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2016/2017  KAN-CCMVI2013U  Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Business Practices and Development Economics: an Integrated Framework

English Title
Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Business Practices and Development Economics: an Integrated Framework

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 80
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Course instructor - Rodrigo Zeidan, Associate Professor of Practice of Business and Finance, New York University Shanghai, rz.acc@cbs.dk
    Sven Bislev - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
In case of any academic questions related to the course, please contact the course instructor or the academic director, Sven Bislev at sb.ikl@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • CSR and sustainability
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Economics
Last updated on 29/05/2017
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Structure an Action-Based Plan
  • Understand the roles of Social Enterprises and Sustainability management practices.
  • Develop critical perspectives on fundamental arguments about economic and social policies.
  • Get an introductory grasp of complexity theory and its relevance to the development of social policies.
  • Establish a solid cost/benefit framework for the analysis of internal sustainable management practices.
Course prerequisites
Any course related to Macroeconomics. Useful background: Some knowledge of Economics and Finance is particularly relevant for the discussions in class
Examination
Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Business Practices and Development Economics: an Integrated Framework:
Exam ECTS 7.5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 72 hours to prepare
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer, Ordinary exam: End of July - beginning of August 2017.

Retake exam: End of September - beginning of October 2017.

3rd attempt (2nd retake) exam: End November - beginning of December 2017.

Exam schedule is available on http://www.cbs.dk/summer http:/​/​www.cbs.dk/​uddannelse/​summer-university-programme/​exam.
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Home project assignment, new exam question
Course content and structure

There is a clear recent shift in the development economics literature from a focus on economic growth towards a more integrated framework that incorporates such concepts such as well-being, sustainability, and other non-economic factors. Even though economic growth is still a necessary condition for development, local policies can increasingly rely on social entrepreneurship and sustainable business policies for improved development. This course invites graduate students to delve into different business practices that can transform the socioeconomic landscape and to use recent theoretical contribution in different fields such as economics, complexity theory, and management. The course explores critically social entrepreneurship and sustainability to analyze its economic and social impact. 
The course is structured to provide students with a series of coherent modules. The first module introduces concepts in development economics and  complexity theory. The main idea is to incorporate novel ideas into more traditional growth theories. We use a broader perspective on development, using concepts from complexity theory and other disciplines to provide a solid theoretical framework. Students are expected to tackle sophisticated theoretical papers in this module. 
The second module introduces concepts from social entrepreneurship and explores case studies, discussing its possible impacts and shortcomings in promoting local development. We introduce concepts from complexity theory into the analysis of social entrepreneurship with the goal of establishing the boundaries of local development from social enterprises.
The last module explores the role of companies in promoting sustainable ideas by transforming the socioeconomical environment, analysing the possibility that private firms can be promoters of change by changing internal management practices. We use a Business as Usual to a Future Sustainable Business framework as sketched below and explore the role of firms in changing the international business context - one of the case studies for this module explores changes in a multinational bank that introduced a credit score system based on sustainability of the agricultural sector.  
The course is fairly interactive and relies on the reading of the material and the experience brought by the students.

 

Class 1: Determining the main indicators of development.

Class 2: Determining the main indicators of development.

Class 3:Looking at Data. What does it tells us about the world?

Class 4: A Primer on Complexity Theory

Class 5: Social Networks and Poverty. 

Class 6: Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts and Ideas.

feedback activity: Preparation for the Action-Based Plan

Class 7: Social Entrepreneurship: Cases.

Class 8: Is there a sustainability imperative? 

Class 9: Sustainability: Business Cases.

Class 10: Sustainability and Firm Valuation.

Class 11: Review and comments for the Action-Based Plan

Teaching methods
Classes usually begin with a short lecture and are followed by discussion to ensure that students take primary responsibility for interpreting and critiquing the readings. Students are free to pursue interesting topics, but should relate to the literature and the framework presented in the module overview.
Student workload
Preliminary assignment 10 hours
Classroom attendance 33 hours
Preparation 144 hours
Feedback activity 7 hours
Examination 12 hours
Further Information

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

 

Feedback Activity: A feedback activity defined by the course instructor will take place approx. half-way through the course.

 

Course timetable is available on http://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/summer-university-programme/courses

Expected literature

The course will not make use of a textbook. Instead, students will read excerpts and articles.

Last updated on 29/05/2017