GRA 6447 Better Business for a Better World - SUMMER COURSE
GRA 6447 Better Business for a Better World - SUMMER COURSE
Class format: This course is offered as an online summer course. Students may complete the course entirely asynchronously, or may choose to attend optional synchronous discussions. The course is graded as a pass/fail.
Businesses aim to deliver value to consumers. However, many customer decisions have detrimental impacts for consumers, society, and the planet. In this course, we examine why people make decisions that are bad for themselves and others, and ways that firms can influence behavior to improve decision making.
This course examines how business and consumption impact social welfare, happiness, social cohesion, and sustainability, both favorably and unfavorably. We will draw on insights from business research, which include perspectives from psychology, sociology, and economics.
The course has two major objectives within the program portfolio. First, students will become familiar with critical perspectives and scientific findings about the (potential) impact of their profession on society. Second, students will learn how they can apply their expertise to help firms succeed while also helping to transform society and create a better world.
This course is offered in the following programmes:
MSc in Business
MSc in Strategic Marketing Management
MSc in Digital Communication Management
The course is not open to students on the BI-LUISS Joint Master of Science in Marketing (the contents of this course are covered in GRA 6446)
- Understand economic, social, and evolutionary explanations for the impact of human consumption behavior on the world’s resources, on individual happiness, and on sociality.
- Understand a range of methodologies that have led to insight about the relationship between marketing, happiness, sociality, and sustainability.
- Apply theories explaining the effects of business decisions on the social and natural world, and the potential for businesses to create a better world.
- Can analyze and critically evaluate various sources of information and use them to structure and formulate scholarly arguments.
- Can independently analyze existing theories, methods, and interpretations in the field and work on practical and theoretical problems.
- Will be able to view their own professional education and practice in the light of possible effects on society and the environment.
- Students can communicate about academic issues, analyses and conclusions in the fields of corporate responsibility and sustainability, both with specialists and the general public.
- Students can present ideas and positions in oral debates and in writing.
Issues covered in the course:
- Firm's potential positive contributions to society.
- Corporate social responsibility as a business practice.
- Negative impacts of business: materialism, stereotyping, overconsumption, exploitation, impulsive & compulsive buying.
- Marketing, self-control, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Evolutionary origins of unsustainable consumer behavior.
- Social Marketing.
- Behavioral economics: Nudging of sustainable consumer behavior.
- Moral balancing and rebound effects.
- Effects of political orientation
- The sharing economy.
- Recycling - circular economy – upcycling.
- The beneficial and detrimental impacts of technology.
The course will be heavily research based. It requires the students to directly study and process academic research papers, related to each topic, at a rate of 2-3 per session, plus supplemental videos and articles.
Each class session will include (approximately):
- Reading and evaluating 2-3 academic articles
- Asynchronous lectures pertaining to the articles and relevant research
- Supplemental online materials
- Short activities reflecting on articles and lectures
- OPTIONAL: Synchronous feedback on activities and group discussion.
Details on the final oral presentation and final portfolio assignment will be provided in class.
An official final syllabus, with an updated reading list, will be available on ItsLearning at the start of the course.
All course materials will be available on ItsLearning. Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in this course, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission other than PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Grouping: Individual Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Upload a recorded oral multimedia presentation. Additional details will be provided in class. Exam code: GRA 64472 Grading scale: Pass/fail Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Portfolio Assessment PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Grouping: Individual Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Upload a portfolio of activities, approximately 15 ppt slides. Additional details will be provided in class. Exam code: GRA 64473 Grading scale: Pass/fail Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.