COURSE NUMBER: MBA 292I.11
This
course is cross-listed with the EWMBA Program
Please
note the unorthodox format of this course which meets all day on two Sundays. To earn a passing grade, you must attend BOTH class
sessions in their entirety.
COURSE TITLE: Social Investing - Recent
Findings in Management and Finance
UNITS OF CREDIT: 1.0
INSTRUCTOR: Lloyd Kurtz
E-MAIL ADDRESS: lkurtz@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: https://bspace.berkeley.edu/
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Sunday,
9:00AM-5:00PM, (9/14 & 9/28)
PREREQUISITE(S): None, but some
training in finance, investments, statistics, and/or management theory will be
helpful.
CLASS FORMAT:
The course will cover four broad topics
- 1) The Social Investment Landscape (lecture/discussion), 2) Corporate Social
Responsibility and Stakeholder Analysis (lecture/discussion), 3) Markets and
Social Responsibility (lecture/discussion) and 4) Social Investment Strategies
(student group presentations)
REQUIRED READINGS: A packet of readings
will be provided prior to the first class session.
Background material may be found on the
following websites:
http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/responsiblebusiness/MoskowitzResearchProgram.html
http://www.sristudies.org (an older online archive, currently being transitioned to FSinsight)
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Group project,
final paper, class participation.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the theory
and practice of modern social investing, and to introduce you to recent research
in the field. With new impetus from the United Nations Principles for
Responsible Investment, the use of ESG (environmental, social, and governance)
criteria is becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the world. Social
investing is moving toward the mainstream – and at the same time receiving a
new level of scrutiny. Social investors have placed themselves - some perhaps
unwittingly - at the center of an important debate. On one hand, many ethical
and religious traditions advocate altruism and community-mindedness in all our
dealings, including financial and business matters. On the other, some economic
and financial theorists argue for a narrow focus on risk and reward, with
little regard for the impact of decisions on stakeholder groups or the environment.
Until recently, this debate was largely ideological in nature. But over the
past decade, empirical work has shown surprising and sometimes
counter-intuitive relationships between ESG factors and financial outcomes.
This course will review four social investment approaches in detail, along with
related academic studies, and encourage you to do your own analysis and develop
your own views on the field of social investment..
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Lloyd Kurtz is Chief Investment Officer
at Nelson Capital Management. He has been affiliated with the Haas Center for
Responsible Business since 2005, where he oversees the Center's annual Moskowitz Prize for the best quantitative study of social
investing, acts as faculty advisor to the Haas Socially Responsible Investment
Fund, and serves on the editorial board of FSinsight
(fsinsight.org). His recent research includes a Fall
2011 article on social investment universe performance in the Journal of
Investing and a chapter on stakeholder management for the textbook Socially
Responsible Finance and Investing (Wiley). He also wrote the chapter on
social investment for the 2008 Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social
Responsibility. He holds Bachelors degrees in English
and Psychology from Vassar College and an MBA from Babson College, and is a
Chartered Financial Analyst.