MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management

This course unit adopts a multi-disciplinary perspective on responsible business and management and sustainable development. It includes but is not limited to current academic thinking around corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethics, and sustainability. The unit takes a broad view on the role of business in society, and an important goal is to introduce students to the upcoming challenges of the 21 century and to explore avenues businesses can take to contribute to successfully tackling these challenges. In this course unit students will look at responsible business practices from a wide range of perspectives, including ethical, economic, institutional and political perspectives.
 

BMAN73432 Programme Req: BMAN73432 is only available as an elective to students on MSc IB&M and MSc BASM

• Introduce key responsible business concepts and theories in a domestic and international context, and illustrate their applications.
• Provide an understanding of responsible mentalities and develop strategic and critical thinking in relation to responsible management.
• Provide an understanding of the management challenges associated with developing domestic and international strategies and handling the operations of firms whose activities challenge the status quo.

 

On successful completion of the course unit, students should meet the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge and understanding: Demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical and managerial aspects of responsible business and management in domestic and international contexts. Understand the drivers and challenges of managing responsibly in competitive environments, both locally and internationally. Understand the close links between corporate social responsibility and corporate governance, including the potential tensions between shareholder value creation and stakeholder value creation.

Intellectual skills: Have a critical appreciation of conceptual explanations for different degrees of responsibility in organisations and apply these insights to real business activities. Be aware of business ethics theories and their foundation in moral philosophy.

Practical skills: Identify, define, and frame responsible business problems and design and implement an appropriate research strategy to identify alternative solutions.

Transferrable skills and personal qualities: See the importance of societal issues related to responsible business and management and work and demonstrate the ability to reflect on self, society, and current business practices.

Employability: Corporations are under increasing pressure to assume greater responsibility in society than simply catering to shareholders’ interests. For this reason, employers are increasingly looking to hire graduates who bring skills and insights related to responsible business practices. This course equips students with the critical mind set to identify and analyse current best practice and to go beyond it.

Lectures (2 hours) and seminars (1 hour).

Individual Essay 100%

• Informal advice and discussion during a lecture, seminar, workshop or lab.

• Responses to student emails and questions from a member of staff including feedback provided to a group via an online discussion forum.

• Written and/or verbal comments on assessed or non-assessed coursework.

• Aguinis, H. & Glavas, A. 2012. What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4): 932-68.
• Brenkert, G. G. & Beauchamp, T. L. 2012. The Oxford handbook of business ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Carroll, A. B. & Shabana, K. M. 2010. The business case for corporate social responsibility: A review of concepts, research and practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1): 85-105.
• Donaldson, T. & Dunfee, T. W. 1994. Toward a unified conception of business ethics: Integrative social contracts theory. Academy of Management Review, 19(2): 252-84.
• Elkington, J. 2006. Governance for sustainability. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 14(6): 522-29.
• Esposito, M., Tse, T., & Soufani, K. 2018. Introducing a circular economy: New thinking with new managerial and policy implications. California Management Review, 60(3): 5-19.
• Garriga, E. & Melé, D. 2004. Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1-2): 51-71.
• Kline, J. 2010. Ethics for International Business: Decision-making in a global political economy. London: Routledge.
• Kolk, A. 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1): 23-34.
• Locke, R. M., Amengual, M., & Mangla, A. 2009. Virtue out of necessity? Compliance, commitment, and the improvement of labor conditions in global supply chains. Politics & Society, 37(3): 319-51.
• Matten, D. & Moon, J. 2008. “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33(2): 404-24.
• Porter, M. E. & Kramer, M. R. 2011. The big idea: Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1): 1-17.
• Short, J. C., Moss, T. W., & Lumpkin, G. T. 2009. Research in social entrepreneurship: Past contributions and future opportunities. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 3(2): 161-94.
• Wood, D. J. 2010. Measuring corporate social performance: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1): 50-84.

 

Informal Contact Method

Office