20758 - CSR, SUSTAINABILITY, AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Department of Management and Technology
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
CLMG (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - M (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - IM (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - MM (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - AFC (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - CLELI (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - ACME (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - DES-ESS (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - EMIT (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - GIO (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - DSBA (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - PPA (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - FIN (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08) - AI (6 credits - II sem. - OP | SECS-P/08)
Course Director:
ANTONIO TENCATI
ANTONIO TENCATI
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
The success of a firm depends on the quality of its relationships with different stakeholders. In more detail, a company develops its activities through a stakeholder network, which affects and is affected by corporate behavior. Therefore, the concepts of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are becoming more and more crucial. CSR could be defined exactly as innovation for sustainability, that is, innovation for the sustainable development of a firm and, more in general, of the socio-economic system in which a business operates. Thus, the CSR concept has a strategic value that should lead to rethink nature, purposes and behavior of companies. The Course aims at defining the CSR concept and identifying its implications for the business management in terms of:
- Sustainability of value creation processes.
- Identification and engagement of different stakeholder groups.
- More comprehensive and collaborative governance systems.
- Innovative business models.
- New managerial solutions and new corporate performance evaluation and reporting methodologies.
Furthermore, this renewed role of business in society also calls for innovative forms of entrepreneurship, which are able to combine social purposes and economic viability (that is, the social entrepreneurship).
The purpose of the Course is to build a new vision of business, management and managerial tools according to a sustainability- and responsibility-oriented approach, based on stakeholders.
CONTENT SUMMARY
- Overview focused on the concepts of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and accountability.
- The stakeholder framework: a relational view of the firm.
- The collaborative enterprise: innovative forms of collaboration supporting the stakeholder network sustainability.
- Social enterprises as leading examples of innovative responses to social and environmental challenges via a collaborative approach.
- Business and corporate social responsibility: sustainable value creation processes.
- CSR and managerial tools: an overall assessment.
- Corporate performance measurement: social, environmental and sustainability performance evaluation and reporting.
- From the triple bottom line to a multi-stakeholder approach, taking the business impact into due account.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Define what CSR, sutainability, and social entrepreneurship really are.
- Recognize the implications of corporate social responsibility for management.
- Identify and describe the most important tools and methodologies in the CSR and sustainability management field.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Develop a deeper and more aware view of the role of business in society.
- Apply fitting managerial frameworks and tools to address social, environmental and sustainability issues.
- Assess corporate performance in a comprehensive way.
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
- Individual works / Assignments
- Collaborative Works / Assignments
- Interaction/Gamification
DETAILS
The Course adopts an international perspective, qualified managers and experts are involved, and interactive teaching methodologies (case studies, movies, and team work) are used.
More specifically, in addition to well-established face-to-face lectures, crucial papers are discussed in class in order to appreciate the evolution of the CSR construct and its managerial implications.
Furthermore, a case will be in-depth analyzed by groups to better recognize what challenges are related to the implementation of advanced CSR policies in the real world.
For the same reason, guest speakers from academia, business, finance, and civil society will be involved to highligt leading innovative practices.
More in general, interaction, participation, and involvement are the fundamental drivers for the Course success.
Assessment methods
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ATTENDING STUDENTS
Attending students
- Written exam: The final written exam is a 120 minutes, individual, closed book exam,which includes four open-ended questions.
- Group assignment: Groups are composed of two persons and the outcome of theassignment is presented in the last session of the course.
- Active class participation: This element is considered in the final assessment.
- Final attending student assessment: 40% group assignment and class participation and 60% written exam.
The combination of in-class activities (active class participation + group assignment) and a written exam with open-answer questions aims to fully appreciate the degree of theoretical understanding developed by the students during the entire course and their ability to apply fitting managerial frameworks and tools, especially with regard to the evaluation of the CSR/sustainability profile of a firm.
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
- Oral exam.
The textbook prepared just for the not attending students with a set of carefully selected readings combined with an oral exam aims to appreciate the theoretical and practical knowledge and understanding of the students even if there was not any engaging in-class interaction during the semester.
Teaching materials
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Attending students
Selected readings and further materialare made available by the instructor during the course in the e-learning community.
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Non attending students
F. PERRINI, A. TENCATI, (Eds.), Selected Readings, Milan, EGEA, 2025. The textbook is physically and digitally available and provided by Egea, as detailed in the “Egea Content Catalog” section of the e-learning community of the Course.
Last change 29/10/2024 16:05