Course

Module 1

Module 1: Corporate Social Responsibility (6 hours)

1. What is CSR
2. CSR in India: The Two Percent Bill
3. The CSR Debate

Module 2

Module 2: Legal Aspects of NGO Management (6 hours)

1. Laws Governing NGOs.
2. Fundraising.

Module 3

Module 3: Poverty (6 hours)

1. What is Poverty.
2. Inequality.
3. Building Empathy for the Disadvantaged.

Module 4

Module 4: Social Entrepreneurs (6 hours)

1. What is Social Entrepreneurship.
2. Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs.

Module 5

Module 5: Social Marketing (6 hours)

1. Principles of Social Marketing.
2. Frameworks to Understand Target Audience.
3. Principles of Designing a Social Marketing Campaign.

Course Description

The course ‘Management Beyond Profit: The Heart of Sustainable Business” is designed to equip MBA students with the knowledge and skills to support social initiatives or even become social change-makers themselves. This course will help students gain an understanding of sustainable business and CSR. India is one of the first nations to make CSR mandatory for qualifying firms under Section 135 of the Indian Companies Act. India’s Two Percent CSR bill, while being a positive step for the social engagement of businesses, is not without its challenges. In this course, we will explore the implication of this law for Indian businesses. In order to engage in effective CSR, we need to understand issues of poverty and underdevelopment. The course will seek to deepen our understanding of the complex issues surrounding poverty and inequality by exploring the lives of the poor through real-life exercises, discussions and readings. We will seek to gain a better understanding of the lives of the poor and their (seemingly irrational) behaviours such as not saving (when they could), not investing in education or (what appears as) excessive spending on addictions.

In this course, we will enter the world of social entrepreneurs — individuals with innovative solutions to pressing social, cultural, and environmental challenges. We will learn how each one of us can be a change-maker if we have the desire and the commitment. We will also gain exposure to the legal compliance aspects of running an NGO in India.

The final section of the course focuses on social marketing, a tool that can be used to bring about positive social change. Social marketing uses marketing principles to influence behaviour that benefits both individuals and society. Social marketing has been used successfully to bring about positive impact in programmes on HIV/AIDS prevention, polio eradication, childhood obesity, environmental protection, and community development, wearing helmets and increasing recycling. The final project in the course is designing a social marketing strategy for a pressing social or environmental issue.

Course Outcomes& Learning levels

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Explain what corporate social responsibility is and the legal framework of CSR in India according to the Companies Act (Understand).
2. Analyze the causes of poverty and suggest poverty alleviation measures (Apply).
3. Compare different strategies adopted by social entrepreneurs to bring about positive social change (Analyze).
4. Apply knowledge of legal aspects of NGO Management to a scenario (Apply).
5. Create a social marketing campaign to address a social issue (Create).

Evaluation Pattern

*Based on assignments / Tests / Quizzes / Case Studies / Projects / Term paper / Field visit report.

1. Deshpande, Sameer and Nancy Le e (2013) Social Marketing in India. Sage Publications
2. Kotler, P. T., & Lee, N. R. (2009) Up and out of poverty: The social marketing solution. Pearson Prentice Hall.
3. Banerjee, Abhijit and Duflo, Esther (2019) Good Economics for Hard Times. Hachette Group.
4. Chambers, Robert (1983). Rural Development: Putting the Last First. Longman Scientific and Technical. New York.
5. Laws, Sophie, Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus (2003) Research for Development. Vistaar Publications. New Delhi.