Over the several weeks that Paris will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer, Sodexo will prepare and serve up to 40,000 meals a day to 15,000 athletes, their fans, and organizing committee staffers at 22 venues in and around the city. Catering an event on that level is quite a challenge. But so is the one the company has set for itself around sustainability. As one of the world's largest food-services companies-managing dining options at hospitals, schools, office buildings, and much more in 45 countries around the world-Sodexo has been spearheading a push toward more-sustainable consumption, and it intends to take that ethos to the Olympics. Ingredients will be sourced from eco-friendly suppliers and, where possible, local ones. Waste will be kept to a minimum. And as part of an ongoing effort to shift eating habits away from resource-intensive choices, menus will emphasize delicious plant-based dishes. The company has become a market maker in sustainability-not just to improve the efficiency and productivity of its value chain and ensure financial success, but also for the benefit of society at large.

This case is designed to help students understand how to manage diverse employees with unique strengths and weaknesses. It features the Dialogue in the Dark ("DiD") China organization, a social enterprise franchise that employs visually impaired people to guide visitors as they experience daily life tasks in pitch-black. After briefly introducing DiD's origins in Germany and DiD China's founding story, this case describes how its founder, Shiyin Cai, managed the organization with an emphasis on selecting the right employees, providing training for their personal development, and giving employees opportunities to build self-confidence. Furthermore, this case explores how Cai considers the diverse perspectives of her employees and establishes personal relationships with them to develop enabling conditions that can help them thrive in both this organization and society at large. On December 16, 2021, the tenth anniversary of DiD China, Cai reflected on her past experiences. A month prior, had falsely reported to authorities that DiD Shanghai's operation was in violation of the fire code, an accusation that intensified the existing financial struggles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the ups and downs, Cai reflected on the challenges and rewards she experienced with founding DiD China. More importantly, on a personal level, she acknowledged her ongoing journey of learning and growth as a leader.

Many businesses engage genuinely in corporate social responsibility (CSR). But others engage in CSR-washing: using social concerns for financial gain and the distortion of internal practices to project the image of CSR to stakeholders. Unfair CSR-washing happens when a company is accused of being a CSR-washer despite having made significant and genuine efforts to address social or environmental issues. CSR-washing harms firms' reputations, resulting in the loss of consumer and stakeholder trust and even in potential lawsuits, depending on the type and severity of the behavior. We offer four interconnected, evidence-based recommendations to minimize a business's unfair perception as a CSR-washer: (1) integrate CSR into core activities rather than peripheral activities, (2) adopt a bottom-up approach to CSR, (3) develop an integrative performance-management/CSR system, and (4) develop an effective CSR communication strategy. We also offer specific implementation guidelines for each recommendation. Implementing these evidence-based practices will help organizations plan, execute, and monitor their CSR initiatives while remaining authentic and minimizing the chance of being labeled as CSR-washers.

Founder Duncan McIntyre developed an innovative service-based business to electrify transportation fleets for school districts and scale through public-private partnerships while contributing to climate change solutions. The case covers the rationale for electric school buses, the leadership of its founder, its growth from one customer to many over five years, and relationships with multiple stakeholders in a complex system. Highland Electric Fleets contracted with school districts in the U.S. and Canada to supply and service electric school buses, offering to lower costs for the districts, even those who were not climate action supporters. Ancillary benefits included providing power back to the electric grid, reducing the use of fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases, and cleaner air for children. But just as McIntyre was envisioning expanding to electrify other transportation fleets, supply chain challenges leave McIntyre with the dilemma of how to deal with the possible defection of its largest customer because of buses failing to be delivered in time.

Just two years after launching its 10k by 2020 initiative to hire 10,000 employees by 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chief Executive Officer Mark Wilson to send nearly all of his staff at Chime Solutions (Chime) to work from home. Chime was a customer contact firm that offered call center services to corporate clients. Chime had an employee-focused model where it hired call center agents from underserved communities. It then offered skill building and life services to these agents, which led to industry-leading employee retention rates and an overall more committed and expert staff. After agents were deployed to work from home, however, it struggled to maintain its current operating model, causing increased attrition rates. It also had amassed a large amount of debt from maintaining its facilities in Morrow, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; and Charlotte, North Carolina. At the same time, the company was growing at a record pace, but needed to address its talent and debt challenges before realizing its dream of uncovering hidden talent in underserved communities.

Based in Boston's Chinatown, the Asian Community Development Corporation's mission was to build affordable homes, empower families, and strengthen communities. The case examines whether ACDC should continue pursuing all three goals or focus on affordable housing.

The case is set in August 2022 and traces the transformation of the post office (PO) in Kamathipura, Mumbai. Kamathipura is one of the largest and oldest red-light districts in India. Swati Pandey, a bureaucrat working for India Post-an Indian-government-run postal service under the Ministry of Communications-was the Postmaster General (PMG) of the Mumbai region and was responsible for the over 200 POs spread across the city, including the Kamathipura PO. The commercial sex workers (CSWs) living in Kamathipura faced relentless discrimination due to the stigma around their occupation. Apart from this, most of the women residing in this area had been either forced into this profession or trafficked; therefore, many of them lacked official identity documents and did not understand financial tools. When they did approach banks and other financial institutions to get started, they were shooed away or leered at by the male staff. They had been alienated by the ecosystem of financial inclusion and excluded from it. Pandey was deeply moved by the dire social and financial circumstances of the CSWs, and wanted to transform the Kamathipura PO into a safe space for them, only find solace and support, but also gain education about financial planning.

Over the course of the 20th century, most of the world's major multinational corporations framed their mission around Milton Friedman's famous mantra: that the sole purpose of the firm is to maximize its shareholders' profits. Recently, however, growing numbers of for-profit firms have embedded and embraced missions that go far beyond profit maximization or commercial gain; missions that include some of the world's greatest and most complex challenges: mitigating climate change, for example, advancing economic mobility, ameliorating racial or gender injustice, and attacking global health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet these are still for-profit firms, operating as commercial entities rather than government bureaucracies or non-profit organizations. So how, then, are they meant to operate? What can these firms measure and reward if profits are no longer their only goal? And what must these firms do differently if they truly seek to change the world? The principles described in The ICARUS Principles: What It Takes to Tackle the World attempt to answer these questions, and to sketch out the characteristics that distinguish more typical firms from those that are actively aiming to tackle massive societal challenges. Based on the first letters of these characteristics, we have assembled a list of six principles and refer to them as "the ICARUS Principles."

No matter how creative and ambitious they may be, nonprofits that rely solely on donations and grants to finance their growth often fall short. One way to improve both funding and impact is to add a "more commercial" strategy to the mix-by charging recipients for what the organization would otherwise provide for free. Though that may sound uncharitable, the authors' research shows that paying nominal fees can give beneficiaries a sense of ownership, boost their engagement, and empower them to demand results. Meanwhile, the revenue from the fees can go back into providing help to even more people. Several nonprofits, including Project Maji, which builds kiosks for clean drinking water in Africa; Gavi, which distributes vaccines; and Worldreader, which provides books to children in low-income countries, have found success with this approach. Using their examples, the authors describe how to set up an effective payment model. Among other things, nonprofits must assess how the needs of beneficiaries vary, educate them about offerings, and share accountability with them. Most important, they must stop defining impact as access to help and take a broader view of results.

Banca Comunitaria Banesco (BCB) was the microfinance business unit of Banesco Banco Universal (BBU), the largest private bank in Venezuela. By 2016 BCB was one of the leading microcredit institutions in Venezuela, serving more than 85,000 people in more than 8,000 low-income neighborhoods throughout the country, with 10% market share. However, there were concerns about the sustainability of BCB's inclusive business model and distribution channel. Serving BOP customers (80% of the Venezuelan population) posed several challenges. Venezuela was facing an economic and social crisis, combined with a decreasing GDP and skyrocketing inflation rates, a scarcity of essential goods, the plunging purchasing power of its population, and raising security issues, all of which had an overall negative impact on BCB customers' businesses. In this context BCB had to streamline the use of BBU's banking operative platform, build synergies and apply stricter customer risk assessment to gain financial viability. The necessity to be more cost-efficient went hand in hand with the need to evaluate new service models, that combined technological and human factors, to broaden BCB's reach and customer satisfaction and its social impact. Some questions needed to be addressed: Should BCB try to preserve the current omnichannel in place? Should BCB risk reducing its presence in the barrios and adopt a cost-efficient alternative as mobile banking technology?

Established in 2003 with 120 volunteers, Food from the Heart (FFTH) is a Singapore-based charity organisation founded to alleviate hunger by providing reliable, consistent, and sustainable food support to the less fortunate through food distribution programmes. FFTH's digital transformation journey began in the middle of 2018 and it went through an overhaul in 2019. Among several digitalisation projects rolling out in early 2020, one was about distributing beneficiary cards with a Quick Response (QR) code to its beneficiaries. Having no direct access to beneficiaries and needing to rely on its community partners, the beneficiary card could be a game-changer for FFTH, yet implementing these cards through its community partners would be a challenge. The case requires students to analyse the managerial capabilities of a charity organisation and discuss how change management and change leadership could digitally transform an organisation. At the end of the discussion, students will recommend a stakeholder management strategy for FFTH to continue its digitalisation initiatives with its community partners.

The case study discusses the development of the CSC Academy-a unique effort by the Indian government to expand education outreach across the country. The effort was especially geared towards educating and empowering rural citizens, and to this end, the Academy utilised a mix of innovative technology and human actors at the village level to expand its reach to remote parts of the country. The study follows the organization's journey since its inception, and offers a high-level overview of several on-ground challenges faced, as well as the specific strategies it deployed in response. The study includes voices from across levels in the organization, ranging from decision-making managers to on-ground service providers and participants, thus providing a comprehensive, 360º view of the demand- and supply-side issues that exist in the educational landscape in India, which can be extended to comparable emerging economy settings.

While the executive in charge of the sustainability function plays the starring role in any social or environmental initiative, its success often depends on an organization's hidden heroes: its critical midlevel team leaders. But how this group drives sustainability will vary with a company's sustainability maturity. In their work the authors have identified four levels of it and goals and actions that are appropriate for middle managers at each one. At level one, lagging and skeptical, middle managers should focus on getting sustainability on the agenda by exploring customer demand, gathering outside perspectives, and finding easy wins. At level two, building a base, the goal is to develop capabilities and start to embed sustainability into core processes. At level three, accelerating, middle managers increase the speed and scale of efforts through internal councils and by increasing transparency and rethinking business activities. At level four, leading, middle managers strive to build lasting sustainability infrastructure and set up transformative partnerships in their sectors or value chains. With the right skills and priorities, the unsung champions of sustainability can drive progress within companies at any level and across industries.

A case on CRANE, a tool to help investors and green technology companies estimate the future climate impact of new technologies and products, called emissions reduction potential (ERP). The case includes material on CRANE's methodology for estimating future carbon emissions, including the variables and parameters of the tool's model. CRANE was created by Prime Coalition (Prime), which organized hundreds of investors to establish industry standard terminology, methodologies, and best practices for estimating the climate impact of new investments. In 2022, Keri Browder, director of Project Frame, a nonprofit program convened by Prime, was focused on how to improve CRANE's technical capabilities, integrate with other available tools for pre- and post-investment decision-making, and make the effort as useful as possible for Prime and Project Frame's mission to mitigate climate change.

This case explores the work of Ozyegin Social Investments, founded by Husnu Ozyegin , one of Turkey's most successful entrepreneurs. With a focus on education, health, gender equality, rural development, and disaster relief in Turkey, Ozyegin Social Investments and the Ozyegin family-Husnu, his wife, AyÅŸen, and their children, Murat and AyÅŸecan-have spent decades serving and improving communities in need. Their efforts led to the creation of one of Turkey's top universities, the establishment of schools and rehabilitation centers, post-earthquake humanitarian shelter and facilities, nationwide campaigns and an internationally recognized educational training initiative for young children, amongst other achievements. Students will learn how Ozyegin Social Investments represents a model of giving that has had a significant impact across multiple sectors of society and discuss how the legacy can be sustained in the future.

Corporate foundations represent a distinctive avenue for companies to channel their resources into social initiatives, often straying from their core operational domains. This case study delves into the intricate management of the Promigas corporate foundation, specifically in the realm of education, where a deliberate misalignment with the company's primary energy markets operations is observed. The study sheds light on the unique attributes of this corporate foundation, placing it within the broader landscape of similar entities. Central to the narrative is Ana Vera, a seasoned executive tasked with the stewardship, administration, and strategic orientation of the foundation. Promigas, renowned for its presence in Colombia and Latin America's energy markets, embarked on a philanthropic journey through the establishment of the Promigas Foundation. Over time, this foundation has refined its approach to education, emphasizing a Knowledge Management model underpinned by two pivotal components: reflective practice and robust networking with stakeholders from social, governmental, and corporate spheres. This multifaceted framework has enabled the foundation to craft a distinctive trajectory within the education landscape, illuminating its commitment to driving sustainable social change. Ana Vera's entry into the foundation's leadership marks a pivotal juncture in its evolution. Entrusted with steering the foundation's course, Ana Vera's strategic acumen and leadership become crucial assets. As she grapples with the foundation's unique positioning-distinct from Promigas' core pursuits-Ana Vera is tasked with harnessing the power of misalignment. This challenge of aligning a non-aligned initiative underscores the nuanced interplay between corporate social responsibility, brand identity, and societal impact.

What is unique about innovation in a social entrepreneurship setting compared to that of general entrepreneurship? The IngCare case serves as an illustration of these disparities across multiple dimensions, including its founding mission, entrepreneurial methods, organizational mechanisms, and growth trajectories. IngCare's founding mission was to leverage technological tools to enhance the quality of autism rehabilitation and ensure accessibility to professional rehabilitation services for every child. Over eight years on since its establishment, IngCare had undertaken various initiatives, such as developing a cloud classroom for training autism rehabilitation teachers and introducing the VB system for assessing autistic children's skills. However, the VB system faced criticism from many institutions that used it. In response, IngCare established its own rehabilitation centers to showcase and advocate for applying the VB system. This transition marked IngCare's shift from solely a product and service provider to an operator of offline rehabilitation facilities. As of early 2022, IngCare operated two primary business segments: 15 directly operated high-end institutions and external empowerment. Both business segments faced enormous growth opportunities, but the associated challenges were also daunting. Being aware of IngCare's limitations in resources and capabilities when striving for simultaneous excellence in both realms, the founding team found themselves at a strategic crossroads. Should their forthcoming strategic focus revolve around expanding rehabilitation institutions or empowering the industry through selling digital products and services?

The case is set in November 2021 and traces the journey of a unique women-led collective-Weavers Resource Bridge (led by Talish Ray and her fellow handloom enthusiasts)-that provided much-needed financial support to a community of weavers across India during the COVID-19 crisis. These weavers hailed from different parts of India and were masters of their art forms, but due to lack of capital and patronage, were slowly losing touch with their art because they were forced to take up other work to sustain themselves and their families. In the short span of six months, this volunteer group raised a whopping INR 15 million (about US$198,642). Because it was a time-intensive undertaking, only a limited number of weavers could be supported directly by the Bridge. Though they had exceeded the preset goal and helped the weavers become financially stable once again, the women from the Bridge wanted to ensure that the weavers continued to produce irreplaceable art, which was their forte, and find buyers regularly. As Ray thought of scaling up this initiative, an idea for a nonprofit emerged, whose goals would be to bridge the skill gap among artists and ready them for the 21st century marketplace while simultaneously educating patrons. This meant that processes had to be put in place for long-term sustainability and weavers had to be taught the technical skills to use online platforms and sustain sales across borders. Even as Ray wondered about the fundamental values that would guide this nonprofit and the operating model necessary to foster its growth, she worried about the nagging problem of capital. What Ray had achieved was just a drop in the ocean. How could these artisans be provisioned with the much-needed capital support to sustain their craft and ensure that this invaluable inter-generational knowledge was transmitted, contributing to the country's intangible cultural heritage?

For much of the past century, U.S. companies feared that unions would hurt shareholder value and innovation, so they responded to organized labor with one strategy: Fight, at all costs. This was brutally effective. Companies perfected the skill of union busting-so much so that most business leaders now have little experience with organized labor. But owing to an array of forces, including the pandemic and inflation, the landscape is shifting. Workers today feel less secure in their jobs and more uncertain about the future, and not surprisingly, a growing number of them are organizing. In fact, worker interest in joining a union, and public support of organized labor, is at its highest in decades. If business leaders stick to their old playbook, they risk permanently disenchanting their workforce and harming their brands. Instead, they must begin to reinvent corporate America's relationship with organized labor, working with, rather than against, unions and other formal and informal structures. Indeed, in the next 20 years, the skill of leading an organized-or organizing-workforce may well become the critical leadership skill.

The role of the CSO is undergoing a rapid and dramatic transformation. Historically CSOs have acted like stealth PR executives-their primary task was to tell an appealing story about corporate sustainability initiatives to the company's many stakeholders. Now, however, some CSOs have moved away from a role centered on messaging and instead are spearheading the true integration of material ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues into corporate strategy. This pivotal change requires close collaboration with other members of the senior leadership team and active engagement with investors. This article argues for four major changes to the CSO role. The CSO should be involved in strategy and capital allocation; be more focused on and realistic about stakeholder interactions; be more fully engaged with investors; and be supported with sufficient resources and exper­tise throughout the entire organization, including on the board and senior leadership team. In an ideal world, the authors say, a stand-alone CSO role would become obsolete once companies fully integrate ESG considerations into their corporate strategy and operations. Until that day arrives, however, it is crucial to adapt and evolve the CSO role.