OVERVIEW

The need for sustainable development models is agreed on a global scale and asks companies to adopt responsible conducts from an economic, social and environmental perspective. The course aims to explore corporate social responsibility in the wider framework of business ethics, showing how CSR may be not a constraint but an innovative way to create value for all the stakeholders.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to explore the relationship between ethics and business, with specific reference to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Firms, indeed, are not only producers of goods and services for the market, but also actors in a network of internal and external relationships; as a consequence, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a way both to understand the firm's nature and to manage it in a perspective of common good and sustainability. The main topics of the course are the relationship between ethics and business; sustainable development; stakeholder management and engagement; the dimensions of CSR and its strategic role; the social reporting instruments; the ethical behaviour of entrepreneurs and managers.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to explore the relationship between ethics and economics, with particular reference to the corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The aims of the course can be traced back to three main areas:

• Understanding the relationship between ethics and economics and the ethical implications of economic phenomena, with particular attention to technological innovation;
• Understanding the purposes and contents of the stakeholder management and engagement process, including the social reporting phase; identifying the dimensions of CSR, its costs and benefits and its strategic role;
• Understanding the ethical implications related to the behavior of entrepreneurs and managers.

Learning outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding Students acquire the ethical, theoretical and practical foundations needed to interpret corporate behavior in terms of economic, social and environmental responsibility in the perspective of the common good; they understand the contents of the theory of shared value; they know the main sustainability reporting tools (sustainability report and code of ethics) and their contents; they understand the ethical dimensions of managers' actions.
• Applied knowledge and understanding Students are able to apply the acquired knowledge to the processes through which companies express their reference values; develop the ethical code; map and evaluate the company's stakeholders; relate to their stakeholders and engage them in the value creation; report the achievement of their economic, social, and environmental goals. They are also able to identify the ethical and moral implications associated with strategic and management choices.
• Judgement skills Students must acquire independent judgment and critical spirit in order to be able to reconcile – when acting as a manager – the interests of the people working in the company, the company as a whole, the stakeholders and society.
• Communication skills Students must acquire a transdisciplinary language capable of bringing specific business issues into the wider context of ethical, political, cultural and social dimensions.
• Learning capabilities The ability to learn is be aimed at grasping, with reference to the problems investigated, the connection both between macro and micro aspects and between economic aspects and social aspects of business choices with particular attention to the their effects on society.

PREREQUISITES

Previous knowledge

Students are expected to be familiar with concepts such as:

• The evolution of firms in history
• Firm theory and market theories
• The firm purpouses and the creation of value
• The relationships between firms and environment. Mission, vision and strategie. Competitive strategies and value chain.
• Corporate governance, role of stakeholders and juridical systems
• People in the organizations: personality, values, tasks

TEACHING METHODS

ATTENTION: The course is taught in Italian

Lectures, case studies, seminars by professionals, individual & group works.

Attendance

Attendance is not compulsory; students can choose to study the syllabus for attending or not-attending students (see below).

Furthermore, a special syllabus – fully in English and for non-attending students only – is available to incoming foreign students on request.

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Prof. Serena Scotto (scotto@economia.unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Part 1: Ethics and economics

Part 2: Stakeholder theory, stakeholder management & engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility

Part 3: Methodologies, tools and applications for CSR reporting

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reccommended readings for attending and not-attending students will be published on Aulweb.

Incoming foreign students studying the English programme (non-attending only): available on request

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The course is taught in the second semeter, following the calendar and schedule defined by the Department of Economics.

Schedule and classrooms are available at the easyacademy link: https://easyacademy.unige.it/portalestudenti/

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam. For students attending the classes, the evaluation of individual and group activities will be also considered.

In case of exam failure, students cannot take the exam on the following call (appello) and need to skip a date. The can take the exam on the following call if that call belongs to another exam session.

If students do not accept a positive grade (18 or more), they can retry the exam on the following call.

Incoming mobility students do not have to skip a call in case of failure.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam assesses the level of knowledge and understanding of the course contents, together with the student’s capability of developing independent thinking on the course topics and contextualizing the contents to real companies and contexts. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

The lecturer analyzed the results of the teaching evaluation questionnaires relating to the previous academic year and took them into account in the planning of this edition, with a continuous improvement approach.