• Illia Manzan Laura Géraldine

• Giorgi Nicole

Please note: this is a block course that only takes place during certain weeks of the semester. Please consult the exact dates.

Corporations can be essential actors to improve societal goodwill. However, very often, reality shows that firms do not contribute to solving social issues. Either they do not have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department, or they have such a department to support marketing communication or corporate reputation rather than building trust and creating social value for stakeholders. This course will familiarize students with the field of CSR and enable them to think critically about how businesses can create value for society through communication.

The course consists of two parts: The first will focus on learning how a corporation can link social value for stakeholders with profitability through communication and business-related activities. The second part will focus on building a CSR and communication department that creates value for multiple stakeholders. At the core of this part will be learning how to establish a strategic approach to compliance and avoid reputational risks related to outsourcing and accountability, overseeing bribery, CEO and board engagement, unethical suppliers, and supply chain social issues. 

To take a global and actual perspective, students will work on real cases from different periods, countries, and industries. In addition, to reach teaching objectives, students will be involved in several workshop-related activities such as class simulations and class labs, where they will work on real, hands-on issues related to communication and CSR. Students are, therefore, expected to participate actively in class and to read material indicated by the professor in advance.

By the end of the course students will be able to:
PART 1: Unlock social value 
•             Understand different forms of CSR (Philatrophy, Strategic CSR and CSV)
•             Understand what and how to map ethical initiatives of a business in a portfolio.
•             Unlock CSV through 5 models of circular economy.
•             Support ethical consumerism.

PART 2: Assure social value through communication
•             Understand different approaches to CSR communication.
•             Evaluate governance issues related to corruption and normalization of corruption.
•             Evaluate how to plan for personnel, ethics guidelines, and procedures of risk assessment.
•             Evaluate ethics of outsourcing, shareholder activism and ethics within celebrity endorsement.
•             Evaluate ethical approaches to compliance, accountability, outsourcing, oversee bribery, CEO and board engagement, suppliers, and supply chain social risks.

•    Chandler, D. (2016). Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation. Sage Publications (4th Edition). – Chapter 9, 14, and Part IV.
•    Crane, A., Palazzo, G., Spence, L. J., & Matten, D. (2014). Contesting the value of “Creating Shared Value.” California Management Review, 56(2), 130–153.
•    Dahl, S. & Waehning-Orga, N. (2015). Ethical Consumption. In Eagle L. & Dahl S. (eds.), Marketing Ethics and Society (pp. 117-140). Sage.
•    Esposito, M., Tse, T., & Soufani, K. (2018). Introducing a circular economy: new thinking with new managerial and policy implications. California Management Review, 60(3), 5-19.
•    Fleming, P., Zyglidopoulos, S., Boura, M., & Lioukas, S. (2020). How corruption is tolerated in the Greek public sector: Toward a second-order theory of normalization. Business & Society, 1-34.
•    Goranova, M., & Ryan, L. V. (2014). Shareholder activism: A multidisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1230-1268.
•    Illia, L., Alberti, E., Murtarelli, G. et al. (2022) Being best in the world or best for the world? Fostering CSR cooperative behaviors through communication. Ital. Journal of Marketing, 173–202.
•    Illia, L., Romenti, S., Rodríguez-Cánovas, B., Murtarelli, G., & Caroll, C. E. (2016). Exploring corporations’ dialogue about CSR in the digital era. Journal of Business Ethics, 131(2), 39-58.
•    Jensen, J. (1997). Ethical Issues in the Communication Process.  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. – Chapter 3 and 5.  
•    Lacy P., Keeble, J., & McNamara, R. (2014). Circular advantage: Innovative business models and technologies to create value in a world without limits to growth. Accenture Strategy Report.
•    Laufer, W. (2003). Social accountability and corporate greenwashing. Journal of Business Ethics, 43, 253-261.
•    Porter, M. E. & Kramer, M. R. (2011). The big idea. Creating shared value. How to reinvent capitalism – and unleash a wave of innovation and growth. Harvard Business Review, 62-77.
•    Schoeneborn, D., Morsing, M., & Crane, A. (2019). Formative Perspectives on the Relation Between CSR Communication and CSR Practices: Pathways for Walking, Talking, and T(w)alking. Business & Society. DOI: 10.1177/0007650319845091
•    Seeger, M. & Kuhn, T. (2011) Communication ethics and organizational contexts: Divergent values and moral puzzles. In G. Cheney, S. May & D. Munshi, Handbook of Communication Ethics: Information Censorship (pp. 166-189). Routledge.
•    Smith, N. C., Drumwright, M. E., & Gentile, M. C. (2010). The new marketing Myopia. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 29(1), 4–11.
•    Visser, W., & Kymal, C. (2015) Integrated Value Creation (IVC: Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Creating Shared Value (CSV). International Journal of Business Ethics, 8(1), 29-43.
•    Walker K. & Wan F. (2012). The harm of symbolic actions and green-washing: Corporate actions and communications on environmental performance and their financial implications. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(2), 227-242.
•    Webley, S., & Werner, A. (2008). Corporate codes of ethics: Necessary but not sufficient. Business Ethics: A European Review, 17(4), 405-415.
•    Zadek, S. (2012). Path to corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 1-11.

Students will be subject to an ongoing evaluation, following the scheme below:
•  Applied team project (50%)
   - 30% Team project
   - 20% Class team simulation
•  Individual applied project (50%)

Continuously assessed courses: it will no longer be possible to unregister or withdraw from a course after the registration period (see session calendar on the Faculty website).

No retake exam.