The course will use a mixture of learning styles, including lectures, case-study discussions, and company presentations.
 

The course will in particular deal with the following topics:

- Introduction to the concept of CSR.

- The rise of global supply chains.

- The costs and benefits of CSR.

- Non-governmental organizations and their influence on corporate behavior.

- Theoretical and practical approaches to understanding the integration of social and environmental issues into supplier relations.

- Social and environmental audits, standards and labels.

- Responses by Third World suppliers.

- Consumer attitudes and behavior

- Multinational companies and labour issues
 

The course´s development of personal competences:

An increasing number of companies in the Western world outsource parts of their production to low-wage countries with poor social and environmental standards. Such long-distance outsourcing makes it difficult for companies to ensure that their products are being produced under socially and environmentally sound conditions. The course attempts to make the students capable of understanding and managing the opportunities and barriers facing companies, which seek to exercise social and environmental responsibility in their supply chains.

- Adams, C.A. & Evans, R. (2004). Accountability, Completeness, Credibility and the Audit Expectations Gap, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 14, 97-115.

- Blackburn, J.D., Guide, V.D., Souza, G.C., Wassenhove, L.N.V., 2004. Reverse supply chains for commercial returns.California Management Review, 46(2), 6-22.

- Brown, J. & Fraser, M. (2006), Approaches and perspectives in social and environmental accounting: an overview of the conceptual landscape, Business Strategy & the Environment, Vol. 15 Issue 2, p103-117.

- Carter, C./Rogers, D. (2008): A framework of sustainable supply chain management: moving toward new theory, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 38, 5, 360-387

- Castka, P., Balzarova, M.A., Bamber, C.J. & Sharp, J.M. (2004), “How can SMEs effectively implement the CSR agenda? A UK case study perspective”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 140-149.

- Chatterji, A. & Levine,D. (2006) Breaking Down the Wall of Codes: Evaluating Non-Financial Performance Measurement. California Management Review 48,2, p.29-51

- De Brito, M.P., Dekker, R., & Flapper, S.D.P. (2003). Reverse Logistics – a review of case studies, ERIM Report Series Research in Management.

- Garriga, E. & Melé D. (2004) Corporate Social Responsibility Theories. Mapping the Territory, Journal of Business Ethics 53, p. 51-71

- Hall, J. (2001), “Environmental Supply-Chain Innovation”, Greener Management International, no. 35, Autumn, pp. 105-119.

- Halldorsson, A./Kotzab, H./Mikkola, J./Skjoett-Larsen, T. (2007): Theories complimentary to Supply Chain Management: Supply Chain Management, an international journal, 12,4, 284-296

- Mamic, I. (2005). Managing Global Supply Chain: The Sports Footwear, Apparel and Retail Sectors, Journal of Business Ethics 59, 81-100.

- Neergaard, P. & Pedersen, E.R. (2003), “Corporate Social Behaviour. Between the Rules of the Game and the Law of the Jungle”, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, no. 12, Winter, pp. 43-57.

- Peattie, K. (2001), Golden Goose or Wild Goose? The Hunt for the Green Consumer, Business Strategy and the Environment 10, 4, 187-199.

- Pedersen, E.R. & Andersen, M. (2006). Safeguarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Global Supply Chains: How Codes of Conduct are managed in Buyer-Supplier Relationships, Journal of Public Affairs, 6, p. 228-240

- Pedersen, E.R. & Neergaard, P. (2006), Caveat Emptor – Let the buyer beware! Environmental Labelling and the Limitations of ‘Green’ Consumerism. Published in Business Strategy and the Environment 15[1]: 15-29.

- Warhurst, A. (2005). Future roles of business in society: the expanding boundaries of corporate responsibility and a compelling case for partnership, Futures 37 [2/3]: 151-168.

- Wilenius, M. (2005): Towards the age of corporate responsibility? Emerging Challenges for the Business World. Futures 37[2/3]:133-150.

- Windsor, D. (2001). The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility. The International Journal of Organizational Analysis 9[3]: 225-256.

- Wycherley, I. (1999), “Greening supply chains: the case of The Body Shop International”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 120-127.