This course is designed to provide a reflection on the responsibilities of business organisations in
society and on the role of managers and professionals in clarifying, discussing, and implementing
these responsibilities. The course aims to:
* Provide a deeper understanding of the role and conduct of business in society,
* Explain concepts of ethics, responsibility, sustainability, leadership, and social entrepreneurship,
* Discuss with fellow students the ins and outs of these relevant concepts,
* Apply the accumulated knowledge in practical case studies and through personal reflection.

Ethical issues, decisions and dilemmas are all around us. Living in a global world means being confronted constantly with issues, arguments, norms, and values which challenge our existing views. Differences occur wherever you come: in opinion, in interests, in rights, in freedom, in access to wealth and wellbeing, or in the consequences that people face of our collective behaviour. We live in a complex society – for individuals, for governments, and for businesses.

A lack of ethical behaviour and of ethical competences already contributed to some of the major crises that have taken place in the first part of this millennium. Beginning with Enron in 2001, followed by the banking crisis of 2009, the Covid-pandemic, and more recently the war in Ukraine, requires us to think through issues of justice, of integrity, of freedom, and of the sustainability of our planet and our society.

Ethics is a way of thinking and involves a fundamental reflection on the norms and values in our society, rather than simply telling us what is right or wrong. At the same time, it is a practice that applies to our individual lives and behaviour and to our collective lives in the community we live in, the workplace, our country, et cetera. Focusing on work, each and every one of us is or will be confronted with the identity and values of the organisation, risk and compliance management, diversity and inclusivity, sustainability, incentive structures, impact on stakeholders, and other issues that are directly related to ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This course invites you to think through and discuss with your fellow students some ethical, CSR and sustainability issues that you might be faces with in your current and future lives. The course will address ethics in an international environment, good governance, our relationship with nature, social entrepreneurship, responsible investing, and several cases dealing with health issues, sustainability, or serious mismanagement. Acquiring and developing ethical awareness and skills to better understand and improve the (often fragile) relationship between business, its stakeholders and society is as important today as it has been in the past.

Preliminary

* https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/ISB013-HCB-ENG. Purchasing the case costs USD 4.25
* ‘Patagonia's Sustainability Strategy: Don't Buy Our Products’ via Harvard Business Publishing Education: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/IMD790-PDF-ENG?Ntt=patagonia The cost amounts to USD 4.25

* David Vogel (1991), The Ethical Roots of Business Ethics, in Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 1 Nr. 1 – available via MU Library Online
* Werhane & Freeman (1999), Business Ethics: the state of the art, International Journal of Management Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2370.00002 - available via MU Library Online
* Freeman, R.E., Martin K. & Parmar, B. (2007). Stakeholder Capitalism. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 74, 63-77. Easily obtainable through the Online University Library System.

* Making Choices: A Framework for Making Ethical Decisions: www.brown.edu/academics/scienceand-technology-studies/framework-making-ethical-decisions
* Donaldson, T., & Dunfee, T. W. (1999). When ethics travel: The promise and peril of global business ethics, California Management Review, 41(4). Available via MU Library Online
* Article from the NL Times on Heineken in Russia (will be made available online)

* Bovens, M. (1998). The Quest for Responsibility. Cambridge University Press, 22-42 & 106-134 – See PDF which will be made available before the course.
* Bhopal case video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdyBy2s9I5c
* Trotter et al. (1989), Bhopal, India and Union Carbide, Journal of Business Ethics 8: 439-454 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00381810
* Blog: http://alitanyofdisaster.blogspot.nl/2009/06/even-brief-foray-into-researching.html

* Sampford, C. (1991), Law, Institutions and the public/private divide, Federal Law Review, Vol. 20, no 2, pp. 185-222 https://doi.org/10.1177/0067205X9102000202
* Mayer, C. (2021), The Future of the Corporation and the Economics of Purpose, Journal of Management Studies 58:3 May 2021 doi:10.1111/joms.12660

* Feeney, M., Grohnert, T., Gijselaers, W. & Martens, P. (2022). Organizations, learning, and sustainability: a cross-disciplinary review and research agenda. Journal of Business Ethics, 364.
* Baker-Shelley, A, Van Zeijl-Rozema, A. & Martens, P. (2020). Pathways of organisational transformation for sustainability: a university case-study synthesis presenting competencies for systemic change & rubrics of transformation. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology.

* Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. The New York Times Magazine, 1-5 - http://umich.edu/~thecore/doc/Friedman.pdf
* Porter, M. & Kramer, M. (2011). Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, 63-77 You can download the 2011 PDF from the Harvard Business Review (paid) or you may find it online
via google scholar or elsewhere on the internet for free.
* Crane, A., Palazzo, G., Spence, L.J. & Matten, D. (2014). Contesting the Value of "Creating Shared Value". California Management Review, Vol 56, No. 2, 130-153. You can download the paper
via Google Scholar or through the University Library System.

* TB Statistics India 2018, https://tbfacts.org/tb-statistics-india/
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqGrle0OllI
* World Health Organisation (WHO), Global Tuberculosis Report, Geneva, 12 November 2019, https://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/tb19_Exec_Sum_12Nov2019.pdf?ua=1

* Abel Diaz Gonzalez and Nikolay A. Dentchev (2020), Ecosystems in support of social entrepreneurs: a literature review, Social Entrepreneurship Journal, DOI: 10.1108/SEJ-08-2020-0064
* Gregory Dees, The meaning of social entrepreneurship, https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/case/wpcontent/uploads/sites/7/2015/03/Article_Dees_MeaningofSocialEntrepreneurship_2001.pdf

* New York Times article: Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company, 14 Sept 2022. The article will be made available online.

* Rob Bauer, Tereza Bauer, Mieke Olaerts, Constantijn van Aartsen, Sustainability embedding practices in Dutch listed companies, October 2021, Maastricht University. Download the report for free: https://en.eumedion.nl/clientdata/217/media/clientimages/Eumedion-report-final-version-forpublication.pdf

* Anirudh Agrawal & Kai Hockerts (2019): Impact investing: review and research agenda, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, DOI: 10.1080/08276331.2018.1551457. The article will be made available.
* GIINsight, Seizing the impact investing market 2022. Download the paper via: https://thegiin.org/research/publication/impact-investing-market-size-2022/
* Cornelia Caseau & Gilles Grolleau (2020): Impact Investing: Killing Two Birds with One Stone?, Financial Analysts Journal, Vol. 76 Issue 4, DOI: 10.1080/0015198X.2020.1779561. Available online: https://web-s-ebscohost-com.mu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=ae96cc83-1f0d-44e3-9e7d-b3bfef5b133d%40redis
* Financial Times articles on ESG-investing in some of America’s southern states. The articles will be made available.

* https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/update-certain-philips-respironics-ventilators-bipap-machines-and-cpap-machines-recalled-due#reporting.
* Bovens, M. (1998). The Quest for Responsibility. Cambridge University Press, 22-42 & 106-134
* Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. The New York Times Magazine, 1-5 - http://umich.edu/~thecore/doc/Friedman.pdf
* Porter, M. & Kramer, M. (2011). Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, 63-77
* Crane, A., Palazzo, G., Spence, L.J. & Matten, D. (2014). Contesting the Value of "Creating Shared Value". California Management Review, Vol 56, No. 2, 130-153
* Donaldson, T., & Dunfee, T. W. (1999). When ethics travel: The promise and peril of global business ethics, California Management Review, 41(4).

In order to participate in this course, all participants should have a basic understanding of the functioning of organisations, management of and co-ordination within organisations, organisational ecology, co-ordination mechanisms in industries – such as, for example, the choice between allocation through planning or through market forces – and of an ‘economic order’.
An advanced level of English