Corporate Social Responsibility

Department

International Program

Course unit code

IFLV6592

Number of ECTS credits allocated

Name of lecturer(s)

Agafonow Cordero Alejandro, PhD

Mode of delivery

face-to-face

Recommended optional program components

none

Recommended or required reading

For optimal assimilation of the course material, students should carefully review the PowerPoints prior to each lecture. These slides are designed as a key reference tool to help you grasp the most critical concepts before they are discussed in class.

For students motivated to go further, the full sources used to curate these slides are available in the "Additional literature" section. Reading these original references is a significant "plus" that will substantially enhance your knowledge.Primary sources (Articles and book chapters, timeless contributions to the discipline)

1) Agafonow, A. & M. Perez (2024). "Overhauling multinationals for the Anthropocene: How a rogue subsidiary offers a blueprint for sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Vol. 222, August, pp. 01-14.

2) Agafonow, Alejandro, & Perez, Marybel (2024) "In Search of a Non-anthropocentric Middle-range Theory of the Firm: On How the Patagonia Purpose Trust Granted a Controlling Stake to Nature," Ecological Economics, Vol. 217, No. August, pp. xx-xx.

3) BBC Radio 4, YouTube. Available on: https://www.youtube.com/@bbcradio4.

4) Feeny, D., Berkes, F., McCay, B. J., & Acheson, J. M. (1990). "The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-two years later." Human Ecology, 18(1), 1-19.

5) Hardin, G. (1968). "The Tragedy of the Commons." Science, 162(3859), 1243-1248.

6) Luban, D., A. Strudler, and D. Wasserman (2015). Moral responsibility in the age of bureaucracy. In Moral Issues in Business. Cengage Learning, 13th Ed.

7) Milgrom, Paul, and John Roberts (1992a). "Risk Sharing and Incentive Contracts." In Economics, Organization and Management, 206-43. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

8) Milgrom, Paul, and John Roberts (1992b). "Internal Labor Markets, Job Assignments, and Promotions." In Economics, Organization and Management, 358-85. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

9) Ostrom, E. (1990). "An institutional approach to the study of self-organization and self-governance in CPR situations." In: Governing the Commons. The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press.

10) Ouchi, William G. and Jaeger, Alfred M. (1978), "Type Z Organization: Stability in the Midst of Mobility," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 305-314.

11) Ouchi, William G. and Price, Raymond L. (1978), "Hierarchies, clans, and theory Z: A new perspective on organization development," Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 25-44.

12) Rawls, J. (1996). § 4. The Idea of the Original Position. In Political Liberalism (pp. 22-28). Columbia University Press.

13) Rawls, J. (1999a). 20. The nature of the argument for conceptions of justice. In A Theory of Justice (Revised Edition, pp. 102-105). The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

14) Rawls, J. (1999b). 24. The veil of ignorance. In A Theory of Justice (Revised Edition, pp. 118-123). The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

15) Rawls, J. (1999c). 43. Background institutions for distributive justice. In A Theory of Justice (Revised Edition, pp. 242-251). The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

16) Rounds, Charles E. Jr. and Rounds, Charles E. III (2020). Loring and Rounds: A Trustee's Handbook. New York: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

17) SEC (1995) ‘Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. 1995 Form 10-k Annual Report.' US Securities and Exchange Commission, available at: http://www.secinfo.com

18) SEC (2000) ‘Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. Definitive proxy statement relating to merger or acquisition.' US Securities and Exchange Commission, available at: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/

19) Sitkoff, Robert H. (2004). "An Agency Costs Theory of Trust Law." Cornell Law Review, 89(3), 621-684.

20) Unilever (2017) ‘The Governance of Unilever.' Available at: https://www.unilever.com

Additional information about examination modalities

Individual oral evaluation and participation 60%

Group student presentation: 40%

Level of course unit

Bachelor

Year of study

Fall 2025

Semester when the course unit is delivered

Language of instruction

English

Learning outcomes of the course unit

1) Analyze Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a complex, multidimensional problem that defies simplistic solutions.

2) Evaluate the importance and inherent limitations of adopting a stakeholder management approach.

3) Explain the mechanisms through which a firm is organized and governed to serve the interests of its stakeholders.

Course contents

This Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) course fulfills required accreditation standards. Taught in English to accommodate a diverse classroom of domestic and international students, it focuses on how enterprises engage with stakeholders. The course examines the forces shaping organizations with separated ownership and control, the interaction among various stakeholders, and the ethical challenges of balancing profitability with moral objectives. CSR is explored through a range of case studies, including: 1) Multinational liability for human rights violations; 2) Taxation and distributive justice; 3) Responsible business in limited orbital space (space junk); 4) The GM-Toyota Joint Venture (Z Organization); 5) Uses and abuses of incentive pay; 6) The new governance structure of Patagonia; 7) Ben & Jerry’s blueprint for sustainable development.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course comprises an interactive mix of lectures, discussions and individual and group work.

Work placement(s)

none

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