Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainabilty

Corporate Social Responsibility – Sustainability Initiative is a combined classroom and project based course devoted to creating tangible and meaningful solutions for large sustainability projects in the Atlanta area. The learning goals for the course are two-fold.

First, we will address a number of practical cases of sustainability initiatives within the for-profit and not-for-profit space. Our goal in doing so is to understand the real-life challenges and perceived trade-offs that organizations face as they move toward a vision and business "model" that embraces, and benefits from,sustainability. The premise of the course is that sustainability initiatives are not zero sum games. We will understand the evidence and the strategies that build win-win solutions for adopting organizations and society as a whole. It is expected that 3 to 4 of the classes will be devoted to learning and understanding the context, environment and challenges of sustainability initiatives (i.e. traditional class instruction and learning).

The second goal is "Just Do it". In co-operation and co-ordination with the City of Atlanta Office of Sustainability, participants in the course will work in teams on at least four different concrete initiatives. I cannot overemphasize that these are real-time projects. They are not academic exercises, nor are they classroom projects, but live consulting engagements. What they have in common is the City’s need for expert guidance on how best to structure and implement sustainability initiatives. Preliminary projects are:

1. Create a marketing strategy to best promote the City of Atlanta's energy efficiency rebate program. The City of Atlanta is interested in understanding why the rebate program is experiencing lower than expected demand, and how best to stimulate the demand.

2. Evaluate and make recommendations regarding the City of Atlanta’s financing of energy efficient projects. In particular, the City of Atlanta is looking for guidance on the use of PACE (“property assessed clean energy”) financing programs. PACE programs involve the municipality issuing a bond where the proceeds are lent to commercial and residential property owners to finance energy retrofits (efficiency measures and small renewable energy systems) and who then repay their loans over the assigned term (typically 15 or 20 years) via an annual assessment on their property tax bill.

3. Evaluate and make recommendations on options for the City of Atlanta to decide amongst different fleet replacement options (biofuel, CNG, electric, hybrid, hydrogen).

4. Create a strategy for the City to build infrastructure (refueling stations - when, where, how many) in order to support alternative fuel availability with the goal of stimulating greener transportation modes by greater Atlanta residents.

In keeping with the second goal for this course a number of our class meetings will be devoted to understanding how to structure and manage a consulting engagement, including statement of work, managing timelines, managing expectations, conducting value-added research, etc. We will devote a couple of sessions so that each team may update its progress, ask for guidance from the class, and if necessary refine their engagement.

What makes this opportunity so valuable and unique is the extent of access and support that GBS is receiving from the City. You may question that focusing on one branch of the government may limit learning spillover to other organizations, specifically NGOs and for-profit enterprises. At first blush this is a valid concern, however the projects address exactly the same suite of questions that these other organizations are tackling. They also desperately require the expertise that our MBA program can bring to bear on vital challenges of our times. The boon for us is that these projects are in need of solutions now and are relatively clearly defined; you will NOT be knocking around large corporations or NGOs interested in some CSR window-dressing. You will be setting sustainability strategy for one of the largest cities in the United States. Participants will be evaluated on their performance throughout their course on the quality of their engagement work including their research, commitment, and engagement with the client. The quality of the final engagement report will represent the most significant dimension of evaluation. Class preparation and participation will also factor in the evaluation. There will deadlines throughout the course for milestone submissions in the engagement that teams must meet. These too will be evaluated.