ETI450 Corporate Social Responsibility

• Topics

  This course explores a wide range of topics in corporate social responsibility (CSR) relevant for students in all profiles of the master programme. What should managers know about how their decisions and activities affect the behaviour of consumers, employees, investors and other stakeholders? On what basis can decisions be made in situations where all shareholder and stakeholder interests cannot be met? How can managers, citizens and governments reason about the role of corporations in society? These questions will be studied from a business perspective and from an ethical perspective.

  The course has three main parts. Part 1 provides an introduction to the meaning and origin of CSR and discusses the strategic side of CSR. Part 2 looks the implications of ethical theories and perspectives for corporate social responsibility. Part 3 critically discusses the impact and future of CSR in an increasingly globalized world.

• Learning outcome

  The course focuses on possible tensions between what is profitable in business, and what is ethical. The aim is to teach the student how to analyze and understand the strategic side of CSR (how corporate social responsibility affects profitability), and the normative side of CSR (how ought managers/corporations to act, and what is the role of corporations in society). The lectures will draw on theory and evidence from several disciplines, including ethics, economics, management, and political science. Cases and ethically challenging phenomena such as corruption will be discussed to illustrate main points and lessons from the course. After completing the course, the students are expected to:

  • Be able to define and understand the main categories of corporate social responsibility.
  • Understand and analyze the business case for (or against) CSR
  • Understand how CSR can affect demand from consumers and employee motivation
  • Discuss socially responsible investment and different ways in which investors take ethical concerns into account in their investment strategies
  • Understand the ethics case for CSR, and the implications of different ethical perspectives for CSR
  • Understand how globalization affects the responsibilities of corporations and CSR policies
  • Discuss the role of business in development
  • Acquire an understanding of practices such as corruption and corporate political influence
  • Critically discuss the role of CSR in society and the future of CSR.

• Requirements for course approval

  Mandatory term paper (max 5 pages).

• Assessment

  Four hour written exam.

• Grading Scale

  Grading scale A-F.

• Computer tools

   None.

• Semester

  Spring

• Literature

  TBA