The COVID-19 pandemic has seen some inspired corporate responses, such as Unilever donating €100 million of food and sanitizer, and guaranteeing the jobs of all 150,000 workers including contractors. But what if you’re a small business without millions to donate? Or in an unrelated industry without relevant products to give?

This talk will discuss what it means to be a responsible business, for companies of all sizes and in all industries. It will also explain the business case for responsibility in normal times as well as crisis times, and how responsibility can be consistent with long-term shareholder value. Alex will draw on rigorous academic research, real-world examples, and his new book, “Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit”.

This talk is hosted by our Accounting, Finance and Law Division and Bath Behavioural Finance Research team.

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex has a PhD from MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Alex has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, testified in the UK Parliament, and given the TED talk “What to Trust in a Post-Truth World” and the TEDx talk “The Social Responsibility of Business” with a combined 2 million views. He has appeared on Bloomberg, BBC, CNBC, CNN, ITV, Sky News and Sky Sports, and written for the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and Wall Street Journal. At Wharton, he won 14 teaching awards in 6 years; at LBS, he won the Excellence in Teaching award for best professor across all programmes. He has been named to Poets and Quants Best 40 Professors Under 40 and Thinkers50 Radar.