CKGSB’s Social Innovation and Business for Good Field Course

As a famous Chinese proverb goes, “practice brings true knowledge.” In 2021, CKGSB rolled out an innovative, one-year field course on “Social Innovation and Business for Good” that requires EMBA students to initiate sustainable business practices in their companies or organizations, and implement the concept of social innovation into real life. The course has now been expanded to other programs.

This socially-minded field course is designed based on the idea of “Challenge Based Learning” (CBL)

in which students pinpoint real societal problems, explore solutions under the guidance of mentors and professors, reform a core part of their business to be socially responsible and turn that into a sustainable project in the companies they lead.

The key purpose of this course is to move from solely teaching theory to pushing students one step further to make them actually practice business for good, take action, and really make a difference.

Zhu Rui

Professor of Marketing and Director of the Social Innovation and Business for Good Center at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)

Each study group (comprising of 10-12 students) is paired up with a mentor to identify the key issues they would like to focus on in their business.
Under the guidance of mentors, students are required to submit an opening report within the first months, stating the project timeline, methods and objectives.

Students are required to submit a mid-term report six months into their projects and a final report after a year. Throughout the program, they are taught to analyze problems, develop frameworks for their business projects, and seek possible solutions through communication with mentors and classmates. They execute their projects within their companies and, ultimately, continue to build their businesses with a focus on purpose and impact.
The top 10% of projects will be selected as excellent projects, based on their outstanding improvement or impact, clear plans for change, or comprehensive summary of lessons learned.

Facts and figures

800+

EMBA students attended so far

99%

Participation rate

100+

100+ Mentors (business leaders, NGO practitioners and professors)

20+

Operational staff