Business in Society (2225.YR.000841.1)

General information

Type:	OBL	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	4 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

No prerequisites

No previous knowledge necessary

In terms of workload, this means that throughout the course students will have to fulfill the following tasks:

- Read the required readings and cases for each session, which will be the basis for the discussion during class.
- Submit one individual video assignment (Session #1) (3 minutes)
- Submit one written individual assignment (Session #3) (up to 750 words)
- Submit written group assignments (Sessions #2 and #4) (up to 750 words each) and one written group assignment (Session #6) (up to 1,500 words).
- Contribute to in-class exercises, cases, and simulations
- Participate actively in class discussion, be focused, on time and contribute to a good class atmosphere.
- Prepare and present the final project in groups.

The goal of the course is to train future managers on how corporate social responsibility (hereinafter CSR) and sustainability is relevant to their future job responsibilities. It aims to help students think critically about ethical, social and environmental issues that they might face as they work in finance and analyze the impacts of the firm's decisions on a variety of stakeholders. It also aims to offer solutions how the financial sector can be a driving force of development and sustainabilty by highlighting its role on financing sustainable investments as well as social businesses and enterprises.

While there are no easy recipes for what firms (including those in the finance and banking services) need to do, our departing assumption is that learning to effectively manage ethical, social, and environmental issues can produce positive results for the manager as well as for the company, and society at large. To show this, the course will offer examples, tools, and materials.

At the end of the course, students should:

* Understand the current debates concerning CSR, the corporate objective, and the social, political, and environmental impact of corporations, and form an opinion about these debates.
* Better understand the intersection between business and society, including relations between firms and social activists and new models of organizations that find new ways to balance social and economic value.
* Become acquainted with different tools and metrics used in the sustainability field, particularly regarding the role of the financial sector for financing socially and environmentally benign development.
* Develop and apply financial solutions for social ventures and enterprises.

1. "The corporate objective" debate We will dedicate the first part of this session to discuss the course, the methodology and contents. We will also organize the class in groups and we will explainthe final project. The second part of this session will be dedicated to introducing the concept of business in society as a management issue, through the confrontation of different views about the objective of the corporation. We aim to show the different nuances in this debate, which underpins much of the discussion about issues of sustainabilty and corporate responsibility.

2. Stakeholder Analysis and Engagement In this session we will look at how companies map and analyze their stakeholders in order to set priorities and engage with them in a most effective way. We will also see how companies build dialogue processes with different stakeholder with contradictory interests and aspirations.

3. Expulsed and precarious: A fresher look at entrepreneurship, business models and the like? (I. Martí) In this session we will try first to undestand contemporary forms of precariousness and expulsion and some of their antecedents and causes, including entrepreneurship and business models (yes, they are not only for good!). Then, we will try to think about possible ways to address them and how people, individually or collectively, cope with situations that affect their daily life and their potential to develop their potential as human beings. These point to a fresher and broader way to understand entrepreneurship and innovation.

4. Managing common pool resources: Fishbanks Simulation Many sustainability challenges refer to public good and common pool resources that require collective responses to be addressed adequately. In this session, students will play the MIT Fishbanks Simulation to experience the challenges associated with the sustainable management of common pool resources.

5. Socially Responsible Investment and Impact Investment In this session we will look at the particularities of the financial sector with regard to business in society issues. We will pay close attention to socially responsible investment (hereinafter SRI), understanding the four different generations of SRI, as well as the rationale for each one and some examples. We will also look at the growing market segments of social investment and impact investment. We will put special emphasis on the question of funding social enterprises and explore different options in this context, including impact investment.

6. Financing Social Enterpreneurship In this session we will look at how initiatives to tackle social and environmental issues with market tools emerge from social and/or green entrepreneurs. We will explore some examples, analyzing the skills and competencies needed by social/green entrepreneurs. We will put special emphasis on the question of funding social enterprises and explore different options in this context, including impact investment.

7. Role Play: Investment Decision-Making in Impact Investment (I) In this session, we will focus on different financing options for social businesses. Based on the overview of the emerging financial market segments of social investment and impact investment, students will develop financing solutions for social businesses. We will first discuss the students¿ responses to the Nuru case based on the assignment from last session. We will then start the role play on financing two social enterprises.

8. Role Play: Investment Decision-Making in Impact Investment (II) In this session, we will continue the role play on financing two social enterprises. Students will develop and present their decisions on financing the two case companies. We will critically reflect the experience of the student groups from the role play and discuss challenges and potential solutions for financing social businesses.

9. Presentation of final projects In this session the students will present in groups their final projects. The objective is to present the financing concepts for social enterprises that each group developed.

Business in society issues are very strongly affected by contextual issues such as cultural, social and economic conditions, geography and timing. In this regard, one of the most challenging parts of developing a business in society strategy is to define what the central issues are for a given organization. This means that each of us has to develop its own definition and issue map based on its context, values, identity, beliefs, and goals. In this scenario, the key methodologies we will use in this course are dialogue and introspection. In other words, we must come up with our personal definition of what business in society is, as well as a list of key issues that we will need to address as future managers through debating with others around us on these topics and exploring within ourselves.

Therefore, the workload for this course will be equally divided between individual work, team work, and plenary work. The central driver around which the course is designed is participation, meaning participating in class discussions, working with the group and contributing to the class through the individual work. Our goal is threefold: (1) to foster an atmosphere of openness and dialogue; (2) to challenge participants to give the best of themselves; and (3) to look at issues from different angles and perspectives. Regarding this last point, the course will be taught by two instructors, each of which will take the stand of either business or society in any given issue. Students will also be asked to take stance of either business or society (not by choice, but alternatively) to force putting ourselves in the other's shoes.

In terms of workload, this means that throughout the course students will have to fulfill the following tasks:

In groups:
- Prepare the final project, which will be a business in society strategy for a given company.
- Prepare and submit group assignments

Individually:
- Read an article, case or develop an exercise each week, and perform associated assignemts
- Participate actively in class discussion, be focused on time and contribute to a good class atmosphere

In terms of class structure, we want to be open and flexible to change things as we move along. That is, we want students to be able to participate not only in fulfilling the class requirements, but also in improving the course itself.

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Sundaram, A. K., & Inkpen, A. C. 2004. The corporate objective revisited. Organization Science, 15(3), 350-363.

Freeman, R. E., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. 2004. Stakeholder theory and "the corporate objective revisited?. Organization Science, 15(3), 364-369.

Cummings, J., & Doh, J. 2000. Identifying who matters: Mapping key players in multiple environments. California Management Review, 42(2): 83-104

Hart, S. L., & Sharma, S. 2004. Engaging fringe stakeholders for competitive imagination. Academy of Management Executive, 18(1): 7-18.

Desmond, M. 2016. "Forced out. For many poor Americans, eviction never ends? New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/08/forced-out#)

Fallarás, C. 2013. "I'm the evictee telling you how it is?
- http://www.voxeurop.eu/en/content/article/4006161-i-m-evictee-telling-you-how-it-13
- http://www.voxeurop.eu/en/content/article/4014311-i-m-evictee-telling-you-how-it-23
- http://www.voxeurop.eu/en/content/article/4015001-i-m-evictee-telling-you-how-it-33

Huppes, G., & Ishikawa, M. 2005. Eco-efficiency and Its Terminology. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 9(4): 43-46.

WBCSD. 2000. Eco-Efficiency. Creating More Value with Less Impact. Geneva: World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

BlackRock, 2016: Adapting portfolios to climate change: Implications and strategies for all investors, https://www.blackrock.com/investing/literature/whitepaper/bii-climate-change-2016-us.pdf

Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim, 2013: Sustainability in Financial Services Is Not About Being Green, Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2013/05/sustainability-in-financial-services-is-not-about-being-green

Financial Times: March 8, 2018 "More Ethical Dilemmas for Norway's Oil Fund? https://www.ft.com/content/93b76b22-22ca-11e8-add1-0e8958b189ea

Echoing Green, 2014: Funding Social Enterprises, http://www.echoinggreen.org/downloads/Echoing-Green-Impact-Investing-Profiles_6.2014.pdf

Dees, J.G. 1998, The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship, http://web.mit.edu/sloan2/dese/readings/week01/Dees_TheMeaningofSocialEntrepreneurship.pdf

Dichter, S., et al. 2013, Closing the Pionieer Gap, https://ssir.org/articles/entry/closing_the_pioneer_gap