Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (GRAV034)

The overall goal of the course is to contribute to critical thinking and dialogue on ethical issues, sustainability and social responsibility. It means being able to reflect on and challenge values at three levels: At the individual level, concerning about moral dilemmas, value-conscious leadership and ethical wisdom. At company level, concerning the work environment, freedom of expression, social mission and responsibility towards various stakeholders. At the societal level concerning the relationship between economic growth / value creation and fair distribution, human rights, sustainability and safeguarding the value of nature.This course seeks to advance understanding of how businesses can benefit from taking a more holistic approach to the marketplace. It adopts a macro-marketing lens focusing on the interplay between marketing and society. It encourages students to think critically about issues such as why markets change, contemporary consumer trends, as well as how businesses can benefit from embedding sustainability concepts into their everyday practice. The course achieve that by providing a broad range of tools and frameworks for understanding how business can interact with issues related to sustainability and corporate responsibility, taking a strategic business and marketing perspective. In particular, we examine how traditional marketing strategies can be incorporated into and/or modified in domains in which sustainability and corporate responsibility is critical. By necessity, it is essential to not only account for the role of firms and customers, but of government, non-profit organizations, staffs, and other stakeholders.

• Understand the concept of sustainability and corporate responsibility and how that affects an overall business strategy.
• Recognize global challenges for sustainable products and corporate action.
• To identify the role that sustainability plays for organizational strategy.
• Create and launch a sustainability- communication plan.
• Be able to differentiate and position a sustainability-focused brand.
• Be able to identify the key impact areas and sustainability of a product in order to create a valid sustainability impact strategy.