Course outline: Charlotte Mikolajczak
Title
Business Ethics: the international and European framework
Approach to business ethics
The importance of ethics in business has grown immensely over the past few
years. With the emergence of multinational corporations and economic
globalization ethics in businesses has become increasingly necessary. Many
everyday business activities require the maintenance of ethical standards.
Companies need to be advised and framed to do business ethically. At
international, European, national and local level there is a broad menu of
policies, mandatory rules, soft law instruments and voluntary guidelines.
Students will be introduced to the basics of business ethics with several
important concepts like corporate social responsibility, sustainability, stakeholder
model and corporate governance. Then, among the various rules, guidelines and
standards at international and European level, the most commonly used will be
developed with the students. How companies approach the problems of business
ethics is different around the world. The students will be asked to analyse
companies’ codes of conduct in order to identify differences and best practices.
Main content
Introduction
General definitions : Business, ethics, corporation, sustainability
Corporate Social Responsibility
Stakeholder model
Existing framework : policies, standards, rules, guidelines
 International level (UN, OECD, ISO, ILO, ...)
 European level (European Commission, EESC, ...)
Analysis of codes of conduct
Identification of differences and best practices
Learning objectives
Students will be able to:
Understand the complexity of the issue of business ethics
Explain several business ethics’ concepts and use a specific vocabulary
Carry out a stakeholder analysis
Conduct specific search on the Internet
Identify the ethics framework for a company
Teaching and learning methods
Presentation of the theory with the help of PP, video extracts, real cases in
companies, articles and discussions in class and group assignments on various
topics.
Daily schedule
Day
Hour
Class content
Afternoon assignment
Monday
May 13
12.1514
1. Introduction to business ethics :
brainstorming “unethical
business behaviours and
activities”
2. Presenting useful definitions to
understand business ethics
3. Presenting the notion of CSR and
illustration with a real case
(CISCO)
4. Introduction to afternoon
assignment : “Mc Ethics in
Europe and Asia”
“McEthics in Europe and Asia:
should McDonalds extend its
response to ethical criticism in
Europe?”
Answer the questions in group of
3 to 4 students
Tuesday
May 14
9–13
1. Presentation and discussion of the
assignment (McEthics)
2. Detailed presentation of
Stakeholder model (customers,
employees, shareholders,
government, suppliers,
competitors and civil society)
3. Illustration of Stakeholder model
with a real case : CISCO
4. Introduction to the afternoon
assignment : Stakeholder analysis
of a specific company
Group of 3 to 4 students
Each group will have to carry out
a stakeholder analysis for a
specific company.
Wed.
May 15
9-13
1. Presentation of the assignment
(Stakeholder analysis)
2. Presentation of the existing
framework : International and
European level
3. The code of conduct : illustration
with a real case (CISCO)
Group of 3 to 4 students
Each group will analyse the code
of conduct from two different
companies (a US company and a
European company) in order to
identify the differences and the
best practices.
Thursday
May 16
9-13
1. Presentation and discussion of the
assignment (Code of conduct)
2. Production of a good practices
guide
3. Conclusion
13.45
Poster session preparation