Course 2023-2024 a.y.

20758 - CSR, SUSTAINABILITY, AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
CLMG (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - M (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - IM (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - MM (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - AFC (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - CLELI (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - ACME (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - DES-ESS (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - EMIT (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - GIO (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - DSBA (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - PPA (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08) - FIN (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/08)
Course Director:
ANTONIO TENCATI

Classes: 31 (II sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: ANTONIO TENCATI


Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The success of a firm depends on the quality of its relationships with different stakeholders. In more detail, a company develops its activities through a stakeholder network, which affects and is affected by corporate behavior. Therefore, the concepts of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are becoming more and more crucial. CSR could be defined exactly as innovation for sustainability, that is, innovation for the sustainable development of a firm and, more in general, of the socio-economic system in which a business operates. Thus, the CSR concept has a strategic value that should lead to rethink nature, purposes and behavior of companies. The Course aims at defining the CSR concept and identifying its implications for the business management in terms of: - Sustainability of value creation processes. - Identification and engagement of different stakeholder groups. - More comprehensive and collaborative governance systems. - Innovative business models. - New managerial solutions and new corporate performance evaluation and reporting methodologies. Furthermore, this renewed role of business in society also calls for innovative forms of entrepreneurship, which are able to combine social purposes and economic viability (that is, the social entrepreneurship). The purpose of the Course is to build a new vision of business, management and managerial tools according to a sustainability- and responsibility-oriented approach, based on stakeholders.

CONTENT SUMMARY

  • Overview focused on the concepts of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and accountability.
  • The stakeholder framework: a relational view of the firm.
  • The collaborative enterprise: innovative forms of collaboration supporting the stakeholder network sustainability.
  • Social enterprises as leading examples of innovative responses to social and environmental challenges via a collaborative approach.
  • Business and corporate social responsibility: sustainable value creation processes.
  • CSR and managerial tools: an overall assessment.
  • Corporate performance measurement: social, environmental and sustainability performance evaluation and reporting.
  • From the triple bottom line to a multi-stakeholder approach, taking the business impact into due account.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

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

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

  • Know what CSR, sutainability, and social entrepreneurship really are.
  • Understand the implications of corporate social responsibility for management.
  • Know the most important tools and methodologies in the CSR and sustainability management field.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

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

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

  • Develop a deeper and more aware view of the role of business in society.
  • Apply fitting managerial frameworks and tools to address social, environmental and sustainability issues.
  • Assess corporate performance in a comprehensive way.

 


Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Individual assignments
  • Group assignments
  • Interactive class activities on campus/online (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

DETAILS

The Course adopts an international perspective, qualified managers and experts are involved,and interactive teaching methodologies (case studies, movies, and team work) are used


Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
     x
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
     x
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
     x

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students

  • Written exam: The final written exam is a 120 minutes, individual, closed book exam,which includes four open-ended questions.
  • Group assignment: Groups are composed of two persons and the outcome of theassignment is presented in the last session of the course.
  • Active class participation: This element is considered in the final assessment.
  • Final attending student assessment: 40% group assignment and class participation and 60% written exam. 

 

The combination of in-class activities (active class participation + group assignment) and a written exam with open-answer questions aims to fully appreciate the degree of theoretical understanding developed by the students during the entire course and their ability to apply fitting managerial frameworks and tools, especially with regard to the evaluation of the CSR/sustainability profile of a firm.  


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • Oral exam.

 

The textbook prepared just for the not attending students with a set of carefully selected readings combined with an oral exam aims to appreciate the theoretical and practical knowledge and understanding of the students even if there was not any engaging in-class interaction during the semester.  


Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students

Selected readings and further materialare made available by the instructor during the course in the e-learning community. 


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non attending students

F. PERRINI, A. TENCATI, (Eds.), Selected Readings, Milan, EGEA, 2024. The textbook is physically and digitally available and provided by Egea, as detailed in the “Egea Content Catalog” section of the e-learning community of the Course.

Last change 15/11/2023 16:55