Increasingly companies and organizations acknowledge the environmental, social, and economic impact they have on their communities. This course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) introduces students to the basic concept of CSR to recognizing the chances in implementing such a corporate strategy for a sustainable growth.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the rationale behind CSR and sustainability to address organizations’ goals and challenges.
- Understand of sustainability challenges (social, environmental and economic development) that organizations face and how to transform these challenges into business opportunities.
- Demonstrate a multi stakeholder perspective in viewing CSR issues.
- Evaluate the level of commitment to CSR of different organizations and show its competitive advantage.
- Reflect on your role as leader and your ability to affect change
Sample Modules:
- Live presentation on “The Need for Change – Advocacy for Sustainable Development” held by a European expert
- Presentations of companies and live discussions or prerecorded interviews with their representatives on their CSR strategy
- Discussion with a representative of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainability (ICTSD), a non-profit civil-society organization, which aims at contributing to a better
understanding of sustainable development concerns in the context of international trade - Presentation on the B Corp Concept and its implementation in Europe
- Virtual team-based internship to work on a project with the local partner organization, to develop new policies, present ideas, explore strategies.
- Sample project host: Demeter – the oldest organic association in Germany. Demeter agriculture is considered the most sustainable form of land management and goes
far beyond the requirements of the EU organic regulation.