Corporate Sustainability Project
Due Date:Friday,November 20, 1:00 p.m. Eastern
Submit either a .doc/.docx or pdf file in the Canvas assignment
Note: Make sure to submit your assignment on time. Late assignments are not accepted and will earn zero points. You do not have to wait for the deadline – you can submit whenever you believe your assignment is ready, and you can upload an updated file at any point until the deadline. “Technical difficulties” and “apparently Canvas did not work” are not acceptable reasons for not submitting your assignment on time.
Overview: This project entails reviewing a Fortune 500 company’s best practices in sustainability and then writing, in your own words, about those practices. Each student will be assigned a Fortune 500 company to analyze and report on and each student will submit an individual project in Canvas.
This project is designed to enhance your knowledge of what is meant by sustainability as currently practiced by large corporations.As you do your research, look for your assigned company’s sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR)report that shares the organization’s best practices and results concerning sustainability.
While searching for information or reports on company websites, you will realize thatcompanies use different terms while talking about sustainability. Here are some terms you might come across (this is not an exhaustive list): sustainability, corporate social responsibility, social responsibility, corporate citizenship, community well-being/engagement, social impact. Moreover,most companies have a separate diversity &inclusion section and a diversity & inclusion report.
If your assigned company does not have a downloadable sustainability/CSR report, look for information on the company website. If your assigned company does not provide information about one of the required elements, address this in your paper, rather than leaving the reader to wonder whether you merely overlooked this part of the assignment (e.g., explore and report on what a competitor does and note how your assigned company could improve its implementation/reporting).
Corporate Sustainability Project
Deliverable: 2 pages report. Use complete sentences, not bullet points.
Paper Content and Format (40 points total):
Introduction (3 points): In the introduction, provide a brief overview,in your own words,of what your assigned company does (products, sales volume, number of employees, geographic reach, etc.) and list its current (2020)Fortune 500 rank.
Sustainability (20 points):Take the triple-bottom line perspective as your basis. Research and understand what your company does to contribute to the three pillars of sustainability. In your paper, report on their best practices. Questions to answer are given below. Beyond your company’s best practices, I am interested in how you perceive them and think about these practices and how you think they contribute to the triple bottom line.
Conclusion/Summary (10 points): Finally, discuss your takeaways from your analysis of your assigned company’s best practices. What do you think your company does well? What could it improve on? What are your recommendations for improvement?
Citations (2 points): Include citations to properly credit your source material. Citations also help the reader to seek additional information about your assigned company’s efforts, if desired.
For Your Reference: Sample Citation (APA style)
Dell. (2020). Advancing Sustainability. https://corporate.delltechnologies.com/en-us/social-impact/advancing-sustainability.htm Accessed November 8, 2020.
Following the guidelines (3 points)
Do not forget to include the Academic Integrity Pledge (if you forget: -2 pts)
Note: Citations and Academic Integrity Pledge are NOT included in the page count.
Corporate Sustainability Project
Deliverable Guidelines:
Note:You must upload your file via Canvas as noted above; do NOT copy/paste your document’s text into the assignment’s comments box, and do NOT email your project to anyone on the Teaching Team. Any file type other than .doc/.docx or pdf will not be accepted (you will receive an error message from Canvas if you try to upload any other file type in the assignment). If you do not use Microsoft Word and do not know how to save your document as a .doc or .docx file, you may wish to visit one of Penn State’s IT Service Desk locations well in advance of the due date in order to learn how to submit an acceptable file.
Corporate Sustainability Project Grading Rubric
This project is worth 40 points of your overall course grade.The partial credit for different parts of the report are as follows:
Introduction – 3 points
Sustainability – 20 points
Conclusion – 10 points
Citations – 2 points
Following the guidelines – 3 points
Naming your submission file properly – 2 points (Last Name First Name Corporate Sustainability Project.doc/docx Example: Smith Mary Sustainability Project.doc)
We will use the following grading guidelines:
Full Credit:40 Points – Full credit will be given if ALL requirements for paper content criteria and ALL guidelines for submission are followed. – This includes addressing all questions asked above; if your assigned company does not provide information about some element, address this in your paper, rather than leaving the reader to wonder whether you merely overlooked this part of the assignment. |
Partial Credit: – Missing any of the paper content and/or format elements listed in these guidelines – Poorly written (spelling, grammar, word choice, lack of attention to detail, etc.) – Low or high page count – Missing the academic integrity pledge |
Zero Credit: 0 Points – File not successfully submitted via the Canvas assignment by the deadline – File emailed to Teaching Team instead of submitted via the Canvas assignment – Unacceptable file type or unreadable file submitted – Incorrect company (i.e., not your assigned company) – Submission is irrelevant and unrelated to assignment – Any amount of plagiarism from any source; DO NOT copy/paste from company sites |
Due Date:Friday, November 20 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern
Submit either a .doc/.docx or pdf file in the Canvas assignment
Late = zero points for this assignment
Corporate Sustainability Project Template
The outline below is offered as a guide to help you organize your project. Make sure to follow the assignment guidelines as explained above. Once again, make sure to write everything in your own words. Your assignment should be 8 pages long.
Add Title
Student Name:
Assigned Fortune 500 Company Name:
Assigned Fortune 500 Company Website URL:
2020 Fortune 500 Rank of Assigned Company:
Introduction:
Sustainability:
Planet:
People:
Profits:
Circular economy:
Reporting:
Awards/certifications:
Conclusion/Summary:
Citations:
Academic Integrity Pledge
“ I_ [student name]_ affirm that I have not and will not give or receive, nor have I witnessed unauthorized aid on this deliverable, and I have completed this work honestly and according to the professor’s guidelines.”
REMEMBER to name your project file with the following naming scheme:
Last Name First Name Sustainability Project.doc/docx/pdf
Example: Smith Mary Sustainability Project.doc/docx/pdf
Corporate Sustainability Project