• Summarize the ongoing debates about the purpose of the corporation and the ideas of shareholder value (aka shareholder-primacy) vis-à-vis stakeholder view of the firm
• Explain the concepts of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), creating shared value, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and relate them to the ongoing debates about the purpose of the corporation
• Summarize fundamental cultural norms and institutional factors that comprise the Nordic business context
• Hypothesize how the Nordic region is realizing comparatively superior sustainability outcomes

Nordic countries and Nordic-based companies are frequently cited as global sustainability leaders.  In this course, we more deeply explore sustainability in the Nordics in an effort to understand how the Nordics such global sustainability leaders and consider what lessons may be applicable elsewhere in the world.  
We root our exploration in the debates about the purpose of the corporation and explore ideas of shareholder view vis-à-vis stakeholder view of the firm.   This serves as the foundation from which we also consider the concepts of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).  We review how these concepts are increasingly recognized as key elements to corporate strategy and innovation as indicated by the recent engagement by strategic management guru Michael Porter and the recent “Creating Shared Value” (CSV) concept.

Throughout our explorations, we strive to identify the fundamental cultural norms and institutional factors that comprise the Nordic business context through which we also identify and hypothesize connections between these contexts and the sustainability activities.

Preliminary assignment
 
Class 1:  Course Overview & Introduction 
 
Class 2:  The Nordics:  An Introduction 
 
Class 3:  Purpose of Business:  An American Story and a Nordic Story; Part I 
 
Class 4:  Purpose of Business:  An American Story and a Nordic Story; Part II 
 
Class 5:  Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 
 
Class 6:  Creating Shared Value 
 
Feedback activity: We will have an interactive feedback session where we learn about how to give good feedback and apply this to the content of the course.   This will include students preparing a small home assignment to bring to class. 
 
Class 7:  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 
 
Class 8:  Nordic Leadership 
 
Class 9:  Nordic Corporate Governance 
 
Class 10:  Nordic Capitalism 
 
Class 11:  Review & Reflections 

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.

Course timetable and Exam schedules are available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams end February 2019 at the latest.

Mandatory readings:

Strand, Robert. (2014). Scandinavia Can Be an Inspiration for Creating Shared Value.  Financial Times, April 25. 
 
Partanen, Anu. (2017). The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life. Gerald Duckworth & Co.  (Available via Amazon, other booksellers)

Friedman, Milton. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. New York Times Magazine. 
 
Stout, Lynn. A. (2012). The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.  (Available via Amazon, other booksellers) 

Additional relevant readings:

A list of relevant articles for the respective sessions will be provided in the syllabus well in advance of the class commencement. All articles will be available from the CBS library. The two aforementioned books (Shareholder Value Myth & Nordic Theory of Everything) must be purchased in advanced