(xiàn)了增長。

    一些管理人士說，商學(xué)院學(xué)生日益具有關(guān)注社會(huì)意識是一個(gè)進(jìn)步。其他人說，是傳統(tǒng)職位缺乏引發(fā)了學(xué)生們對創(chuàng)業(yè)投資的興趣，他們注重社會(huì)影響一定程度上是為了避免"貪婪MBA學(xué)生"的惡名。

    牛津大學(xué)賽義德商學(xué)院（Said Business School）院長梅耶（Colin Mayer）說，我認(rèn)為學(xué)生對具有社會(huì)價(jià)值的創(chuàng)業(yè)投資產(chǎn)生興趣并不只是因?yàn)檎夜ぷ鞑蝗菀�。這也是他們因?yàn)閷ξ�機(jī)中所發(fā)生的事情產(chǎn)生了一種內(nèi)在的負(fù)罪感。

    鄧比畢業(yè)于2008年5月，他一直希望將自己的商業(yè)技能用于善處。鄧比8月份創(chuàng)建了只在網(wǎng)絡(luò)銷售的內(nèi)衣公司PACT Organic Underwear;此前他研究了制造和分銷的每個(gè)方面，確保他的產(chǎn)品從雇傭勞工到服裝染料所用的墨水都是合乎法律并具有可持續(xù)性。然后他決定將內(nèi)衣使用的每個(gè)團(tuán)案都和一個(gè)慈善主題掛鉤。舉例來說，一個(gè)藍(lán)色圖案內(nèi)衣的靈感取自一件日本木刻，其10%的銷售收益將捐獻(xiàn)給一個(gè)海洋保護(hù)組織。

    鄧比說，他的創(chuàng)業(yè)精神源自于自己在伯克利上的課程。在一門以社會(huì)公益創(chuàng)業(yè)為主的課上，學(xué)院每周邀請嘉賓來和學(xué)生們討論盈利性業(yè)務(wù)模式。鄧比還參加了一個(gè)創(chuàng)業(yè)研討會(huì)，他說，同學(xué)們在會(huì)上花了很多時(shí)間討論我們希望和誰共事的問題。

    在牛津大學(xué)賽義德商學(xué)院，學(xué)生們通過斯科爾社會(huì)公益創(chuàng)業(yè)研究中心（Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship）,將這些想法運(yùn)用于他們的商業(yè)計(jì)劃。

    近期的項(xiàng)目包括在非洲修建水凈化系統(tǒng)，在缺乏明顯科技基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的地區(qū)建設(shè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)銀行體系。牛津大學(xué)近年來一直通過該中心提供社會(huì)公益創(chuàng)業(yè)的選修課，但最近擴(kuò)大了選修課程規(guī)模。

    賽義德商學(xué)院還提供了一個(gè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)基金，學(xué)生們可以從中獲取資金用于有價(jià)值的項(xiàng)目。梅耶說，在這些情況下，學(xué)院會(huì)獲得創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的股份，分享其成功。他補(bǔ)充說，學(xué)生們?nèi)找鎸Ｗ⑦@方面，一方面是因?yàn)榻鹑谛袠I(yè)傳統(tǒng)職位的缺乏，另一方面也是因?yàn)榻?jīng)濟(jì)崩潰帶來的糟糕感覺。

    梅耶說，學(xué)生們真正感覺到，從事好業(yè)務(wù)可以給經(jīng)濟(jì)貧困地區(qū)帶來真正的變化。

    此外，達(dá)特茅斯學(xué)院塔克商學(xué)院（Tuck School of Business）創(chuàng)業(yè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)部門主任法布雷斯（Gregg Fairbrothers）說，在經(jīng)濟(jì)動(dòng)蕩時(shí)期，一個(gè)具有社會(huì)責(zé)任感的盈利性創(chuàng)業(yè)公司會(huì)比傳統(tǒng)的商業(yè)計(jì)劃更能吸引緊張不安的投資者。

    法布雷斯說，創(chuàng)業(yè)公司要獲得融資不容易。要說服投資者和你承擔(dān)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，需要用投資能實(shí)際造福社會(huì)這一點(diǎn)來打動(dòng)他們，而不僅僅是承諾以后會(huì)通過豐厚的首次公開募股（IPO）讓所有人都發(fā)達(dá)。