| Unit name | Sustainability and Ethics in Global Supply Chains |
|---|---|
| Unit code | EFIMM0076 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Burger |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Nil |
| Co-requisites |
Nil |
| School/department | School of Management - Business School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
The unit addresses the key issues of sustainability and ethics (including inclusion) in today’s operations and supply chains for goods and service provision world-wide. Essentially, this unit will develop relevant management knowledge and skills necessary to deliver efficient and effective goods and services in a fast changing context facing global challenges. Students will be introduced to the core concepts of business ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainable and resilient supply chains, circular economy/closed loop supply chains, humanitarian logistics, green/environmental friendly product development, carbon taxes, carbon neutral government regulation/legislation/policy, carbon/water foot printing, reverse logistics, eco-system services and associated frameworks/models to illustrate how operations can contribute to developing sustainable competitive advantage. This unit will also allow student to opportunity to discuss the global megatrends and how these may impact industrial systems in the period to mid-century. Students will examine the long-term and strategic importance of grappling with complex ethical, inclusive and sustainable business matters and the firm level strategies and practices involved in doing so. Focus will also be placed on industrial policy and system-level innovation that aim to drive future product and service delivery in a resource constrained world.
There will be an emphasis upon understanding dominant ethical models in business decision-making from a philosophical perspective, the importance of responsible, transparent and inclusive economic growth in global and local environments and triple bottom line reporting for sustainable business. Important discussions will also consider how organisations are working collaboratively with the not-for-profit-sectors to respond to the global challenges and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The module aims to:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to:
The student learning journey will be based on a combination of lectures and seminar style tutorials involving in-class discussion of each topic. This will be combined with hands-on experience of real business cases and scenarios. Emphasis will be placed on research, decision making and other problem-solving activities. Some of these sessions may be hosted by guest lecturers from industry, not-for-profit/public sectors or other academic institutions.
Students are expected to allocate and spend significant time reading and developing knowledge and competencies in line with the unit intended learning outcomes. They will interact and communicate with group activities enhancing practical and pragmatic management and leadership skills (including negotiating, presenting arguments and interpersonal engagement).
Teaching times is allocated as follows: 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars (total 30 class contact hours). A large portion of learning hours will be spent in independent study and in the preparation of assessment. Students are expected to follow up references in the lectures, seminars, core texts or items posted on Blackboard and read broadly about topics. 2-4 hours per week should be scheduled for reading.
Formative (ILOS 1,2)
This will include a small range of methods including in class and/or on-line quizzes, debates and case evaluation.
Summative (ILO1-4)
The assessment is a written essay assignment, weighted at 100%. For example, it may focus on an extended organisational case study and will require some individual research/group discussion on the part of the students. The maximum word length for the assignment is 4000 words.
Students are encouraged to read extensively to inform their knowledge. Students should draw from a range of sources which may include academic texts and papers, practitioner books and journals, market reports, policy/government and online sources.
Core Texts for this Unit
Crane, A. and Matten, D., (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press
Recommended Reading
Journals: Journal of Business ethics, Business Ethics quarterly; International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Journal of Operations Management, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Harvard Business Review and California Management Review
Reports
Government Report https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=htanufacturing.pdftps%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk%2Fuploads%2FResources%2Findustrial-evolution-making-british-m&rlz=1C1CHAB_en-GBGB462GB462&oq=htanufacturing.pdftps%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk%2Fuploads%2FResources%2Findustrial-evolution-making-british-m&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.23128j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Books
Visser, W., (2014). CSR 2.0: Transforming corporate sustainability and responsibility. New York, NY: Springer.
Websites
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
