Corporate citizenship
SU 1 – “Imagine”
SU 2 – Course overview
The four outcomes for this course are relatively simple and easy to grasp, they are: 1. Analyze the context of corporate citizenship (CONTEXT) 2. Develop a business case for corporate citizenship (WHY?) 3. Critically consider the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of corporate citizenship programs (HOW?) 4. Analyze the profile of personal responsible leadership in corporate citizenship (LEADERSHIP)
SU 3 – Sustainable development
IN this study unit we look to introduce and explain the idea of sustainable development. To start the example of Easter Island was used to illustrate the dangers of non-sustainable development. This is an important concept as it provides us with the “social” case for corporate citizenship.
What is sustainable development?
Breaking this down us can define sustainability as,”The capacity for continuance in the long term”. We can then think of sustainable development as the processes by which humans move (or develop) towards sustainability. For this course however we can use Brundtland’s definition, which is:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.''
For development to be sustainable it needs to meet the following four criteria: 1. contribute toward fulfilling needs that will lead to better quality of life 2. be as equitable as possible 3. respect ecological limits 4. build a foundation for future generations to meet their needs
Brundtland’s idea is nice in a perfect world but is missing a lot of practical thinking. Two of the more conventional schools of thought are the triple bottom line and the “real” hierarchy of dependence, both of which can be illustrated as follows.
Environment
Society
Finance
Finance
Society
Environment
Unfortunatly the triple bottom line is always going to consider the