Sustainability in the Business Environment Course Descriptor

Course Overview

The course examines the  environmental impact of businesses’ activities throughout their supply chain. These impacts include global warming, use and disposal of toxic substances, the depletion of natural resources such as water and petroleum and the disposal of the products produced. Students will use contemporary readings and case studies to discover how business activities impact the environment and the ways governments and businesses look to address these environmental sustainability issues.

Students will evaluate the impact and effectiveness of these actions and consider the barriers and enablers of a sustainable business model from a macro and micro perspective. Students will be challenged to think creatively and broadly to offer solutions to this complex, commercial and ethical issue businesses and economies face

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

Introductory books in the topic:

• Smith, S. (2011) Environmental Economics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Asbury, S. and R. Ball (2016) The Practical Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility. Routledge.
• Klein, N. (2015) This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate. Penguin.
• Raworth, K. (2017) Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21^st Century Economist. Random House.

In addition, students would be expected to consult academic journals, which are likely to include, but need not be limited to, business/management and environmental journals.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below is used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Business and environmental externalities
• Approaches to government environmental regulations
• Approaches to firm-led business solutions to environmental challenges