Cb Bhattacharya

CB Bhattacharya is the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics at the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. He is a world-renowned expert in business strategy innovation aimed at increasing both business and social value. His research and teaching focuses specifically on how companies can use underleveraged “intangible assets” such as corporate identity, reputation, corporate social responsibility and sustainability to strengthen stakeholder relationships and drive firm market value.

Prof. Bhattacharya has published over 100 articles and has over 40,000 citations per Google Scholar. His latest book entitled Small Actions Big Difference: Leveraging Corporate Sustainability to Drive Business and Societal Value was published by Routledge in 2019. He is co-author of the book Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value and co-editor of the book Global Challenges in Responsible Business, both published by Cambridge University Press. He has served on the Editorial Review Boards and served as Editor of special issues of many leading international publications. Prof. Bhattacharya is the founder of the Center for Sustainable Business at the University of Pittsburgh as well as the ESMT Berlin Sustainable Business Roundtable, a forum with more than 25 multinational companies, aimed at discussing opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming sustainability practices within organizations. In 2007 he started the Stakeholder Marketing Consortium with support from the Aspen Institute.

Prof. Bhattacharya is part of a select group of faculty that has been named twice to Business Week’s Outstanding Faculty list. He is one of the top 50 cited marketing scholars per Google Scholar and ranks among the top 1% of marketing scholars in citations per a Stanford University study. He has won several best paper awards, teaching awards and research prizes, including the Steenkamp Award for long term research impact. He was also a finalist for the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award in 2007. In addition, he received the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995, the highest teaching award at Emory University.

He received his PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in 1984 and his Bachelors (with Honors in Economics) from St. Stephens College, Delhi in 1982. Before joining ESMT in 2009, he was the Everett W. Lord Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing at the School of Management at Boston University. Before joining Boston University, he was on the faculty at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. Prior to his PhD, he worked for three years as a Product Manager in Reckitt Benckiser plc.

Prof. Bhattacharya has conducted research and consulted for many organizations such as Allianz, AT&T, Bosch, Eli Lilly, ENEL, E.ON, General Mills, Green Mountain Coffee, High Museum of Art, Hitachi Corporation, Procter & Gamble Company, Prudential Bank, Timberland, Unilever and Yum! Brands. As an expert in corporate responsibility and sustainability, he is often interviewed and quoted in publications such as Business Week, BBC, Forbes, Financial Times, Newsweek, The New York Times and The Economist and on TV stations such as Times Now, CBS and PBS. He frequently delivers keynote speeches or brings in his insights as a panelist at company, industry, and academic conferences and conventions.

Areas of Expertise

Marketing and Business Economics

Awards and Honors

• Jan-Benedict E.M.Steenkamp Award for Long-Term Impact (2022) for the article, Reaping relational rewards from corporate social responsibility: The role of competitive positioning (International Journal of Research in Marketing, Pages 224–241, Vol. 24 (3), 2007
• Excellence in Teaching award in MBA Programs at Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh from 2018-19.
• Distinguished Professor of the Year award in Executive MBA Programs at Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, 2018.
• Excellence in Teaching award in MBA Programs at Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh from 2017-18.
• Selected as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters in September 2016.
• Awarded the President’s Honor Roll of Teaching Excellence in the ESMT Executive MBA Program in April 2016.
• Awarded the President’s Honor Roll of Teaching Excellence in the ESMT Executive MBA Program in March 2014.
• Awarded the President’s Honor Roll of Teaching Excellence in the ESMT Full-time MBA Program in December 2013.
• MARCON 2012 Best Paper Award from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, January 2013 (“Corporate social responsibility and the customer orientation of frontline employees”).
• Top spots in the Handelsblatt Business Administration Ranking 2012 (based on publications in A+ journals): 10th in the category Top 100 current researchers and 14th in the category Top 250 researchers – lifetime work.
• Emerald Management Reviews 2012 Citation of Excellence Award, July 2012 (Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent. Sloan Management Review 49(2): 37–44).
• “Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility”, 3rd most cited article in Journal of Marketing Research between 2000 and 2010.
• Awarded the President’s Honor Roll of Teaching Excellence in the ESMT Full-time MBA Program in December 2011.
• Leveraging Corporate Responsibility awarded “Book of the month” by The Grapevine Magazine, December 2011.
• Awarded the President’s Honor Roll of Teaching Excellence in the ESMT Executive MBA Program in March 2011.
• American Marketing Association Doctoral Consortium Speaker, June 2011.
• Awarded first and third place in Network for Business Sustainability CSR Research Ranking, January 2011.
• Named Professor of the Week by Financial Times Lexicon, November 2010.
• “Beyond the Marketing Mix: Competing Through Corporate Social Initiatives” was honored as the Best Paper in the Social and Public Policy Track, at the 2010 Summer Marketing Educators’ Conference.
• Association for Consumer Research Doctoral Consortium Speaker, October 2009.
• Everett Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Boston University, School of Management, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2008–2010.
• Finalist, Faculty Pioneer Awards, The Aspen Institute, Washington, DC, USA, 2007.
• Dean’s Research Fellow, Boston University, School of Management, School of Management, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, September 2007–2009.
• Faculty Director, “Stakeholder Marketing Consortium.” Elected by Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, 2007.
• “Corporate social responsibility, customer satisfaction and market value”, lead article in Journal of Marketing, honored as Google Scholar Top Cited article from 2006.
• “The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: A field experiment”, article in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, honored as Google Scholar Top Cited article from 2006.
• Broderick Prize for Excellence in Research (Selected by the Faculty of the School of Management), Boston University, School of Management, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2001.
• William Novelli Best Paper Award, Innovations in Social Marketing Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 1997.
• Emory University Teaching Initiative, $10,000 awarded for development of new marketing elective, “Marketing Social Change,” 1997.
• Listed among Outstanding Faculty, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, in Business Week’s Guide to The Best Business Schools (1997 and 1998).
• Caldwell Fellow, $12,000 research support provided by Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1996.
• Exceptional Scholar Award, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1996.
• The Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award. Highest teaching award conferred by Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1995.
• Research Fellowship, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 1990–1992.

Professional Service and Activities

• Editorial Services
• Editorial Review Board, Journal of Marketing, 2002–2005; April 2018–present
• Editorial Review Board, Journal of Consumer Research, May 2020 – May 2022
• Editorial Review Board, Business & Society, February 2016–present
• Editorial Review Board, International Journal of Research in Marketing, August 2015–present.
• Editorial Review Board, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, June 2015–present.
• Editorial Review Board, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, September 2010–present.
• Editorial Review Board, Business Ethics Quarterly, 2009–2014.
• Special Issue Editor, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Spring 2010.
• Special Issue Editor, Journal of Business Research, Winter 2008.
• Editorial Review Board, Corporate Reputation Review, 2006–present.
• Special Issue Editor, California Management Review, Fall 2004, Winter 2005.
• Special Issue Editor, Social Marketing Quarterly, Spring 2001.
• Ad-hoc reviewer for Management Science, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, California Management Review, AMA Summer Educator’s Conference, AMA Winter Educator’s Conference, and Relationship Marketing Conferences.

Media Coverage

• Fast Company | World Changing Ideas Feature, January 2020
• Knowledge@Wharton Interview, December 2019
• TV appearance, Our Region’s Business, WPXI Pittsburgh, October 2019
• Quoted in NPR, Forbes India, New York Times, Financial Times, Newsweek, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal Online, Fox 42 News, Times of India, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung and many other publications.
• TV appearances on Times of India, CBS, FOX, NECN and PBS stations.
• Podcast for The Ethical Corporation, Are companies taking stakeholder engagement seriously enough? May 2011.

Directorships and Program committees

• Member, Executive Committee, Pitt Business, 2019-2022
• Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2020-2023
• Faculty Director, Center for Sustainable Business, University of Pittsburgh, 2019-
• Board Member, Sustainable Pittsburgh, 2018 –
• Faculty Fellow, Honors College, University of Pittsburgh, 2018 –
• Member, Responsible Investment Committee, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 2017–2019
• Founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Business at ESMT, Berlin, Germany, 2015–present.
• Member, Ethics Committee, ESMT, Berlin, Germany, 2014–2017.
• Founding Director of the Sustainable Business Roundtable at ESMT, Berlin, Germany, 2011–present.
• Chairman of the Marketing and Society Track in the American Marketing Association Conference in Austin, Texas, February 2011.
• Chair, Faculty Evaluation Committee, ESMT, Berlin, Germany, 2010–2012.
• Member, Faculty Recruitment Committee, ESMT, Berlin, Germany, 2009–present.
• Member, Steering Committee, Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability Initiative, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2008–2009.
• Initiator and Faculty Director, Stakeholder Marketing Consortium, 2006–present.
• Member, Boston University Council on Faculty Diversity and Inclusion, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2006–2008.
• Initiator and Co-Chair, International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, 2003, 2005, 2006 (in partnership with UC Berkeley and London Business School).
• Chairman Ad Interim, Marketing Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, January–August 2005.
• Doctor in Business Administration Program Development Committee, School-wide and Department Liaison, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2001–2004 and 2006–present.
• Faculty Policy Council, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1999–2000.
• Public and Nonprofit Management Program Development Committee, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1998–2000.

Degrees

• PhD in Marketing, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• MA, University of Pennsylvania
• MBA, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
• BA in Economics, St. Stephens College

Academic Area

Marketing and Business Economics

Personal Interests

In his spare time, Professor Bhattacharya likes cooking Asian inspired spicy dishes, blowing on the tenor sax, and savoring fine single malts with friends.