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| GEST3024-1 | Social Enterprise and Sustainable Development
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Credits/ECTS : |
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| Holder(s) : | Sybille Mertens de Wilmars |
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| Language : | French language |
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| Course contents : | The economic and financial crisis, the growing inequality and the prospects of climate change are leading the business world now to think in terms of sustainable development. Sustainable development is defined as "an (economic) development that meets the needs of (all the) s of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. (Brundtland Report). Through their activities and the choices they pose, some companies are more directly affected by this new paradigm. They are called "social enterprises". They fit totally in the perspective of sustainable development when they feature, sometimes as a priority, the social and environmental concerns in their economic objectives. This is usually expressed in their interactions with their stakeholders (employees, suppliers, consumers, financiers, civil society, etc..) This course provides students with a reading for their critical analysis of firm behavior vis- à-vis its main stakeholders. |
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| Course objective : |
- Understanding the diversity of business,
- Learning the basic paradigm of sustainable development,
- Conduct a critical reflection on the conduct of the business in respect of its stakeholders,
- Introduce students to innovative practices of social enterprises.
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| Prerequisites : | - A lecture on general political economy and, if possible, a course of micro-economic analysis and economic affairs. |
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| Organization : | The course is organized into two parts. The first part of the course recalls the theoretical rationale of the entreprises and justify the great diversity that exists in this field (private, public, SMEs, large companies, multinationals, with profit or social purposes) . This part also describes the conceptual and theoretical foundations of sustainable development. The second part is devoted to the analysis of relationships between companies and their key stakeholders. The analysis is complemented by focus on various topics associated with relevant stakeholder. |
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| Written notes : |
- A bibliography containing books and reference articles will be suggested for each topic. These documents will be made available to students at the Documentation Center of CIRIEC (Building B33, 2nd floor).
- Movies, company visits,
- The course will use the virtual interface Lol @, on which will be mailed: PowerPoint presentations of the various sessions, the tests performed by the students on the focus.
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| Assessment : | The overall assessment will combine two elements:
- Writing of two essays (topics left to the student's choice among the proposed focus). For each focus, three questions are asked and a list of references is proposed. The student is asked to prepare the class session on this focus by writing a personal argued essay responding to a questions (6000 characters). (50% of overall score),
- An oral examination to assess the ability of students to enrich his argument with presentations of the course and further reading. The student is asked to respond orally to two questions from a list of twenty questions submitted during the first class. (50% of overall score).
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| Contacts : | Sybille Mertens
Cera Chair- Center for Social Economy
HEC-Management School - University of Liège - B33/box 4 - 4000 Liège
Tel : + 32(0) 4 366 27 51 - smertens@ulg.ac.be |
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