2013/2014  BA-HA_E171  Introduction to Sustainable Business

English Title

Introduction to Sustainable Business

Course information
Language	English
Exam ECTS	7.5 ECTS
Type	Elective
Level	Bachelor
Duration	One Semester
Course period	Spring, Fourth Quarter changes in schedule may occur. tuesday 14-16,18-22 and thursday 15,17,19-21
Time Table	Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board	Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
Course Coordinator : Morten Thanning Vendelø Satu Reijonen - Department of Organization (IOA)
Secretary: Ane Lindgren Hassing alh.ioa@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
Business Ethics, value based management and CSR
Last updated on 14-10-2013

Learning objectives

The students should be able to demonstrate: a clear understanding of the main issues covered during the course, a good command of the key concepts and theories introduced by the course, and that they can apply key concepts and theories in an analysis of sustainable business.

Examination

24-hour individual home assignment: Examination form Home assignment - written product Individual or group exam Individual Size of written product Max. 5 pages Assignment type Case based assignment Duration 24 hours to prepare Grading scale 7-step scale Examiner(s) One internal examiner Exam period Spring Term Make-up exam/re-exam Same examination form as the ordinary exam

Course content and structure

The course is an introduction to sustainable business and will provide the students with an understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility issues in relation to organization, marketing, finance and accounting. The course will to this end discuss stakeholder approaches to strategic management, branding through CSR, market development for ecoinnovations, CSR in supply chains, environmental management systems, green/CSR management accounting and socially responsible investing. The students will hereby acquire knowledge about how corporations integrate corporate social responsibility issues in order to identify new business opportunities, communicate with their stakeholders, compete in global markets, and solve the highly complex problems of the 3rd millennium. Beside of introducing a number of CSR topics, the course will also provide the students with analytical concepts and theories to critically interrogate CSR ideals and practice.   Sustainable Business and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concerns the governance of environmental, social and economic aspects.  In a world where corporate reputation is essential to the success of business, CSR with its focus on stakeholder dialogue and responsible business development can enhance the market share of enterprises. Furthermore, CSR strategies may include optimization of operational efficiency (eco-efficiency), to increase workplace productivity (human resource management) and to reduce cost associated with environmental risks (risk management). The course seeks to develop the students’ competencies with regard to govern such new business opportunities to the advantage of the corporations.   The course rests upon a stakeholder view of the corporation. Its central proposition is that organizational wealth is created (or destroyed) through a corporation's interaction and communication with its stakeholders. Emphasis will be given to characterizing and discussing what constitutes as effective stakeholder engagement. To this end, the course will, in particular, look into how corporate social responsibility issues can be integrated in business through stakeholder engagement processes.

Teaching methods

The course will be based on a mix of cases, lectures, discussions, group work in class as well as on student presentations. Guest lecturers from companies will provide the students with practical examples of some of the challenges involved in sustainable business. By drawing on the experiences of these practitioners and on the recent developments within research on sustainable business, the course seeks to enhance the students’ abilities to analytically address the issue of sustainable business.

Student workload

Preparation 168 hours Teaching 33 hours Examination 24 hours

Expected literature

Preliminary list of readings:   Friedman (1970): “ The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”. New York Times, September 13th. (Online resource – PDF) Porter & Kramer (2011):” Creating Shared Value”, Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb2011, Vol. 89 Issue 1/2, p. 62-77. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2004): “ Doing Business with the Poor – a field guide”, p. 1-21. UN Global Compact (2010):” Blueprint for Corporate Sustainability Leadership” Global Reporting Initiative (2011):” Sustainability Reporting Guidelines”, p. 1-41. Danish Environmental Protection Agency (2003):”The Danish Green Accounts: Experiences and internal effects”, p. 1-9 (Compendium) Searcy and Elkhawas (2012):” Corporate sustainability ratings: an investigation into how corporations use the Dow Jones Sustainability Index”,Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol 35, p 79-92 Hockerts & Moir (2004):” Communicating Corporate Responsibility to Investors: The changing Role of the Investor Relations Function”, Journal of Business Ethics, 52: 85-98 Doganova & Karnøe (2012): Assembling environmental concerns and economic worth in clean-tech markets. Paper presented at the 2nd Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop, June 7-8, Dublin, Ireland. Rao, H. (2009). ‘You can’t get people to sit on an explosion!’ The cultural acceptance of the car in America. In Rao, H. Market Rebels. pp. 18-42. Princeton University Press: Princeton. Delmas (2002):” The diffusion of environmen-tal management standards in Europe and the United States: An institutional perspective”, Policy Sciences 35: p. 91-119. Pedersen (2009):” The many and the few: Rounding up the SME's that manage CSR in supply chains”, Supply Chain Management, Vol 14, Iss 2: p. 109-116. Pedersen and Andersen (2006):” Safeguarding Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) in global supply chains: How codes of conducts are managed in buyer-supplier relationships”, Journal of Public Affairs, vol 6: p. 288-240. Morsing, Schultz and Nielsen (2008):” The 'Catch 22' of communicating CSR: Findings from a Danish study”, Journal of Marketing Communications, Vol. 14, No 2: p. 97-111. Matten & Moon (2008):” ’Implicit’ and ‘Explicit’ CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility”, Academy of Management Review 2008, Vol. 33, No. 2: p. 404–424. Mitchell, R.K., Agle B.R.& Wood, J. (1997): “ Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What Really Counts”, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Oct., 1997): pp. 853-886. Freeman & Wicks (2007):”Managing for stakeholders”, Chapter 1 of “Managing for stakeholders survival, reputation and success”, p. 1-19. AccountAbility (2011): “ AA1000 Stakeholder engagement standard”. Tollin and Vej (2012):” Sustainability in business: Understanding meanings, triggers and enablers”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, iFirst, p. 1-17.