Thibault Struye
Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability
Table of contents of the course:
• Introduction: why is the topic so important?
• Corporate Responsibility and Stakeholder management: theories,
practical applications and emerging regulatory frameworks
• Supplier, Competitors and Business Ethics: with a specific focus on
Human rights management in global supply chain, challenges and
opportunities
• ESG and Finance: a path to Sustainability, how can Finance help for
the transition to a more sustainable world?
• Sustainability reporting: new regulations, the opportunity for
students in economy to develop robust reporting of non-financial
data.
Evaluation:
• Written exam at the end of the session.
• No material allowed during the exam.
• Open questions.
• The written exam counts for all the points. The result is calculated
and communicated as a whole number on a scale of 20.
• Second exam opportunity follows same rules.
• A mock exam is organized in May to help you.
Changes compared to previous academic years
Mockup exam is organized.
Clear path on Sustainability issues (new slides...).
No mandatory self-study of a manual required.
Lecture 1
Time to embed in management?
• Acceleration of the global awareness.
• We observe stress on the planet.
• It is time to move from concepts to action.
• It is a fairly new field, it evolves fast and has impact in Finance,
Marketing, Governance, Innovation, HR so in General Management.
Corporate Social Responsibility:
Most longstanding concept: based upon Carroll’s pyramid model.
Reflects Anglo-American business model.
Inclusion of broader set of responsibilities e.g. environment
Business Ethics:
Umbrella label for CSR: rooted in philosophy.
Concerned with the morality of business practices.
CSR is oriented towards the wider role of the corporation in the
global economy
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Sustainability:
Originating from forestry and environmental management.
Refers to broader set of social, economic and environmental
imperatives.
Political interest in sustainable development reflects ‘Contemporary
CSR’.
Corporate Citizenship:
Developed in 1990s to evoke notion of corporation as a ‘good
neighbour’.
Reveals changing nature of role of business in society: political
governance.
Young, but one of the most dynamic debates in CSR literature.
Emergence of a common language:
• Since 2015.
• The Sustainable Development Goals from UN.
• A common objective for the world: 2030.
• A glue across public sector – non profit organizations and the private
sector.
• A common language for all.
The limits to growth:
The graph shows that resources decline over time as population, industrial
output, and pollution initially increase and then decrease. Food production
peaks and then levels off or decreases slightly. The overall trend suggests
that if growth continues unchecked, resource depletion and increased
pollution will constrain industrial output and food production, ultimately
impacting population growth.
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Humanity is using resources faster than they can be replenished naturally,
essentially using the equivalent of more than one Earth.
The ecological footprint has surpassed the Earth's carrying capacity,
suggesting unsustainable resource use.
The image depicts a corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework,
emphasizing a company's global engagement with various stakeholders—
customers, employees, shareholders, government, NGOs,
suppliers, and local communities. It highlights the company's
commitment to addressing significant global social issues through high-
value products and solutions while prioritizing compliance and advancing
CSR initiatives. This model illustrates the company's approach to
integrating social, environmental, and economic objectives, showing how it
operates within a broader ecosystem to foster sustainable growth and
development.
GRI is an independent international organization that has pioneered
sustainability reporting since 1997 (founded in Boston):
§ The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) are
widely adopted global standards for sustainability reporting.
§ In December, the EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial and
diversity information by certain large companies (amending the
2013 Accounting Directive), entered into force, further bolstering the
demand for GRI’s reporting framework.
§ In October 2016, GRI launched the first global standards for
sustainability reporting.
Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI index family):
§ Created in 1999.
§ Partnership Dow Jones and Robeco SAM.
§ The DJSI is based on an analysis of corporate economic,
environmental and social performance.
§ The trend is to reject companies that do not operate in a sustainable
and ethical manner.
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§ One main global index, the DJSI World, and various indexes based on
geographic regions such as: Europe, Nordic, North America and Asia
Pacific.
§ Based on questionnaire and assessment.
This approach emphasizes that effective CSR should not only mitigate
harm but also harness the company's unique strengths to contribute
meaningfully to societal needs while simultaneously bolstering its own
business model and strategy.
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