Course 2020-2021 a.y.

20331 - CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
CLELI (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 capable of integrating and improving traditional economic measures. 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 a stakeholder framework.

CONTENT SUMMARY

  • Overview focused on the concepts of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and accountability.
  • The stakeholder framework: a relational view of the firm.
  • Business and corporate social responsibility: sustainable value creation processes.
  • The collaborative enterprise: innovative forms of collaboration supporting the stakeholder network sustainability.
  • 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.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Know what CSR really is.
  • 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...
  • 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 (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

DETAILS

  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance): qualified managers and experts are involved.
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online): Specific sessions are devoted to case study discussion. During the entire course, several incidents are presented and discussed.
  • Individual assignments: papers, that every student has to read in advance, are discussed in class.
  • Group assignments: the case study discussion is addressed by groups. Furthermore, a group assignment is part of the assessment methods adopted for the attending students.
  • Interactive class activities: Interactive sessions, movies, videos are tools used during the course in order to support an active learning.

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

  • 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 the assignment 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.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • Oral exam. 

Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

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


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • F. PERRINI, A. TENCATI, (Eds.), Selected Readings, Milan, EGEA, 2021. 
Last change 08/12/2020 18:20