Posted: July 14th, 2019
Corporate social responsibility and Business ethics
Power point presentation: Total Marks: 10/100.
Written report: Total Marks: 10/100.
Both the written and the power point presentations are group work. Each group member is expected to contribute equally to both the written document and final presentation. Group work are designed to not only help students divide up challenging task, but also develop group interaction and teamwork skills as well as strengthening their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
The group can choose ONE of the following topics for the PowerPoint presentation and the written report. You can choose the same topic for both/ you can choose two different topics- one for the presentation and the other for the written document.
- Corporate social responsibility and Business ethics: The presentation will focus on Multi National Companies (MNC’s) Business ethics and CSR policies. You can choose one MNC (E.g. Body Shop, Nike, Pepsi, Wal-Mart etc.) and research about what that company is doing currently in terms of CSR; why do they focus on specific areas of CSR (in case they are); critical analysis to be presented about the company’s CSR polices and how they implement it. The discussion will then steer towards what companies in UAE (choose a domestic UAE company) are presently doing in CSR. Innovation in CSR can be discussed here, bringing alive class discussions about how innovation can increase companies’ profits/innovation and performance. Discuss the role of government (you can discuss the external environment of business, stakeholders theory here) both in case of MNC and Domestic Company in CSR. A comparative critical analysis of the two companies can be presented.
Suggested readings:
- Articles from HBR: https://hbr.org/1993/05/whats-the-matter-with-business-ethics
- https://hbr.org/topic/social-responsibility
- Forbes articles: https://www.forbes.com/pictures/efkk45mmlm/the-10-companies-with-the-best-csr-reputations/#1185697b6626
- Other journals and articles: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022185615609817b
- Leadership and Decision Making: To succeed, businesses need leaders who bring new perspectives, new thinking and new ideas – and who have the skills and knowledge to manage in an uncertain world. Effective managers do not always make strong leaders. They have to learn new skills and gain new self-awareness in order to influence those around them. In today’s increasingly international business environment, managers need to adapt their skills and self-awareness to lead across cultures and borders. Choose a company (any MNC, domestic company, international company) that is known for its leader. What are the personal traits of the leader? Trace the historical development of the company and how it has grown under the leadership of this person. Compare his/her leadership style with a UAE company’s leadership style.
Suggested readings:
- Forbes articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/09/20/leadership-its-not-about-you/#11e888db5a5a
- HBR articles: https://hbr.org/topic/leadership
- Other journal articles and books: Bass, B. (1990). From Transactional to Transformational Leadership: Learning to Share the Vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18, 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(90)90061-S
- Drucker, P. (1996). Your Leadership Is Unique. Good News: There Is No One Leadership Personality. Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal, 17, 54-55
- Innovation in large organisations: Innovation in the airline sector can form a good study here. Choose a UAE based Airline Company and conduct a detailed study of the company’s innovation policies. Critically analyse and discuss if the company’s innovation lacks vision or strategy/ are the policies remarkably good. You can apply a SWOT/PESTLE analysis to come to your conclusions. Analyse how these companies/the particular company follow innovation in their organizations to succeed in the international market in today’s competitive world. Compare it with an international airline company and bring out similarities and/ differences between the two companies innovation strategies.
Suggested readings:
- HBR articles: https://hbr.org/2006/02/the-why-what-and-how-of-management-innovation
- Forbes articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/11/07/four-simple-steps-for-defining-your-companys-innovation-vision/#37e0f027357c
- https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-eight-essentials-of-innovation