The Business of Business is Business” is a quote commonly attributed to the work of Milton Friedman, who famously challenged the role of business as anything beyond making profit for the owners of the firm. This of course, created decades of debate, as to what the role of business actually is.  Within this course, we trace the origins and evolution of the concept of corporate responsibility to modern day understandings and implications of the term in the current and future global context.

The aim of this course is to enable participants to gain an understanding of how globalisation and the rise of the multinational enterprise influences the concept of corporate responsibility and the drivers for responsible business practice. The course will develop knowledge and skills that will enable participants to:

1. Assess the nature and types of responsibility facing the organisation;

2. Evaluate how the company location and activities can shape the nature and type of CSR activities;

3. Prioritise the key drivers shaping MNE CSR strategies;

4. Understand the role and power of the MNE in shaping CSR and global sustainability agendas both through market and non-market environments.

80% attendance with compulsory attendance for the first session and assessed presentation sessions.
 

Attendance is a firm requirement of this course as many of the learning experiences take place during class and through interactions with peers. The attendance requirement is met if students are present for at least 80% of the scheduled sessions. Students who fail to meet the attendance requirement are de-registered from the course. Missing sessions will affect class participation credits and may also affect other graded components realized during class. In the exceptional case that you cannot attend a session due important reasons (e.g., sick leave, quarantine), you should provide proof of this. 

3.5 hour workshops each

1. Assessing the role of the modern multinational in society.

2. Government, governance and CSR in the global context.

3. Drivers for CSR: from nice to necessary.

4. CSR in the workplace CSR in the international context

5. CSR in the market place in the international context.

5.  CSR in the community and the international context.

6. CSR and the environment and the international context.

7. CSR an integrated approach: market and non-market strategies

Each session will involve lectures, group work, case studies and exercises.

1. Map key international, national and local stakeholders for the MNE with comment on the implication for MNEs strategies. (40%). (Group)

 2. A business brief to an MNE assessing the key drivers for responsible business practices, and the nature of corporate responsibility facing the firm in workplace, marketplace, community and environment. (40%).(Individual)

 3. Class participation (10%)

4, Peer Assessment (10%)

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I expect that some of you will use AI (ChatGPT and similar tools) in the your studies and potentially also for assignments. There is, per se, nothing bad about that. You will need to learn how to use AI, that is, AI usage is an emerging skill. We will not focus on how to use AI in this class but I would like to highlight a couple of key points:

Be aware of the limits of AI!

• Your prompts and their quality will drive the quality of the output. You will need to refine your prompts in order to get good outcomes.
• Don’t trust anything that the tool is writing. If it gives you some numbers or facts, you should assume that it is wrong unless you can either fact check with other sources, or unless you can be sure that you know that the information is correct. Ultimately, you will be responsible for errors or any other types of limitations that the tool produces.
• AI is a tool and you need to acknowledge the use of it. Please include a paragraph at the end of any assignment that explains if and how you have used AI and what prompts you have used. Failure to do so is violates your pledge of academic honesty and can have serious consequences.
• Note that the use of AI tools can be detected by WU plagiarism software, which I may activate for every assignment. In case that there is indication for undue AI usage, first, an audit interview with the student will be scheduled. Follow-up consequences will be determined afterwards.
• In this context, please note also the official WU guidelines on plagiarism: https://www.wu.ac.at/en/students/my-program/masters-student-guide/course-and-exam-information/plagiarism/"