Assignment: Project Guidelines

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) addendum to the business plan created in MBA 560: Marketing and Strategy. (Note that if you have not yet completed a business plan in MBA 560, you will choose a company to research in Milestone One.)

In today's business world, the application of corporate culture, social responsibility, ethics, and values to business practices is vital. Businesses and organizations must be able to balance the tension between upholding personal and corporate ethics and being sustainable. For this assessment, you will create a corporate social responsibility (CSR) addendum to the business plan created in MBA 560. The CSR addendum will include a brief discussion of the mission, vision, and values of the company; the impact of trends in corporate culture and social responsibility on business ideas; and the potential ethical or regulatory issues that affect the corporate strategy and brand development. The CSR addendum will conclude with a discussion of the best potential outcome of the company's CSR efforts and the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for the company.

The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules One, Three, Five and Seven.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Analyze internal and external business environments for determining current trends in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and business ethics

• Align corporate strategy, brand development, and decision-making processes with business ethics and regulations to optimize business sustainability

• Assess decision-making processes for their impact on internal and external stakeholders and corporate culture

• Evaluate personal and business ethics for their community and global impact through research of best practices in corporate culture and social responsibility

• Align cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts with corporate mission, vision, and values to improve corporate exposure and profit

Prompt

Your final project should address the following question: How can the company discussed in your business plan prepare for and respond to trends in corporate culture and social responsibility?

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Background Information

Concisely describe the company and business product, service, or other idea from the business plan you developed in MBA 560: Marketing and Strategy. In your description, make sure that you include the target stakeholders and their relationship to the mission, vision, and values of the company.

II. Trends

A. Business Environment: Analyze the current internal and external factors related to the business environment of your company. In other words, what are the internal and external factors, and how do they influence the business environment of your company?

B. Description: Based on your analysis of internal and external factors, describe the trends in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and business ethics that will impact your business. Use CSR resources to support your response.

C. Impact: What will be the impact of these trends on your company, and how can your company prepare for the impact?

III. Ethics

A. Issues: Describe the potential business ethics and regulatory issues that could impact your business. How could these ethics and regulatory issues affect your corporate strategy, brand development, and decision-making processes?

B. Alignment: How will you align your corporate strategy, brand development, and decision-making processes to the business ethics and regulatory issues that you described?

C. Sustainability: How will the alignment of corporate strategy, brand development, and decision-making processes to the business ethics and regulatory issues you described optimize the sustainability of your business?

IV. Decision Making

A. Decisions: Based on the potential business ethics and regulatory issues that you previously described, what are the business decisions that you will need to make? What processes will be used to make these decisions?

B. Culture: How will these decisions and processes impact business sustainability and elements of corporate culture such as corporate citizenship, philanthropy, community involvement, the environment, and causal support?

C. Stakeholders: How will stakeholder groups be affected by these decisions and processes? For example, will any groups be alienated?

V. Impact

A. Community: Evaluate how the business ethics and regulatory issues that you previously described will impact the community served by your business or the community where your business is located. Support your response with research in best practices in CSR.

B. Global Environment: Evaluate how the business ethics and regulatory issues that you previously described will impact the global environment of your business. Support your response with research in best practices in CSR.

VI. Outcomes

A. Efforts: Describe the cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts in which your business will be involved. What is the best desired potential outcome of these cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts?

B. Alignment: How do these efforts align to the corporate mission, vision, and values?

C. Impact: How will the alignment of the cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts with corporate mission, vision, and values improve corporate exposure and profits? In your response, you could consider the impact of the alignment of concepts such as return on investment, sustainability, and the community served by the business, for example.

VII. Conclusion

What will be the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for your company if the company implements the ideas in this CSR addendum? Consider both your own personal ethics and best practices in CSR in your response.

Milestones

Milestone One: Background Information

In Module One, you will submit the Background Information portion of the final project (Section I), describing the company and business product, service, or other idea from the business plan you developed in MBA 560: Marketing and Strategy. (Note that if you have not yet completed MBA 560, please choose a company you would like to research from the list provided in the Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric document.) In your description, make sure that you include the target stakeholders and their relationship to the mission, vision, and values of the company. Concisely describe the company and business product or service. Be sure to include the company's publicly traded name and stock symbol if these exist.

Milestone Two: Trends and Ethics Draft

In Module Three, you will submit a draft of the Trends and Ethics portions of the final project (Sections II and III). Analyze internal and external factors related to the business environment of your company. Based on your analysis, describe the trends in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and business ethics that will impact your business. Describe the potential business ethics and regulatory issues that could impact your business. How could these ethics and regulatory issues affect your corporate strategy, brand development, and decision-making processes? How will you align your corporate strategy, brand development, and decision-making processes to these business ethics and regulatory issues? How will the alignment of corporate strategy, brand development, and decisionmaking processes to the business ethics and regulatory issues you described optimize the sustainability of your business?

Milestone Three: Decision Making and Impact Draft

In Module Five, you will submit a draft of the Decision Making and Impact portions of the final project (Sections IV and V). Based on the potential business ethics and regulatory issues that you described in the previous milestones, what are the business decisions that you need to make? How will these decisions and processes impact business sustainability and elements of corporate culture such as corporate citizenship, philanthropy, community involvement, the environment, and causal support? How will stakeholder groups be affected by these decisions and processes? Evaluate how the business ethics and regulatory issues that you previously described will impact the local community and global environment of your business.

Milestone Four: Outcomes Draft

In Module Seven, you will submit a draft of the Outcomes portion of the final project (Section VI). Describe the cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts in which your business will be involved. What is the best desired potential outcome of these cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts? How do these efforts align to the corporate mission, vision, and values? How will the alignment of the cultural awareness and civic engagement efforts with corporate mission, vision, and values improve corporate exposure and profits? What will be the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for your company if the company implements the ideas in your corporate social responsibility (CSR) addendum?

Final Submission: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Addendum

In Module Nine, you will submit your corporate social responsibility (CSR) addendum. The paper should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. You will compile and revise the previous milestones to complete this final work product. The final project should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course.