Marketing Management Programme (MKT) of DBM invited Dr. Clara Kan to deliver a lecture on “Answering Societal Challenges: Social Enterprises' Marketing Practices for Social Innovation” on March 10. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kan presented this lecture online. Dr. Keng Hong Ng, Acting Programme Director of MKT, hosted the lecture.

Dr. Kan is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Marketing of Hong Kong Baptist University. She was Lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Kan was Senior Vice-President and Marketing Director at PCCW Ltd (电讯盈科), Head of Consumer Market at Hutchison Global Communications (和记电讯香港), General Manager at HK CSL Ltd, Marketing Manager at American Express, and Account Manager at J. Walter Thompson. She is an Advisory Committee member of the Enhancing Self-Reliance program with Hong Kong SAR's Home Affairs Department and Social Entrepreneurship School Education Program (SEnSE) funded by the Sino-International Entrepreneurs Federation (SIEF). She is also a board member of the Fullness Social Enterprise Society and Fairtrade Hong Kong Foundation.

Acting Programme Director of MKT, Dr. Keng Hong Ng delivered welcome speech 

In this lecture, Dr. Kan introduced that while earning profits is not the primary motivation behind a social enterprise, revenue still plays an essential role in the sustainability of the venture. Therefore, social marketing strategies should focus on “business number” (including profit, number of staff, welfare, etc.) meanwhile finding a new perspective in social marketing with corresponding mission and impact (innovation). As Dr. Kan mentioned that “marketing is the last mile relay runner”. 

Dr. Kan in the lecture 

Dr. Kan also pointed out that social marketing is different with commercial marketing. Social marketing carries social mission such as to solve a problem or to fill a gap that will bring positive impact on people’s behavior. Such behavior will benefit not only the business but also society for a long time.

Talking about the social marketing innovation, Dr. Kan said that create a convincing social enterprise story and use it in the social marketing so that stakeholders could share value and collaboration, which will help the social enterprises to stand out.  She gave an example of a social enterprise, which employ people with disabilities into the call center positions through tripartite collaboration. An App named “Good Hand” serves as a platform cooperate with NGOs and social enterprises in Hong Kong working for the elderly care services. 

During the Q&A session, Dr. Kan discussed social enterprises’ development in mainland China as well as the career development of social enterprises with audiences.

Both staff and students were listening to the lecture