Master
2024/2025
Responsible Business and Sustainable Development
Type:
Elective course (Science, Technology and Innovation Management and Policy)
Area of studies:
Management
Delivered by:
Department of Educational Programmes
When:
1 year, 3, 4 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of all HSE University campuses
Instructors:
Liliana N. Proskuryakova
Master’s programme:
Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Course Syllabus
Abstract
At the time of VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world caused by planetary ‘grand challenges’ such as climate catastrophe, inequality, pandemics, social impact of supply chain practices, shortage of resources and increasing political turbulence, flourishing businesses around the world are encouraged to devote substantial efforts to responsible business practices, and sustainable development. That is why modern businesses with purpose are expected to act as agents of world benefit, serving all stakeholders, in making our planet a better place for living by contributing to the 17 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and adopt the environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. For conscious business leaders a paradigm of socially responsible management is becoming a new norm. This course provides key frameworks and tools for integrating responsibility and sustainability in corporate management, stakeholder participation, conscious culture, responsible leadership and sustainable practices. Designed with the application of the most innovative teaching methods focusing on experiential learning, the course aims to develop a new generation of responsible business leaders with a sustainability mindset that rests on a multi-disciplinary approach to learning and requires profound environmental awareness, development of systems thinking (knowing) combined with emotional (feeling) and spiritual (being) intelligence.
Learning Objectives
- To introduce the evolution, main concepts and practices of responsible business and sustainable development with focus on implementing the 17 UN’s SDGs.
- To expose students to integrated sustainable business strategies, developed and communicated in line with the generally accepted international standards (e.g. the UN Global Compact, ISO 26000, GRI, etc.) and approaches for addressing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles at the operational level.
- To provide students with the experiential learning opportunities, based on learning from inspiring case studies and implementing real life research projects for the WikiRate platform on metrics for SDGs and reflecting upon the interaction with responsible and sustainable business practices.
- To train students to develop critical and appreciative view of the world, facilitate cultivation of the sustainability mindset by taking into account contemporary debates on the role of business in society and nature with respect to local culture.
- To empower students to develop stories of national sustainability champions for the AIM2Flourish.com platform by addressing one or several of the UN’s SDGs.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Be aware of, and apply the appropriate research approaches to CSR and Sustainability (both academic and applied)
- Complete a research project independently or in groups in a multicultural context
- Assessment of management practices related to CSR and Sustainability
- Assessment of management practices related to responsible and sustainable business
- Experience of in analyzing complex situations in companies, identifying key problem areas, and formulating CSR und Sustainability strategies
- Merge and apply methods from different disciplines on a theoretical, methodological and empirical level
- Synthesize and analyze information and data on current CSR and Sustainability problems in national and international contexts
- Formulate research questions based on a complex societal problem , develop a research design to answer these questions, apply up-to- date social empirical methods, such as appreciate inquiry interview
Course Contents
- Introduction. Business Ethics, Responsible Business and Sustainable Development: Definitions, Central Concepts and Discourses
- Stakeholder Capitalism, Sustainable Business Models and Responsible Business Norms
- Globalization and Sustainable Development
- Group Presentations and Discussion of the research article
- Implementing a Responsible Business Strategy and communicating the results
- Social Entrepreneurship and Future of Sustainability
- Group Project Presentations on AIM2Flourish and Discussion
- Experiential Learning on ESG-transformation in Action
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Electronic globalized business and sustainable development through IT management : strategies and perspectives, Pablos de, P. O., 2011
- ESG: три буквы, которые меняют мир, , 2022
- Proskuryakova, L. (2017). Energy technology foresight in emerging economies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, (C), 205. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.eee.tefoso.v119y2017icp205.210
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Proskuryakova, L., & Filippov, S. (2015). Energy Technology Foresight 2030 in Russia: An Outlook for Safer and More Efficient Energy Future. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.B29560B4