Study guide: Mastering Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies

📋 Course Outline

1. Corporate Social Responsibility definition and scope
2. CSR versus ESG and investor assessment
3. CSR implementation in shareholder value firms
4. Sustainable decision-making and corporate governance
5. CSR tools, valuation and sustainable risk
6. CSR course syllabus and business case

📖 1. Corporate Social Responsibility definition and scope

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate Social Responsibility is an umbrella term for business practices done for social or environmental purposes and not required by law.
• ISO 26000: ISO 26000 is a widely used CSR standard that explicitly connects CSR with Sustainable Development.

📝 Essential Points

• CSR is framed as voluntary activity, not mandated by law.
• CSR is linked to Sustainable Development through ISO 26000.
• CSR is presented as a broad umbrella covering social and environmental purposes.

💡 Memory Hook

CSR = Social/Environmental + Voluntary (not law).

📖 2. CSR versus ESG and investor assessment

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• ESG: ESG refers to criteria investors use to evaluate a company and decide whether it is worth investing in.
• CSR versus ESG: CSR and ESG both address societal and environmental impact, but CSR is company-level practice while ESG is investor-level assessment criteria.

📝 Essential Points

• CSR is described as a business model used by individual companies.
• ESG is described as a quantitative investor assessment used to judge investability.
• CSR is framed as qualitative while ESG is framed as quantitative.

💡 Memory Hook

CSR = company actions (qualitative); ESG = investor scorecards (quantitative).

📖 3. CSR implementation in shareholder value firms

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Shareholders Value Creation: Shareholders Value Creation is the firm value objective used as the dominant lens for decision-making in shareholder-focused companies.
• CSR implementation: CSR implementation is the process of embedding CSR into a firm’s decision-making when shareholder value creation is the primary priority.

📝 Essential Points

• The course asks how to implement CSR in businesses dominated by shareholder value creation.
• It raises the question of combining social and economic performance without rethinking firm decision-making.
• It links CSR to creating sustainable value and long-term shareholders value.

💡 Memory Hook

Question to master: CSR + shareholder value without breaking the decision process.

📖 4. Sustainable decision-making and corporate governance

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Sustainable decision-making process: A sustainable decision-making process is a decision approach that accounts for sustainability-related risks and impacts rather than only classical financial drivers.
• Corporate governance evolution: Corporate governance evolution is the change in governance practices driven by how CSR risks and perceptions affect financial decisions and value creation.

📝 Essential Points

• The course contrasts classic decision-making with sustainable decision-making.
• Global differences in CSR risks and perceptions are said to affect how financial decisions should be made to create value.
• Those differences are linked to corporate governance evolution.

💡 Memory Hook

CSR risk perception → financial decisions → governance evolution.

📖 5. CSR tools, valuation and sustainable risk

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• CSR tools: CSR tools are decision-support tools that a firm creates to manage sustainable investment risk and asset allocation.
• Sustainable investment risk: Sustainable investment risk is the risk dimension that must be managed when making sustainable investment decisions and allocating assets.

📝 Essential Points

• The course aims to let students use classical corporate finance tools while also managing sustainable investment risk and asset allocation.
• It targets building valuation and shareholders value creation models that change under sustainable investment decisions.
• Students are expected to create their own CSR tools and CSR corporate guideline.

💡 Memory Hook

Valuation models must adapt when sustainable risk enters the picture.

📖 6. CSR course syllabus and business case

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• CSR modelling expertise presentation to investors: A CSR modelling expertise presentation to investors is the course deliverable where CSR modelling knowledge is communicated to an investor audience.
• Business case: A business case is the practical scenario used in the course to apply CSR modelling and decision-making to a real organizational context.

📝 Essential Points

• The syllabus includes classic lectures and articles plus a business case and an Esker group presentation.
• The course includes a mid-term exam and a final exam, with the CSR modelling presentation to investors scheduled for Thursday 9th JULY 2026.
• The business case scenario is that you work for a VC firm inside the CSR team.

💡 Memory Hook

Deliverable: investor presentation on CSR modelling (VC firm CSR team).

📅 Key Dates

1. 2000Villages Clubs du Soleil committed to ISO 9001 certification procedures.
2. ISO 50001Villages Clubs du Soleil committed to ISO 50001 certification procedures.
3. Thursday 9th JULY 2026CSR modelling expertise presentation to investors scheduled.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls & Confusions

1. Mixing up CSR and ESG: CSR is company-level voluntary practices, while ESG is investor criteria for assessment.
2. Assuming CSR is legally required; the course frames CSR as voluntary and not prescribed by law.
3. Thinking sustainable decision-making is only about governance; the course links it to financial decision-making and value creation.

✅ Exam Checklist

1. Define CSR and state its scope as social/environmental and voluntary (not legally prescribed).
2. Explain the CSR versus ESG distinction in terms of company practice versus investor assessment.
3. Describe how CSR is positioned in shareholder value creation firms, including the course’s key question about combining social and economic performance.
4. Contrast classic decision-making with sustainable decision-making and link CSR risk perception differences to corporate governance evolution.
5. Identify what CSR tools are for (managing sustainable investment risk and asset allocation) and how valuation/shareholder value models may change.
6. Recall the course structure elements tied to the business case and exams, including the investor presentation deliverable and its VC/CSR-team context.