Courses

First-Year Required Curriculum

During the first year at Harvard Business School, all students pursue the same course of study: the Required Curriculum (RC). By studying under a common curriculum, students build a solid, broad foundation of general management concepts and skills across key disciplines. The Required Curriculum incorporates social enterprise cases and topics in several courses ranging from finance to entrepreneurship. As a result, all students learn about social enterprise related topics and considerations from various functional perspectives.

Leadership & Corporate Accountability

In Leadership & Corporate Accountability (LCA), 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.

Social Purpose of the Firm

Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF) is a short module designed to explore how, and under what circumstances, private firms can help address some of society’s greatest challenges. Each of the five cases describes a set of leaders trying to “make a difference in the world” – that is, to harness the resources of the firm to tackle massive problems such as climate change, poverty, or economic development. Together, the cases are thus designed to help students think about what it actually means to make a difference, and what it takes. How do would-be leaders identify the problems or challenges they wish to tackle? What enables them to craft solutions that other individuals or organizations have missed? Under what circumstances are private firms a reasonable solution to society’s problems? And when should they cede this role to other players instead?

Second-Year Elective Curriculum

In their second Elective Curriculum (EC) year, students choose from a range of Social Enterprise elective courses, enabling the integration of the frameworks and functional skills learned in the first year into an understanding of the organization as a total enterprise. In order to design a tailored curriculum to meet their academic goals students may take any combination of courses; pursue field-based independent projects; integrate social enterprise topics through required papers or projects in other courses; and cross-register for courses in other select graduate programs.