Corporate Social Responsibility:
Strategic Integration and Competitiveness
(in partnership with ESADE Business School)

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2009 Dates: April 22 - 24, 2009
Application Deadline: April 1, 2009
Program Tuition: 3.900€
Location: ESADE Business School, Barcelona, Spain



Today’s global businesses face a daunting challenge – achieve and sustain competitive advantage while empowering customers and communities to grow and prosper. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an organization’s obligation to consider the interests of their customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and the ecology and to consider the social and environmental consequences of their business activities. By integrating CSR into core business processes and stakeholder management, organizations can achieve the ultimate goal of creating both social value and corporate value.

This course explores different ways in which companies can incorporate societal and environmental perspectives into strategic thinking, as well as the challenges and dilemmas involved in this process. The aim is to expose executives from different industries to state-of-the-art knowledge on responsibility and sustainability in business, as well as to reflect on how these issues impact business strategy. 

Content Overview

The CSR agenda addresses a wide array of issues, from managing corporate philanthropy to achieving responsible competitiveness. This program is designed to focus on strategic CSR issues, namely stakeholder management, corporate strategy, supply chain, collaborations with nongovernmental agencies (NGOs). Through an in-depth exploration and discussion of these issues participants will learn:

•  Models to understand how organizations simultaneously can create economic value and societal value while managing complex stakeholder relationships

• Analytical capacity to identify new risks and opportunities and respond accordingly

• Strategies to gain competitive advantage through responsible and sustainable practices, including sustainable supply chain management

• Ability to translate CSR philosophy and rhetoric into smart practices

• CSR practices and leadership skills as internal change agents

Key Takeaways

• Skills and concepts to grow as corporate directors of CSR or related areas
• Methods for incorporating social and environmental concerns into particular functional areas while maintaining a strategic view
• Exposure to a variety of examples, cases, and experiences which can be applied to their professional context
• Application of concepts to the organization’s particular situation (participants will be asked to work on the link to their business practice during the course)
• Strategic, proactive vision that reflects CSR values while emphasizing competitive advantage, innovation, and leadership