Managing International Business Responsibly

BUSM4692

Course Coordinator: Thanapat Kijbumrung

Week 1
Overview

• Introduction to staff
• Course information
• Assessments
• Introduction to subject

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 2

Course information

• Scope and goals of this course

• Lectures
• Tutorials – purpose and design
• Expectations for reading and research

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 3

Scope and goals of this course

• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• The relationship between business and society
– What is ‘society’?
– The changing relationship between business and society
– The growth of business power vis-à-vis government, and civil society
– Globalization
– The impact of international business with respect to social and
environmental issues
– Risks and opportunities to business
– How and when to govern international business

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 4

Lectures and Tutorials

• Weekly attendance will help you a great deal

• Role of each in your assessments
• Appreciation for foundational theories, concepts and models

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 5

Assessment Tasks 1: Team Presentation and
Research Report (Weight - 20%)
• There are many issues that arise in the context of CSR. In this assessment you need to
choose one, and to provide evidence to support your identification of this as a CSR
issue. You then need to describe the key challenges faced by business in addressing
this issue, and to identify key stakeholders, and their interests. You must give
examples.
• You must provide evidence to back up your answers.
• Further guidance will be provided in tutorials.
• You must use at least one academic reference per person, in addition to the core
readings for the course and other sources of information.
• Weight: 20%
• Deadline: Presentations to be made in tutorials in Week 4 and 5 (feedback provided
from tutor and peers). Research report to be submitted in week 5.
• Word count: 3,000 words, +/- 10% (references excluded)

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 6

Assessment Tasks 2: Individual Essay - Company
Analysis (Weight - 50%)
• Assessment description:
• You will need to describe and evaluate the CSR work of one international
company of your choice. What’s good about the approach to CSR taken by
your company? What recommendations do you have for how this company
could improve their CSR efforts? You must use core concepts, models and
theories from this course to explain your answers, and you need to give
examples.
• You must use at least 8 academic references, in addition to the core readings
for the course and other sources of information.
• Word count: 3,000 words, +/- 10% (references excluded)
• Deadline: Week 9

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 7

Assessment Tasks 3: Group Poster and Presentation
- Case Study (Weight - 30%)
• Assessment description:
• You will analyse a case study from our industry partners and develop a poster
to present your findings, and your recommendations, to the industry partners
themselves. They will give you feedback on your poster as well as providing
general evidence and guidance on the assessment topic to the entire student
cohort. This industry feedback will take place at RMIT.
• Deadline: TBC - Week 12

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 8

Expectations - readings
Tutorial preparation
1.Complete your relevant readings for this topic.
2.Be ready to answer the following questions about the reading/s:
– What were the main points raised?
– Was there a main argument? If so, what was it?
– What did you agree with in the reading and why?
– What did you disagree with in the reading and why?
– Was there anything you were unsure about / want to clarify?
– What question do you want to pose to the class about this reading?

3.Bring in a news article dealing with issues of the week.

4.Be prepared to discuss the readings and your news article contribution in
class.
These learning activities will help you hone your analytical skills, which you will
need for all three forms of assessment. The class discussions are also a great
way to practice your oral communication skills, which are crucially important for
assessments and in workplace settings.

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 9

Questions to start us off

1. What social and environmental issues do you think are really

important/ do you care about deeply (these do not need to be
related to business)?
2. How do you want /propose to address these issues in your own
life/career?
Example of The Sustainable Development Goals -
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-developme
nt-goals/
3. Are the issue(s) you think are important represented here? If so
where?
4. In your view how might international businesses address the
issue(s) you care about?

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 10

Before we think about business……

• Recall a time you helped another person

• How did this make you feel?
• Who benefited – You? Others? Both? How did you/they benefit?

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 11

Why does Managing IB Responsibly matter to business?

• Why would companies be interested in this agenda?

• Shell and Brent Spa example:
– Learning the lessons of Brent Spar saga
– ‘A well–orchestrated consumer boycott can hurt companies. The
response must be that an ounce of market research is worth a
pound of scientific evidence’ (EUROPEAN VOICE, 11/1/95)
• View of CSR through the lens of risks and opportunities
– CSR and business strategy

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 12

Globalization and CSR

• Example: The True Cost of our clothing

• https://truecostmovie.com/
• https://truecostmovie.com/about/

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 13

Readings for weeks 1 (and 2)

Required reading:
•Crane, A., Matten, D., & Spence, L. J. (2014). Corporate social responsibility:
Readings and cases in a global context (2nd Ed.). London; New York, NY;
Routledge.

•Rasche, A., Morsing, M., & Moon, J. (2017). Corporate social responsibility:
Strategy, communication, governance. New York; Cambridge, United Kingdom;
Cambridge University Press.

RMIT University©yyyy School/Department/Area 14