Social Enterprise Initiative

Resources

Corporate Responsibility

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Select Books, Chapters, and Multimedia Products

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Select Articles and Working Papers

Search HBS Working Knowledge for cutting-edge research by HBS faculty related to corporate responsibility.

Search Harvard Business School’s faculty publications and research interest databases on corporate responsibility.

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Select Cases and Notes

Search Harvard Business School Publishing for articles and cases on corporate responsibility.

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Related Events

“Perspectives from the Field: Critical Issues and Emerging Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility.” A panel discussion moderated by Professor Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard (October 19, 2006).

“Business' Role in Saving the Environment: Thoughts from a Veteran of Both Worlds”. A Conversation with Carter Roberts, MBA '88, President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund U.S. (November 15, 2006).

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MBA Courses

Leadership and Corporate Accountability (First Year, Winter Term)
Leadership and Corporate Accountability is part of the first-year Required Curriculum. In this course, students learn about the complex responsibilities facing business leaders today. Through cases about difficult managerial decisions, the course examines the legal, ethical, and economic responsibilities of corporate leaders. It also teaches students about management and governance systems leaders can use to promote responsible conduct by companies and their employees, and shows how personal values can play a critical role in effective leadership.

Business and the Environment (Second Year, Fall Term, Half Course-Late)
Professor Forest Reinhardt
In this course we seek to understand the ways in which concern about the environment affects companies’ strategies and operations. We draw on fundamental concepts from economics, strategy, and finance; we analyze environmental concern as a source both of risk and of opportunity. Industries discussed in the course include energy, forestry, food, retail, and investment management.

Customers, Commerce, and Society (Second Year, Fall Term)
Professor Herman B. “Dutch” Leonard and Professor V. Kasturi “Kash” Rangan

This course explores what businesses must do to transform themselves into effective global citizens and examines ways in which strategic and responsible practice can be associated with bottom-line benefits.  The course explores the tools necessary for excellence in strategic social responsibility and begins by examining social marketing tools for motivating customers to change their behavior and to care about the social and environmental attributes of the products they consume. It then examines how businesses can improve social and business performance by applying performance management tools to an expanded conception of economic and social value creation.

Business at the Base of the Pyramid (Second Year, Winter Term)
Professor V. Kasturi “Kash” Rangan and Senior Lecturer Michael Chu
The course seeks to provide an understanding of how business approaches can address low-income markets that at times represent the largest components of developing economies, both in numbers of people as well as in total income. The course materials explore the commercial viability of such markets, and attempt to examine the impact of such business approaches on the social and economic development of the populations involved. The course is composed of an introduction and four main modules: Basic Services, Microfinance, Production of Goods and Services, and Consumption of Goods and Services.

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Executive Education Programs

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Strategies to Create Business and Social Value is designed to provide senior corporate executives in a variety of industries with the knowledge and practical tools and frameworks for integrating social responsibility as part of their corporate strategy. The program explores how corporate social responsibility can significantly improve business performance, how to incorporate it into the company strategy, and how to drive it throughout the organization. Through an in-depth exploration of the dilemmas, challenges, and complexities inherent to existing models of CSR, the program pushes the frontiers of the field and brings into focus the next generation of issues facing practitioners.

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