COURSE NUMBER:  EWMBA 292C.11

COURSE TITLE:  Strategic Corporate Sustainability

 UNITS OF CREDIT:  2

INSTRUCTOR:  Kellie A. McElhaney

E-MAIL ADDRESS:  kmack@haas.berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL):

http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/responsiblebusiness/teaching.htm#consulting

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Saturdays, 1-6 pm

CLASS DATES: SIX total class meetings. All classes will be here at Haas

Jan. 26
Feb 23
Mar 16
Apr 13
May 4
May 18

PREREQUISITE(S):   None.

CLASS FORMAT:  Mixture of lecture, cases, corporate speakers, and company consulting engagement.

REQUIRED READINGS: 

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE (midterm, final, paper(s), project(s), class participation, or a mixture):  Mixture of all.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

This is a corporate strategy course focused on maximizing value.  We will focus on developing corporate sustainability strategies linked to a firm’s core competencies and business objectives that will reduce operational costs, differentiate brands, attract and retain employees, open up new markets, lead to innovative products and services.

Students will be exposed to the theories, frameworks, and cases of corporate sustainability.   We investigate "good practices" of companies who have implemented socially responsible strategies while maintaining or maximizing financial returns.  Students will develop their own repertoire of tools and implementation strategies that can be utilized across industries and sectors to set up CSR strategies that yield both financial and social profit.  Students will gain both a broad understanding of the issues within external and internal corporate responsibility, and deep vertical knowledge on industries of their selection. 

Students will have the opportunity to work on current, in-depth consulting projects within their own companies. After reviewing and analyzing any existing sustainability efforts, students will refine and/or develop new strategy focus ­aligned with business objectives and core competencies. Projects might include, but are not limited to, the following: social media for good; social intrapreneurship laboratories; employee engagement strategies; energy management; consumer segmentation and awareness; brand and communication strategies. It is an opportunity for you to put your newly learned theory into practice with real-world, complex, multidisciplinary CSR problems. It is expected that the company will be implementing the students' recommendations, which will be backed with solid data. 

Students will emerge ready to develop and implement strategic CSR within their own companies and industries through any job function.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Dr. McElhaney is the Alexander Faculty Fellow and the founding Faculty Director of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.  She launched this center in 2003, which has helped place corporate responsibility squarely as one of the core competencies and competitive advantages of the Haas School.  Her Center has received global critical acclaim with The Financial Times rating Haas #1 in the world in 2008.  Professor McElhaney teaches courses on Strategic Corporate Sustainability, which include in-depth, experiential consulting engagements with companies on real-world, high-visibility strategic CSR challenges, in all of the MBA degree programs at Haas.   She is the author of the book entitled Just Good Business   The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand.

Kellie consults to several Global 1000 companies in developing integrated CSR strategy, bridging her academic focus with the practitioner world.   Her client list includes HP, Gap, eBay, McDonalds, Levi, Wal-Mart, Target, Clorox, Ernst & Young, NVIDIA, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Nokia (Finland), Navigant, Volunteer Match, Ford Motor Company, PG&E, Driscolls Berries, Triage Consulting Group, Ulster Bank (Ireland), Kimberly-Clark, Frontline, Accenture, Statoil Hydro (Norway), Yum! Brands, Sunpower, and Chevron.