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2024/2025  KAN-CCBLO1701U  Business and Social Responsibility in Francophone Countries

English Title
Business and Social Responsibility in Francophone Countries

Course information

Language French
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc and MSc in Business, Language and Culture, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Léna Prouchet - Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
Main academic disciplines
  • CSR and sustainability
  • Language
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 07-10-2024

Relevant links

Learning objectives
  • 1. Content:
  • Formulate a relevant topic for discussion based on the themes and concepts in the course literature.
  • Account for institutional contexts as these are covered in the course literature.
  • Account for the concept of social responsibility.
  • Account for the main actors of social responsibility in the two institutional contexts.
  • Reflect analytically upon the concept of social responsibility and upon challenges of applying it in selected Francophone countries.
  • Ensure that the discussion moves forward by elaborating upon the topics and concepts raised and he/she should actively relate these to other topics and concepts addressed during the course, without having to be prompted by the examiner.
  • 2. Language:
  • Present and discuss a given topic in French using an appropriate and rich vocabulary and academic terminology.
  • Communicate in a coherent manner without committing grammatical, lexical, idiomatic or pronunciation errors that disturb communication.
  • Show sufficient linguistic awareness and to correct any errors in the exam situation.
  • Demonstrate that s/he is sufficiently at ease in the language to respond fluently to the examiner’s questions, so that the examination flows as a dialogue.
Examination
The exam in the subject consists of two parts:
Business and Social Responsibility in Francophone Countries - Content:
Sub exam weight50%
Examination formOral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance, see also the rules about examination forms in the programme regulations.
Individual or group examIndividual exam
Size of written productMax. 3 pages
Assignment typeSynopsis
Release of assignmentSubject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
30 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale7-point grading scale
Examiner(s)Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam periodSummer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

The course has only one exam consisting of two parts. The grade is given for the content of the synopsis and the oral presentation.

Business and Social Responsibility in Francophone Countries - Language:
Sub exam weight50%
Examination formOral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance, see also the rules about examination forms in the programme regulations.
Individual or group examIndividual exam
Size of written productMax. 3 pages
Assignment typeSynopsis
Release of assignmentSubject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
30 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale7-point grading scale
Examiner(s)Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam periodSummer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

The course has only one exam consisting of two parts. The grade is given for the content of the synopsis and the oral presentation.

Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

The course focuses on how Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are being received, adapted, and institutionalized in different French-speaking countries' contexts. We adopt a Global North / Global South perspective by putting specifically into conversation a Western context (i.e.metropolitan and ultramarine France) and a North-African one (i.e. Morocco) - though the examples we will study go beyond these two national contexts. The conversation between different French-speaking contexts aims to illustrate how history, traditions, and institutions contribute to enabling and constraining how business actors’ sensemaking. 

 

The ideal of socially responsible business will be used as a lens for comparing institutional particularities and diversities as well as different groups of business actors and their identities.

 

Particular attention will be paid to the various and conflicting businesses (MNCs, SME, Social and solidarity economy organizations i.e. civil society organizations, governments, and sectoral interests) and stakeholders’ interests when business and social responsibility acquire a sense in francophone countries. We will study how the different dimensions of sustainability i.e. economic, environmental, and social are articulated. The course uses problem-based and case-study learning in different sectors (e.g car constructors, fast fashion, agriculture, tourism, mining industries). We will explore a diversity of conceptual and theoretical frameworks to analyse CSR initiatives and strategies, review its relationship with historical concepts such as paternalism or philantropy and study the legal framework for CSR and how soft law and hard law articulate.

 

We will place responsibility in the globalization context discussing how it can be implemented through a global supply chain and discussing it at different levels. We will use different theoretical perspectives to understand real cases, such as the decoupling between firms' discourses and practices, green, pink, or social washing. 

 

 

Description of the teaching methods
A combination of interactive lectures and individual and group work (case studies, debates, writing exercises), with a focus on students’ abilities to analyze and conceptualize thematic and theoretical features against the backdrop of the course literature. The course uses problem-based and case-study learning. The Six Thinking Hats of de Bono will be particularly used to structure the cases and the class debates. Teaching and literature will be in French.

Course material will consist of articles from newspapers, chapters from books, videos, and case study documents gathered by the teacher. Some will be written for a broad audience, and others will be academic articles.
Feedback during the teaching period
Student feedback occurs regularly throughout the course, e.g. group exercises in class.

Students are also encouraged to ask questions during course sessions, during breaks as well as to use the teacher’s office hours for individual oral and written feedback on their synopsis.

In addition, there is dedicated time for peer feedback activities during the course, especially for the ideation and writing of the synopsis.
Student workload
Lectures 30 hours
Exam 0.5 hours
Preparation 175.5 hours
Total 206 hours
Last updated on 07-10-2024