• be familiar with and able to compare, analyze and critically reflect upon the concepts, theories and perspectives relating to CSR and business ethics that have been presented and discussed during the course
• understand and be able to explain and reflect upon conceptual developments in the field of CSR
• understand and be able to explain and reflect upon the range of arguments that can used for and against CSR
• understand and be able to explain and reflect upon current research developments in CSR
• be able to exemplify concepts and theories by relating them to present day challenges met by private businesses and other organizations

The aim of the course is to provide students with in-depth knowledge of current developments in the broad field of CSR (corporate social responsibility). Developments not only in terms of corporate activities and trends, but also in terms of the thinking about business and its role in society that conceptions of CSR involve. Thus, the course engages students in discussions of the ethical and political aspects and ramifications of CSR while also strongly emphasizing the practical and strategic dimension of corporate responsibility. The course provides an opportunity for students to familiarize themselves with the frontiers of knowledge in the field as many of the most significant recent research contributions are read and discussed.

INTRODUCTION
 
Lecture 1: Introduction: CSR basics and the question of ethics in business
 
Moss Kanter, R. (2011): “How Great Companies Think Differently”. Harvard Business Review, November issue:  66-78.
 
Ghoshal, S. (2005): “Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices”. Academy of Management Learning & Education, vol. 4(1): 75-91.
 
Jones, C., M. Parker & R. ten Bos (2005): For Business Ethics (1-19). London: Routledge.
  
MODULE 1: ETHICS, BUSINESS ETHICS, AND RESPONSIBILITY BEYOND CSR
  
Lecture 2: Normative theories (I)
Kagan, S. (1989): “Against Ordinary Morality”. In: Kagan, S.: The Limits of Morality (1-39). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 
Lecture 3: Normative theories and business ethics (II)
Tännsjö, T. (2002): “Deontological Ethics”. In: Understanding Ethics, An Introduction to Moral Theory (56-73)  UK: Edinburgh University Press. 
 
Lippke, R. L. (1985): “Setting the Terms of the Business Responsibility Debate”. Social Theory and Practice,  11(3).
 
Beversluis, E. H. (1987): “Is there No Such Thing as Business Ethics”. Journal of Business Ethics, 6:  
 
Lecture 4: Ethics: Responsibility for the Other (or: Responsibility beyond CSR)
Roberts, J. (2003): “The Manufacture of Corporate Social Responsibility: Constructing Corporate Sensibility”. Organization, vol. 10(2): 249-265.
 
Jones, C. (2003): “As if Business Ethics Were Possible, ‘Within such limits’ ...”. Organization, vol. 10(2): 223-248.
 
Baker, M. & Roberts, J. (2012): “All in the Mind: Ethical Identity and the Allure of Corporate Responsibility”.  Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 101: 5-15.
 
Painter-Morland, M. (2012): “Rethinking Responsible Agency in Corporations: Perspectives from Deleuze and Guattari”.  Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 101: 83-95.
  
MODULE 2: THE PROS AND CONS OF CSR
 
Lecture 5: Research frontiers in CSR
Vallentin, S. & Murillo, D. (2012). “Governmentality and the Politics of CSR”. Organization, onlinefirst, 1-19. 
 
Case: ’the battle of ideas’ in California Management Review
Karnani, A. (2011a): “Doing Well by Doing Good”: The Grand Illusion. California Management Review, vol. 53(2): 69-86.
 
Rivoli, P. & Waddock, S. (2011a): “First, They Ignore You ...”: The Time-Context Dynamic and Corporate Responsibility. California Management Review, vol. 53(2): 87-104. 
 
Karnani, A. (2011b): CSR Stuck in a Logical Trap. A Response to Pietra Rivoli and Sandra Waddock’s “First, They Ignore You ...”: The Time-Context Dynamic and Corporate Responsibility. California Management Review, vol. 53(2): 105-111. 
 
Rivoli, P. & Waddock, S. (2011b): The Grand Misapprehension: A Response to Aneel Karnani’s “’Doing Well by Doing Good’: The Grand Illusion”. California Management Review, vol. 53(2): 112-116. 
  
Lecture 6: Embedded CSR: national institutions and institutional difference
Matten, D. & Moon, J. (2008): “ ‘Implicit’ and ‘Explicit’ CSR: A Conceptual Framework for a Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility”. Academy of Management Review, vol. 33(4): 404-424.
 
Campbell, J.L. (2007): “Why Should Corporations Behave in Socially Responsible Ways? An Institutional Theory of Corporate Social Responsibility”. Academy of Management Review, vol. 32(3): 946-967.
 
Gjølberg, M. (2010). “Varieties of corporate social responsibility (CSR): CSR meets the ‘Nordic Model’”. Regulation & Governance, vol. 4(2):203-229.
 
Lecture 7: Strategic CSR: value creation and the business case
Frederick, W.C. (1978/1994): “From CSR₁ to CSR₂: The Maturing of Business and Society Thought”. Business and Society, vol. 33(2): 150-164.
 
Porter, M.E. & M.R. Kramer (2011): “Creating Shared Value”. Harvard Business Review, January-February Issue: 62-78.
 
Dowling, G. & Moran, P. (2012): “Corporate Reputations: Built In or Bolted On?”. California Management Review, vol. 54(2): 25-42.
 
Additional reading:
Perrini, F. et al. (2011): “Deconstructing the Relationship Between Corporate Social and Financial Performance”. Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 102: 59-76.
 
Lecture 8: Political CSR: corporate citizenship, deliberative democracy and globalization
Matten, D. & Crane, A. (2005): “Corporate citizenship: toward an extended theoretical conceptualization”. Academy of Management Review, vol. 30(1): 166-179.
 
Scherer, A.G. & Pallazzo, G. (2007): “Towards a Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business and Society Seen From a Habermasian Perspective”. Academy of Management Review, vol. 32(4): 1096-1120.
 
Additional reading:
Scherer, A.G. & Pallazzo, G. (2011): “The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance and Democracy”. Journal of Management Studies, vol. 48(4): 899-931.
 
Lecture 9: Media, consumers and civil society
Lange, D.  & Washburn, N.T. (2012): “Understanding Attributions of Corporate Irresponsibility”. Academy of Management Review, vol. 37(2): 300-326.
 
Lecture 10: UN Global Compact and the principles-based approach
Rasche, A. (2009): “’A Necessary Supplement’: What the United Nations Global Compact Is and Is Not”. Business & Society, vol. 48(4): 511-537.
 
Lecture 11: Governmentality, neoliberalism and CSR
Vallentin & Murillo (2012) – see lecture 5
 
Spence, L. & Rinaldi, L. (forthcoming): “Governmentality in Accounting and Accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain”. Accounting, Organizations and Society: 1-37.
 
Vallentin, S. (2012): “Neoliberalism and CSR: Overcoming Stereotypes and Embracing Ideological Variety”. Paper submitted for the 28th EGOS Colloquium, Helsinki 2012.
 
CONCLUSION
 
Lecture 12: Wrap-up
van Oosterhout, J. & Heugens, P.P.M.A.R. (2008): “Much Ado about Nothing: A Conceptual Critique of Corporate Social Responsibility”. In: A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D.S. Siegel (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility (197-223). UK: Oxford University Press.
 
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