What happens when companies rethink the intersection between society's challenges and corporate performance? Developed and led by HBS faculty cochairs Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, this innovative program explores how companies can build competitive advantage by incorporating social and environmental factors into their core strategy. You will return with the frameworks to help your company create Shared Value and capitalize on emerging growth opportunities.

Summary: What happens when companies rethink the intersection between society's challenges and corporate performance? Developed and led by HBS faculty cochairs Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, this innovative program explores how companies can build competitive advantage by incorporating social and environmental factors into their core strategy. You will return with the frameworks to help your company create Shared Value and capitalize on emerging growth opportunities.

Key Benefits

Going beyond social responsibility, philanthropy, and sustainability, the Shared Value business model represents a new path to economic success by focusing on the unmet societal needs your company can address. This powerful program prompts a shift in your perspective, motivates you to redefine your business model, and explores the competitive advantages of building social impact into your company's business strategy and operations.

Key Benefits

Redefine corporate purpose to address important societal challenges

Develop and implement an effective corporate Shared Value strategy

Identify and drive organizational changes that support your Shared Value strategy

Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Who Should Attend

Senior corporate executives engaged in corporate strategy, new business development, and operations management—such as chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief financial officers, senior vice presidents, executive directors, managing directors, heads of divisions or business units, and heads of social impact
Nonprofit or government leaders interested in forging strategic business partnerships
Not appropriate for: Executives engaged solely in corporate social responsibility or community relations

Participating Companies Have Included:

Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited

Banque Atlantique Senegal

Barry Callebaut

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Cuestamoras

Enbridge

Enel

Grupo Bimbo

Maple Leaf Foods

The McKnight Foundation

Mitsubishi

Unilever

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Who Should Attend: Senior corporate executives engaged in corporate strategy, new business development, and operations management—such as chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief financial officers, senior vice presidents, executive directors, managing directors, heads of divisions or business units, and heads of social impact

Nonprofit or government leaders interested in forging strategic business partnerships

Not appropriate for: Executives engaged solely in corporate social responsibility or community relations

Participating Companies Have Included:

Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited

Banque Atlantique Senegal

Barry Callebaut

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Cuestamoras

Enbridge

Enel

Grupo Bimbo

Maple Leaf Foods

The McKnight Foundation

Mitsubishi

Unilever

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Learn More Learn More

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Learn More Learn More

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Learn More Learn More

Learning and Living at HBS

When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Learning and Living at HBS: When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Admissions Criteria and Process

We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis, and encourage you to apply as early as possible. Although most programs have no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Our Program Advising team can help you at any stage of the admissions process—starting with identifying the program that best addresses your learning and development goals. Contact a program advisor via email or call 1.800.427.5577 (outside the U.S., call +1.617.495.6555).

Application Submission

We recommend that you apply at least four weeks before the program start date. You may use our online form or download an application. HBS maintains all application information in strict confidentiality. We acknowledge receipt of applications via email. In the unlikely event that you do not receive an acknowledgment, please email us at exed_admissions@hbs.edu or call us at +1.617.495.6226.

Application Review

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, our Admissions Committee makes selections that balance each participant's experience, scope of current responsibilities, and type of organization. HBS seeks candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds. We review applications monthly and will contact you via email with the Admissions Committee's decision.

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals. No payment is necessary until you have been accepted. Payment is required prior to the program start date. If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

What You Will Learn

Featuring faculty presentations, case studies, guest speakers, and group discussions, this corporate shared value program explores how companies in all industries can achieve economic success in ways that also create value for society. By examining shared value business model concepts, applications, and implementations, you will discover the opportunities presented by reconceiving products and markets, redefining productivity in the value chain, and enhancing the operating environment.

In addition to delivering concrete tools for creating Shared Value, the program explores examples of innovative organizations, such as Discovery Ltd., Becton Dickinson, Nestlé, Yara International, Enel, and Walmart.

What You Will Learn

Key TopicsExpand All Collapse All

Designing a shared value strategy Designing a shared value strategy

Identifying and analyzing social issues and unmet societal needs
Entering underserved markets to gain a strategic advantage
Increasing productivity in your value chain through new approaches to purchasing, resource utilization, logistical methods, and workforce practices
Strengthening the business environment in the locations where your company operates
Managing the transition from conventional to Shared Value business definition and models

Building social purpose into the corporate mission Building social purpose into the corporate mission

Analyzing the implications for your corporate portfolio and priorities
Conceiving and launching new offerings to address social challenges

Implementing shared value across the organization Implementing shared value across the organization

Developing the organizational structures and incentives necessary to innovate and support Shared Value
Measuring and reporting the social and business benefits of the Shared Value created
Forging successful cross-sector partnerships to create Shared Value with other stakeholders, including governments and nonprofit organizations

Making the shared value case to investors Making the shared value case to investors

Evaluating why Shared Value must become part of core investment analysis
Communicating your Shared Value case effectively to all investors

Key Topics

Designing a shared value strategy

Identifying and analyzing social issues and unmet societal needs
Entering underserved markets to gain a strategic advantage
Increasing productivity in your value chain through new approaches to purchasing, resource utilization, logistical methods, and workforce practices
Strengthening the business environment in the locations where your company operates
Managing the transition from conventional to Shared Value business definition and models

Building social purpose into the corporate mission

Analyzing the implications for your corporate portfolio and priorities
Conceiving and launching new offerings to address social challenges

Implementing shared value across the organization

Developing the organizational structures and incentives necessary to innovate and support Shared Value
Measuring and reporting the social and business benefits of the Shared Value created
Forging successful cross-sector partnerships to create Shared Value with other stakeholders, including governments and nonprofit organizations

Making the shared value case to investors

Evaluating why Shared Value must become part of core investment analysis
Communicating your Shared Value case effectively to all investors

The HBS Advantage

This Harvard Business School Executive Education program was developed by and is taught by HBS professor Michael E. Porter, the leading authority on strategy and competitiveness, along with Harvard Kennedy School senior fellow Mark R. Kramer. One of the most-cited authors in business and economics, Professor Porter has authored 18 books and has written a series of articles on the role of business in society.

Faculty Cochair

Mark R. Kramer

Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and cochair of "Creating Shared Value."

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Michael E. Porter

Bishop William Lawrence University Professor. Member of the Strategy Unit; and director of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. Faculty chair of "Strategy for Health Care Delivery"; faculty cochair of "Creating Shared Value" and of "Value Measurement for Health Care."

Read Full Bio

Faculty

V. Kasturi Rangan

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing; cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. Member of the Marketing Unit. He is the author of Transforming Your Go-to-Market Strategy: Three Disciplines of Channel Management. Cochair of "Managing Sales Teams and Distribution Channels."

Read Full Bio

George Serafeim

Professor of Business Administration.

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The HBS Advantage: This Harvard Business School Executive Education program was developed by and is taught by HBS professor Michael E. Porter, the leading authority on strategy and competitiveness, along with Harvard Kennedy School senior fellow Mark R. Kramer. One of the most-cited authors in business and economics, Professor Porter has authored 18 books and has written a series of articles on the role of business in society.

Faculty Cochair

Mark R. Kramer

Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and cochair of "Creating Shared Value."

Read Full Bio

Michael E. Porter

Bishop William Lawrence University Professor. Member of the Strategy Unit; and director of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. Faculty chair of "Strategy for Health Care Delivery"; faculty cochair of "Creating Shared Value" and of "Value Measurement for Health Care."

Read Full Bio

Faculty

V. Kasturi Rangan

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing; cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. Member of the Marketing Unit. He is the author of Transforming Your Go-to-Market Strategy: Three Disciplines of Channel Management. Cochair of "Managing Sales Teams and Distribution Channels."

Read Full Bio

George Serafeim

Professor of Business Administration.

Read Full Bio