COURSE
NUMBER: MBA 292T.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.
COURSE
TITLE: Social Investing - Recent Findings in Management and Finance UNITS OF
CREDIT: 1 Unit
INSTRUCTOR:
Lloyd Kurtz
E-MAIL
ADDRESS: lkurtz@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB
PAGE LOCATION: https://bspace.berkeley.edu/
MEETING
DAY(S)/TIME: Sundays, 9:00AM-5:00PM, on September 9 and September 23.
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 forthcoming 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.