LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Understanding the concepts of sustainable business and corporate responsibility
- Understanding the central tensions in corporate sustainability
- Identifying sustainability challenges and introducing strategic approaches to respond to them
- Understanding sustainability in different business functions and the management instruments available
- Developing critical thinking about how to deal with different stakeholders in advancing sustainability
- Recognizing how enterprises can innovate to develop more sustainable businesses.
Credits: 6
Schedule: 02.09.2024 - 17.10.2024
Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):
Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Samuli Patala
Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):
CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):
Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):
Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English
CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD
Content
valid for whole curriculum period:
This course focuses on the role of business in addressing the vast sustainable development challenges faced by the world. There is a complex relationship between business and sustainability, as business has historically been the source of many of these challenges (e.g. climate change, inequality, pollution), and yet business must also be part of the solution, given the size and scope of global business activities. Against this backdrop, there has been an undeniable shift in business attitudes towards sustainability, with corporations increasingly wanting to act sustainably. However, these companies are constrained by the competitive pressures that speak to the core of the sustainability challenge: on the one hand, a more sustainable company does good for the world, but on the other hand if done incorrectly, sustainability shifts undercut the financial viability of a company. Put another way, even the world s most sustainable company does no good if it goes out of business.
With this in mind, the focus of this course is first on understanding the nature of this tension, and second on understanding how to develop business strategies that are simultaneously better for the environment, society, and a company s finances. To truly pursue the needed sustainability shift, companies must creatively address the needs of their diverse stakeholders so that they can find win-wins.
Overall, the course will cover expansive ground, including business strategy, supply chains, sustainability management and communication instruments, innovation for sustainability, and the circular economy. Simulations and cases will be used to highlight the underlying complexity.
Assessment Methods and Criteria
valid for whole curriculum period:
60% group/individual exercises, 40% individual exam
Workload
valid for whole curriculum period:
Contact teaching (70% lecture attendance requirement, or you cannot get credit for the final assignment)
Independent work and assignments
DETAILS
Study Material
valid for whole curriculum period:
Hahn, Rüdiger. Sustainability management: Global perspectives on concepts, instruments, and stakeholders. Rüdiger Hahn, 2022.
A selection of articles. Required pre-readings for each lecture (1-3 articles / book chapters per lecture).
Substitutes for Courses
valid for whole curriculum period:
Prerequisites
valid for whole curriculum period:
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further Information
valid for whole curriculum period:
Teaching Language: English
Teaching Period: 2024-2025 Autumn I
2024-2025 Spring V
2025-2026 Autumn I
2025-2026 Spring VRegistration:
Students are admitted to the course in the following priority order 1) Creative Sustainability / Strategic Management in a Changing World students, 2) Sustainable Fashion and Textile Management minor students, 3) BIZ exchange students, 4) Other students