Corporate Social Responsibility
Strategies to Create Business and Social Value
Increasingly, corporate executives must find new ways to address the social, economic, and environmental effects of doing business while balancing conflicting demands on their attention, time, and resources. Emphasizing the alignment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with business strategy, this program helps you define priorities, integrate social responsibility throughout your business, and build social and business value. You will strengthen your ability to define and implement powerful CSR strategies that position the firm, its reputation, and its way of doing business for enduring success.
What You Can Expect
Corporate Social Responsibility explores the challenges and opportunities of current CSR models, as well as the next generation of issues that business practitioners will face. New frameworks and concepts will help you sharpen your program's focus and integrate social responsibility throughout operations in order to position your firm for higher levels of success.
Your Course of Study
This intensive program focuses on the practices of companies that have successfully created business and social value through focused, aligned, and integrated CSR programs. It provides the practical knowledge and insight you need to improve decision making, leverage partnerships, manage risk, and measure performance.
Who Is Right for the Program
The program is specifically designed for senior executives who direct corporate social responsibility programs or oversee departments such as public affairs, philanthropy, sustainability, environmental health and safety, or community affairs. Senior officers with profit-and-loss responsibilities will benefit from attending.
| Fee: | $7,500 |
The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.
Programs, dates, fees, and faculty are subject to change.
In accordance with Harvard University policy, Harvard Business School does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex or sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, veteran status, or disability in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities.
What You Can Expect
Emphasizing the alignment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with business strategy, this program will enable you to integrate social responsibility throughout your firm in ways that benefit both society and your business. You will learn how to develop an overarching CSR strategy suited to the unique requirements of your organization—one that addresses the social, economic, and environmental effects of doing business. As you work to enhance your current strategy or build a new direction for your firm, you will enhance your ability to set priorities, measure results, and communicate the value of these efforts throughout the organization. Specifically, you will improve your ability to:
- Create competitive advantage through CSR
- Assess risks and opportunities before making capital investments or other business decisions
- Align CSR strategies with organizational goals and capabilities
- Evaluate current initiatives and consolidate efforts around key objectives
- Present the business case for CSR initiatives
- Implement CSR at all levels of the company
- Understand how CSR directly impacts current and future regulatory practices
- Foster successful interaction with key internal and external stakeholders as well as governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
How Will My Organization Benefit?
The Corporate Social Responsibility program at Harvard Business School goes far beyond the basic transmission of skills and theories. This leadership development program offers an unparalleled learning experience designed to deliver the latest insights on global business strategy and provides applicable lessons in the classroom that can be implemented successfully within your organization. Our groundbreaking curriculum, world-renowned faculty, and elite gathering of international peers provide you with a broader perspective on the new economy—and a framework for success that you can bring back and implement across your organization.
"This program provided the intellectual tools I need to take the lead in championing CSR across my company. The networking and sharing of best practices through the business case discussions were enlightening and extremely interesting. I was able to reflect on how other companies are integrating CSR in their business strategy—and how to leverage our CSR approach for business value."
Helene V. Gagnon [Vice President, Public Affairs, Communications and Corporate Responsibility], Bombardier Aerospace, Canada
Your Course of Study
Through recent case studies, lectures, and small group discussions, you will examine how successful businesses develop a CSR strategy that is integrated with the long-term needs of the business. In addition, you will have numerous opportunities to learn from the diverse experiences and perspectives of peers from around the world. Core topics include:
Integrating Social and Organizational Values
- Making the business case for social responsibility by calculating costs and benefits
- Recognizing the links between the welfare of society and the success of the organization
- Examining opportunities designed to benefit the organization as well as the community
- Integrating corporate social responsibility best practices into key business areas
- Identifying and managing the positive and negative impacts of business activities on society
Driving Social Responsibility Throughout the Organization
- Aligning social responsibility strategies and goals with organizational objectives • Embedding CSR within the business culture to sustain the strategy over the long term • Building CSR expertise through hiring and partnerships • Integrating social responsibility metrics into general performance management systems • Disseminating information on CSR policies throughout the organization • Demonstrating how CSR practices continue to affect individuals and departments • Communicating the impact of social responsibility to capital markets, shareholders, and other stakeholders
Managing Risk and Decision Making
- Evaluating complex environments and potential impacts before investing capital or making business decisions
- Interacting successfully with governments, NGOs, and stakeholders
- Decentralizing CSR to allow for local differences and optimizations across the organization
- Identifying current vulnerabilities and predicting future pitfalls related to business practices
- Developing preparation and prevention processes for handling crisis scenarios
- Integrating CSR initiatives in vendor and supplier agreements
"I wanted to get acquainted with the North American model of corporate social responsibility, which is quite different from the European one. The program helped me to see the importance of networking and partnering with organizations—not only with NGOs, but also with consumer organizations, unions, and others. I now have a deeper understanding of what defines real leadership. The program was truly 'mind opening.' "
Esther Trujillo [CSR Manager], Telefonica, Spain
Who Is Right for the Program
This program is designed for senior executives who direct CSR programs or oversee departments such as public affairs, philanthropy, sustainability, environmental health and safety, or community affairs. Senior officers with profit-and-loss responsibilities will benefit from attending.
Individuals or teams from companies representing a variety of industries are appropriate. While the perspective is corporate, a limited number of senior nonprofit executives who supervise large-scale strategic corporate partnerships will be considered for admission, ideally as part of a corporate-nonprofit team.
This program is not targeted to management support organizations or consulting firms. Typical participant titles may include, but are not limited to:
- CEO/Executive director
- Senior vice president
- Vice president of corporate and community relations
- Vice president of corporate social responsibility
- Vice president of development
- Vice president of environmental health and safety
- Director of corporate social responsibility
- Director of corporate/community relations
Visit the admissions section for details about our application process.
Past Participants Represented:
| Industries | Nationalities | ||||
| 3% | Chem/Pharm/Bio | 5% | Africa | ||
| 4% | Communications | 5% | Asia | ||
| 14% | Consumer Products | 3% | Australia/NZ | ||
| 14% | Financial | 27% | Europe | ||
| 1% | High Technology | 14% | Latin America | ||
| 10% | Manufacturing | 1% | Middle East | ||
| 9% | Nonprofit Services | 43% | North America | ||
| 5% | Other | 2% | Other | ||
| 5% | Other Services | ||||
| 7% | Professional Services | ||||
| 10% | Raw Materials/Energy | ||||
| 4% | Real Estate/Construction | ||||
| 4% | Retail Services | ||||
| 10% | Utilities/Telecommunications | ||||
"I attended the program to become more focused on what corporate social responsibility really means, to learn from others' experiences, and to discover new ways to improve our efforts. It was a very enriching experience. All of the cases selected were excellent, and the professors expertly guided us through the case discussions until the important issues in each case were illuminated. As a result of the program, I feel more confident about my decisions, and I have a stronger network of peers."
Luciana Puente [Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility], Banco de CrÉdito del Peru, Peru
Meet the Program Faculty
Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Corporate Social Responsibility is developed and taught by a core faculty of HBS professors. Our faculty members are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors.
Through publishing, consulting, and teaching, they leverage their business expertise and field-based research to create new knowledge and enduring concepts that shape the practice of management. The result is a teaching team that exposes participants to multiple perspectives, challenging their thinking and encouraging new practices that result in superior business leadership. For more detailed biographies, click on each faculty name.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration. Member of the General Management Unit.
Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School. George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management Teaching Programs, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Member of the General Management Unit; cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative; and faculty chair of "Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management" and "Governing for Nonprofit Excellence."
Christopher Marquis, Assistant Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit.
Jane Nelson, Senior Fellow. Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.
V. Kasturi Rangan, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing. Cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative; member of the Marketing Unit; and faculty chair of "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategies to Create Business and Social Value."
Michael W. Toffel, Assistant Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Technology and Operations Management Unit.
"The most useful aspect of the CSR program was the ability to compare notes with a diverse group of leaders. In an emerging field with a limited number of practitioners, the program offered an invaluable opportunity to obtain input on my business strategies. I left energized and excited about developing and supporting programs that deliver environmental and social results-while at the same time driving business results."
COLEMAN BIGELOW [PRODUCT DIRECTOR, SUSTAINABLE BRAND MARKETING], JOHNSON & JOHNSON WW EHS, U.S.