Business in Society

This module considers the nature of the relationship between business and society, and how societal issues are increasingly affecting all aspects of corporate strategy and behaviour. It will introduce students to the key issues of morality, ethics and the law and explore contemporary issues in this arena. Moreover, topical issues, around which informed perspectives and opinions diverge, will form an integral part of the curriculum, e.g. climate change and sustainability, globalization, working conditions in MNC supply chains and gender equality. The module aims to provide students with a strong sense of the connections (and tensions) between individual, organisational, and societal actions and outcomes, a sense of social embeddedness, while also retaining a positive business outlook. This module will interrogate these issues and frame student assessment and evoke student engagement through debate, critical analysis and written and verbal expression. The following questions will be discussed: Should firms be responsible and sustainable if it negatively impacts the bottom line? What role should the state play in regulating businesses and ensuring firms are more sustainable? What labour standards should western companies adhere to when manufacturing in developing countries? And others. These are questions to which there is no ‘one right answer’. Rather there are a range of viewpoints and the challenge of students of the subject is to critically assess differing viewpoints by drawing on appropriate empirical and theoretical academic research.