Resources

Corporate Responsibility

Select Books, Chapters, and Multimedia Products

Harvard Business Review on Corporate Responsibility (Paperback). Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003.
Social Enterprise Faculty Seminar Series CDs
“Corporate Social Responsibility”
"Strategic Alliances: The Power of Partnering Between Nonprofits and Businesses"
(For information on available nonprofit rates, please contact the Social Enterprise Initiative).

Select Articles and Working Papers

Aaron K. Chatterji, David I. Levine, and Michael W. Toffel. “How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?” Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (forthcoming)
Rosabeth Moss Kanter. “From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as Beta Site for Business Innovation,” Harvard Business Review (May-June 1999).
Herman B. Leonard and V. Kasturi Rangan. “Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and Boards of Directors,” Boardroom Briefing, no. 2, Vol. 4 (First Quarter, winter 2006).
Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer. “Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility,” Harvard Business Review (December 2006).
Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer, and Simon Zadek. “Redefining Corporate Social Responsibility,” Harvard Business Review OnPoint Collection (February 2007).
Forest L. Reinhardt, Robert N. Stavins, and Richard H. K. Vietor. “Corporate Social Responsibility through an Economic Lens” HBS Working Knowledge (June 2008).

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.

Select Cases and Notes

“ABN AMRO REAL: Banking on Sustainability” (9-305-100)
Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho
“Charles Veillon, S.A. (A)” (9-307-002)
Lynn Sharp Paine, and Aldo Sesia Jr.
“IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A)” (9-906-414)
Christopher A. Bartlett, Vincent Dessain, and Anders Sjoman
“Patrimonio Hoy” (9-805-064)
Arthur I. Segel, Michael Chu, and Gustavo Herrero
“Timberland: Commerce and Justice” (9-305-002)
James E. Austin, Herman B. Leonard, and James W. Quinn

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

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).

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.

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.