Creating a Pinterest Board : Pinterest Logo

The intent of this assignment is to collect a series of visuals that will help convey what you have learned about business social responsibility.

Pins should reflect content from this week. Pick a theme as it relates to social responsibility and search for Pins that best reflect and exemplify your thinking. Since the underlying theme of the class is that technology and globalization have changed how businesses operate, what better way to explore this dynamic than to utilize one of the very tools we have been discussing.

If you are a Pinterest user, this assignment should be a lot of fun for you. If you are not, I would suggest starting with this. Your board can be comprised of images from other pinners (called reposts) or can be unique pictures that you have found (or a combination of both.) The "how-to" link will explain how to do both.

You can start out by searching existing boards to see what others have saved to boards. A quick search on Pinterest using the term social responsibility brings up many pins, choose ones that resonate with you as it relates to this week's conversation. Add additional search terms such as "purpose" "Community," etc...

I might also suggest reviewing this article from American Express entitled The Power of Pinterest For Small Businesses (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. It does a great job of positioning Pinterest as much more than a DIY and recipe collection site.

To get started:

Sign up for Pinterest if you are not already a member, it is free.

Set up a Pinterest Board. Your board should be named "last name_MGMT_Class"

When you create your new board, you'll get a pop-up window that allows you to designate the board name (only create one board for this class), denote if you want it to be public or private.

Create it as a public board. When the board is complete, and it is time to "drop" the assignment, you can cut and paste the URL of your board as the submission.

If you don't feel comfortable creating a public board, then denote the board as private but then when it is due you'll need to make sure you "invite" me to share your board with you. If you'd like to go this route, please contact me, and I can give you a more detailed description of the process if need be.

Include a reflection as to what you learned from this assignment as well. Tie your thinking back to the week three class content. The reflection is your opportunity to make connections back to the specific readings and conversations we have in class as well as to remark on the process. I have chosen Pinterest as a means to apply class content because it is a medium that represents how businesses are choosing to communicate.

Did you like using Pinterest? Were you surprised by the depth and breadth of content? Were you aware of how Pinterest is being employed by businesses to underscore their mission and culture? Why did you chose the pins that you did? Be specific.

Your board should have at minimum 30 pins and can either reflect a diverse set of pins as they represent the ideas discussed in this week's lesson or can hone on a specific idea as it relates to social responsibly.

Please note: If you are submitting the reflection/summary as your "assignment," either include the URL in that summary or provide the URL as a separate comment. You post the URL link and then post the written summary, the summary will overwrite the link.

Summary of class content

This week started with a look at the social and environmental responsibility of businesses as viewed through the lens of the bottle water dilemma.

The notion of profitability and social and environmental responsibility was then discussed in a way that is not mutually exclusive. In fact, the argument was exemplified by an entire category of B Corporations, that businesses built on purpose can be as lucrative as peer businesses without purpose.

Related to this argument is the topic of government legislation and intervention. Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Would a pure capitalist approach better address environmental issues?

The week's lesson continued by having us learn more about business models built solely (no pun intended) on the idea of purpose, starting with social entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie of Tom's Shoes.

The takeaway this week should be a statement of your beliefs about the role of purpose in defining a business as well as the purpose and necessity of government intervention. This week's assignment and discussion forum are intended to help you develop an informed statement of these beliefs.

Sources

Fitzgerald Kbe, Niall, and Mandy Cormack. "HKS.harvard.edu." . The Conference Board, Harvard University CSR Initiative, and the International Business Leaders Forum. Web. 20 Aug 2013.

Hirsch, Jerry. "Elon Musk's Growing Empire Is Fueled by $4.9 Billion in Government Subsidies." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2015. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.

Malcolm, Hadley. "Bottled Water about to Beat Soda as Most Consumed Beverage." USA Today. Gannett, 08 June 2016. Web. 17 Aug. 2016.