Writing in the fall 2008 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, James A. Phills Jr., Kriss Deiglmeier, and Dale T. Miller, in “Rediscovering Social Innovation,” take a strikingly different view of social value. These authors broaden the domain of inquiry from social entrepreneurship to “social innovation,” which they define as
follows: “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.” This view of value creation puts a great deal of weight on the difference between social and private problems to be solved on one hand, and the social and private value created as a consequence of novel solutions on the other.