Course 2019-2020 a.y.

30281 - CSR & ETHICS IN BUSINESS

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 21 - 22
BIEF (2 credits - I sem. - OB) - BIEM (2 credits - I sem. - OB)
Course Director:
STEFANO POGUTZ

Classes: 15 (I sem.) - 16 (I sem.) - 17 (I sem.) - 18 (I sem.) - 21 (I sem.) - 22 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 15: STEFANO POGUTZ, Class 16: SOOK LIAN DAPHNE TEH, Class 17: PEDRO ACEVES, Class 18: PEDRO ACEVES, Class 21: STEFANO ROMITO, Class 22: LUCA PISTILLI


Suggested background knowledge

To feel comfortable in this course, students should be familiar with basic concepts in management.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

Sustainable development goals, ecological problems such, globalization of supply chains and growing social and ethical conflicts affect business and decision-making processes. Consequently, companies are increasingly required to respond to these challenges developing adequate policies and practices. The seminar aims at providing students with basic concepts and a first understanding of the ethical and strategic implications of corporate responsibility and sustainability. Adopting a management perspective, the seminar intends to familiarize participants with the complexity of these decisions, and with the business opportunities resulting from a proper stakeholder management approach. We accomplish these objectives through engaging students in active learning based on highly interactive lectures, mini-case studies coupled with plenary discussions, and by providing evidences thanks to managers and practitioners’ leadership examples.

CONTENT SUMMARY

  • Defining business ethics, CSR, and corporate sustainability.
  • Understanding the challenges: from climate change to social and ethical conflicts.
  • A strategic approach to CSR and sustainability: competitive opportunities, legitimacy and risks.
  • Dealing with complex decisions, dilemmas and trade-offs in CSR and sustainability.
  • How to adopt CSR and sustainability practices: transforming existing corporations and starting new firm.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

The course equips students with the basic knowledge and skills to:

  • Identify the main challenges related to sustainable development.
  • Differentiate between sustainability, CSR, business ethics, stakeholder theory, social entrepreneurship.
  • Understand why CSR and ethics matter for business.
  • Understand the business case for CSR and elaborate on the relations between the firm financial and social performance.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Provide business examples of CSR and sustainability.
  • Recognise the distinctive features of a sustainable and responsible company.
  • Evaluate and discuss the CSR and sustainability strategy of a company.
  • Outline the main characteristics of a social enterprise.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Group assignments
  • Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

DETAILS

The course uses multiple teaching approaches to favour active learning processes.


Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
     x

ATTENDING STUDENTS

For all students (attending and not attending), the final evaluation is expressed as “pass or fail”.

  • Attendance at seminars is compulsory for all the sessions and is verified by the teachers. No class exchanges are accepted. Assessment based on individual written exam (100%) based on open questions. Questions test the students’ learning of the basic theories and concepts illustrated and discussed in class. Student are required to show that they can explain some basic theories and concepts, that they can provide some business case examples, and that they can analyze and discuss CSR and ethical problems at business level.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

For all students (attending and not attending), the final evaluation is expressed as “pass or fail”.

  • Assessment based on individual written exam (100%) with multiple choice questions, true/false, and short answer. The questions cover the different parts of the teaching material, in particular checking the basic theories, constructs, and facts.

Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

Papers and selected readings, slides and cases provided by instructors that are made available on the Bboard platform.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

M. BLOWFIELD, A. MURRAY, Corporate responsibility, Oxford University Press, 2014 (Chapters: 1, 3, 6, 9, 11 and 12).

Last change 29/05/2019 22:20