• Illia Manzan Laura Géraldine

• Illia Manzan Laura Géraldine

• Clausen Anika Kamilla
• Tardin Grégoire

Corporations can be important actors to improve societal goodwill. However, very often, reality shows that firms do not contribute to solve social issues. Either they do not have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and communication department, or they have such a department with the mere objective to support marketing communication  or corporate reputation, rather than build trust and authentically create social value for stakeholders. This course will familiarize students with the field of CSR and will enable them to think critically about three different communication approaches for creating social value for stakeholders.

The course consists of three parts. The first part will focus on learning how a corporation can link social value for stakeholders with profitability through communication and business related activities.  The second part will focus on  learning how to build a CSR and communication department that creates value for multiple stakeholders. Core to this part will be the learning of  how to establish a strategic approach to compliance  and avoid reputational risks related to outsourcing, accountability, oversees bribery, CEO and board engagement, unethical suppliers and supply chain social issues. The third part will focus on how communication professionals can  transform classical forms of corporate philanthropy into new ones.

To take a global and actual perspective, students will work on real cases from different periods of time, countries and industries. Also, in order to reach  teaching objectives  students will be involved in a number of workshop related activities such as class simulations and class labs where they will put hands on real issues related to communication and CSR. Students are therefore expected to participate actively in class and to read in advance material indicated by the professor.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

PART 1  Unlock social value through communication

• Understand that companies may become the solution for social issues
• Realize that there might not always be a tradeoff between being good and doing money
• Create business value in a circular economy logic and consumer-product related activities

PART 2 Assure social value through transparency and trust

• Understand why companies are perceived by stakeholders as the problem of social issues
• Build from zero a department that creates social value and maintains a good reputation as a socially responsible company
• Learning building blocks of managing communication and CSR through compliance, accountability, outsourcing, oversees bribery, CEO and board engagement, suppliers and supply chain social risks

PART 3 Understand Philanthropy

• Explore common forms of corporate philanthropy in 6 different industries
• Deepen the knowledge of e-philanthropy, digital Advocacy, venture philanthropy,  and impact investing

Mandatory

• Crane, A. and Glozer, S. (2016) Researching Corporate Social Responsibility Communication: Themes, Opportunities and Challenges. Journal of Management Studies.53(7): 1223-1252
• Illia, L., Romenti, S., Rodríguez-Cánovas, B. et al. (2016). Exploring corporations’ dialogue about corporate social responsibility in the digital era. Journal of Business Ethics. 146: 39.
• Illia, L., Zyglidopoulos, S., Romenti, S., Rodriguez-Canovas, B., & Gonzalez del Valle Brena, A. (2013). Communicating corporate social responsibility to a cynical public. MIT Sloan Management Review, 54(3), 16–19.
• Morsing, M., Schultz, M, & Nielson.  (2008, April).  The Catch 22 of communicating CSR. Journal of Marketing Communications, 14 (2), 97-111. 
• Hooghiemstra, R., Sep-2000. Corporate communication and impression management - new perspectives why companies engage in corporate social reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(1/2), 55-68.
• Porter, M.E, and Kramer M.R. (2006) Strategy and Society. The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility. Harvard Business Review. December Issue 84(12), 78-95.
• Esposito, M., Tse, T. and Soufani, K. (2018) "Introducing a circular economy: new thinking with new managerial and policy implications." California Management Review, 60(3): 5-19
• Crane, A., Palazzo, G., Spence, L. J., & Matten, D. (2014). Contesting the Value of “Creating Shared Value.” California Management Review, 56(2), 130–153

Other recommended readings

• Garriga, E., & Melé D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics:, 53(1-2), 51-71.
• Lee, M.  (2008). A review of the theories of corporate social responsibility: Its evolutionary path and the road ahead. International Journal of Management Review, 10(1), 53-73 Denend, L.  (2007).
• Waddock, S.  (2009).  Making a difference? Corporate responsibility as a social movement. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 33, 35-46.
• Morsing, M., & Schultz, M.  (2006).  Corporate social responsibility communication:  Stakeholder information, response and involvement strategies. Business Ethics: A European Review, 15(4).
• Bhattacharya, C.B., & Sen, S. (2004, Fall).  Doing better at doing good: When, why, and how consumers respond to corporate social initiatives. California Management Review, 47
• Chandler, D., (2016) Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications (4th Edition). 
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Recommended videography

• The story of Stuff: It is a 20-minute documentary about the way people make, use and throw away all the Stuff in their lives.
• International Corporate citizenship Film Festival The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Film Festival celebrates the work and impact of corporate citizenship programs—as well as the inspiring methods companies use to communicate their efforts.
• Playing by the Rules: Ethics at Work (2016): This documentary explores the vital role of ethical decision-making in today’s business practices.
• The World According to Monsanto (2008): This French documentary provides an overview of Monsanto’s long track record of environmental crimes and health scandals. 
• Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room (2005). This documentary describes one of the hugest  corporate disasters of th last decades. It features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal the immorality of Enron’s corporate philosophy.
• Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price (2005). This documentary provides an overview of Wal-Mart impact on America’s values and culture.

The Corporation (2004). A documentary on the global impact of large organizations. It treats them as a patient undergoing psychoanalysis and decides that they are psychopaths.

Exam duration: 90 min.

Re-take exam only

Students will be subject to an ongoing evaluation, following the scheme below:

• Attendance and active participation in the class (30%)

• Applied team project (40%)

• Individual applied project (30%)

Given that the course follows an ongoing evaluation, we will apply the following rule: students who do not reach a minimum attendance to 70% of sessions will be asked to do an additional graded exercise during the last two sessions of the course.