COURSE NUMBER: MBA292T.2
COURSE TITLE: Strategic CSR and Projects
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3
INSTRUCTOR: Kellie McElhaney
E-MAIL ADDRESS: kmack@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL):
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30-11:00 AM
PREREQUISITE(S): None.
CLASS FORMAT: Mixture of lecture, cases, guest speakers, individual and
group assignments and projects, hands-on experiences, and highly interactive.
REQUIRED READINGS: Course reader.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Class participation, assignments, and group
project.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Companies face a multiplicity of challenges in evaluating the
long-term impacts of their business decisions…they need managers with an
ability to understand diverse cultural, social, and political systems; to cope
with vastly different infrastructure and resource issues; to work with
organizations such as the UN, the World Bank, and NGOs...Few MBAs are being
trained to think about such things and few have the skills to successfully
tackle these issues.
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Beyond Grey Pinstripes report, 2001
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There is a growing body of research indicating that a visible
commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is being demanded by
stakeholders and has clear implications for the corporate bottom line.
Corporations look to their management teams to implement policies and practices
that contribute to long-term responsible success of their enterprises and that
fairly balance the competing claims of key stakeholders: investors,
employees, customers, business partners, communities, vendors, and the
environment. Unfortunately, this theory often remains disconnected from
practical application: How will you, as corporate leaders, develop and
implement these CSR practices and programs? How will you motivate your
organizations to behave in a socially sustainable manner? What are
impacts of sound CSR programs on employees, the community, the company, and
ultimately, the bottom line?
In this course, you will learn from "Best Practices" of companies who
have attempted to implement CSR strategy. You will then develop your own tool
set of guidelines and implementation strategies that can be utilized across
industries and sectors in setting up socially responsible programs. You will
utilize your knowledge by investigating real companies, including: the analysis
of the company and its position within the community; the development of a
value proposition for the company; the recommendation of CSR programs and practices;
the development of motivation and implementation strategies; and the making the
business case for CSR to your Board and CEO.
Students will leave this class armed with a tool set of best strategic
practices from current companies, and through the in-depth analysis of a
company, you will learn how to analyze, develop, and make recommendations for
strategic CSR programming and its implementation. You will emerge ready to
implement this strategic CSR within your own companies and industries.
The second part of this class will be a live consulting project with companies-
projects will be presented in class and, in teams, you will select your
project - working on various aspects of their CSR strategies. It will be
your opportunity to put your newly learned theory into practice with real-world
complex CSR problems. Projects might involve human rights, socially
responsible investing, public/ private partnerships, transparent reporting,
social entrepreneurship, co-branding, strategic philanthropy, dealing with
NGOs, or strategic CSR planning. You will work with a company
liaison, your team of students, and me on this project, and have formal reports
and presentations throughout and at the end. It is expected that the company
will be implementing your recommendations, which will be backed with solid
data.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Dr. McElhaney has been in academia since 1993, in both a teaching and
management/ leadership capacity. She is currently the Whitehead
Distinguished Professor of Corporate Responsibility and the Executive Director
of Socially Responsible Leadership Initiatives at the Haas School of Business
at the University of California, Berkeley. She teaches courses in
strategic corporate social responsibility for both MBA and undergraduate students.
She is also developing a new start-up “Center for CSR” at Haas, which includes
the following: developing the Center’s mission and strategic plan;
raising funds; putting together a management team; integrating the various
areas of CSR into the curriculum and expanding Haas’s current curricular
offerings; facilitating, coordinating, and conducting research; developing and
managing both an external Advisory Board and an internal Faculty Advisory
Board; and developing programs and activities that support the Center’s
mission. Professor McElhaney is also the Faculty Advisor to the net
Impact Club and a Board member of Young Entrepreneurs at Haas, the YEAH
Program.
Dr. McElhaney came to Haas from the University of Michigan Business School
where she spent nine years teaching and leading. At UMBS she was the
Managing Director of the Corporate Environmental Management Program, and an
Adjunct Professor of Corporate Strategy. While at UMBS, Professor
McElhaney developed and introduced several courses on CSR into the MBA and BBA
curricula.
Kellie’s undergraduate degree is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill; her master’s degree is from Ohio University; and her Ph.D. is from
the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Before returning to academia for
her doctoral degree, Dr. McElhaney worked in acquisitions and mergers in the
retail banking industry. She currently serves on the Board of various non
profits, most notably The Forte Foundation, whose mission is to increase
women’s participation in business. She has two daughters, Isabel, age
three and Juliana age one, and a husband, Dave Weinerth, and resides in Upper
Rockridge in Oakland.