National University of Singapore
NUS Business School
Department of Management and Organization
BMA5418: Socially Responsible Business 24/7
Session: Special Term 1, 2012/2013
Instructor: Associate Professor Audrey Chia
Course Description
Whether, how, and to what degree businesses use social considerations to inform their goals, strategies,
behaviours, and profits is contestable in Asia and globally. This course critically examines a host of issues
related to these questions including corporate charitable giving, product development, market placement,
pricing strategies, labour relations, strategic and venture philanthropy, public policy, advocacy, environmental
sustainability, investing, and sponsorships. Students will critically evaluate the ways in which national and
multinational corporations affect large-scale changes in Asian societies via their practices, associated
tradeoffs, and ways in which social conscience is manifested or notably absent.
Course Objectives
This module enables participants to:
(i) Critically and constructively evaluate various strategies and results of Asian companies in particular that
seek to positively impact society.
(ii) Understand the myriad ways in which national and multinational companies in Asia by their daily activities
are impacting Asian societies, trade-offs inherent in these types of activities, and ways in which social
conscience is manifested or notably absent.
(iii) Recognize through gaining familiarity with specific Asian and non-Asian examples that infusing social
considerations into corporate decision making and practices is not necessarily antithetical to launching and
maintaining a profitable business.
(iv) Take up and defend through reason, logic, facts, values, and persuasive argument a variety of positions,
including those not necessarily consistent with their personal views.
(v) Consistently recognize the contingent nature of reality that can be employed to understand and explain the
actions of individuals, organizations, and sociotechnical systems of production and use.
(vi) Analyse, synthesize, evaluate, and provide constructive feedback to a corporation about the manner in
which it displays a social conscience in its policies, procedures, products, services, profits, and investments.
Course Content
Topics to be covered in the form of contestable questions and answers, with ample case examples from
across Asia and a few comparative examples from outside Asia, include:
(i): The Corporation: A societal innovation of recent vintage; its historic relationship to civil society in selected
cultures as reflected in public policy, community embeddedness, and corporate relations. Why does knowing
about what a corporation within civil society is designed to be matter?
(ii): Balancing Private and Public Intent and Goods: The mosaic of possibilities at the nexus of private intent
and actions, public good, law and government, and public perception. What type of balance is desirable? for
whom? under what specific circumstances?
(iii): Intertwining Corporate Mission and Societal Improvement Efforts: How have national and multinational
corporations engaged in societal improvement efforts within Asia? What are reasonable limits for corporate
involvement in explicitly seeking social change?
(iv): Legal, Financial, and Business Practice Means Available to Corporations: What means are at their
disposal to effect change? How much should national and multinational corporations “rule” the social world as
well as the business world? How should civil societies manage and monitor the actions of corporations in
these matters?
(v): New Relationships Among Corporations, Governments, and the Nonprofit Sectors: What are recent
examples in Asia and beyond Asia of the ways in which the landscape is changing? What are the trade-offs
associated with these shifting and increasingly semipermeable boundaries?
(vi) Framing and Reframing the Relationships Between Society and Corporations: What principles should
guide further developments within Asian societies? What are the views of various corporate, government, and
“watchdog” groups within Asia and their key points of agreement and disagreement?
(vii) Taking Personal Responsibility within a Corporation: How can an employee influence company policies,
procedures, products, behaviours, and results in ways that reflect a strong social conscience? What should be
the appropriate role of teams, leaders, and board members in reinforcing the importance of a social
conscience across the enterprise?
Throughout the course an emphasis will be placed on drawing upon participants’ personal experiences as
leaders, employees, consumers, and citizens. Activities will include guest speakers, panels, formal and
informal debates, and an extended simulation.
Sources
Required Text: Responsible Management in Asia: Perspectives from Corporate Social Responsibility, Ed.
Geoffrey Williams. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. (The entire set of essays in this book will be read
during the course.)
Selected additional readings for simulation and debates TBD
Tentative Assessment Structure
CA components:
(i)
Individual response papers:
(ii) Individual journals
(iii) Individual 24-hour take-home test:
(iv) Individual class and IVLE forum discussion participation:
(v) Group projects
Total for CA:
Total for Final Examinations:
Total Assessment:
40%
NA
NA
30%
30%
100%
0%
100%
Schedule
S1: Socially Conscious Business: What Might It Mean within and for Asia?
Introduction: Corporate Social Responsibility: Perspectives from Asia, G. Williams, pp. 1-12.
Chapter 1: Pathways to Sustainability: Philanthropy, Charity, CSR, J. M. Fernandez, pp. 13-26.
Chapter 2: Corporate Social Responsibility in India, M. Galliara, pp. 27-43.
Chapter 3: Social Responsibility Practices of Business Organizations: Bangladesh Perspectives,
D. M. Hossain, pp. 44-64.
S2: Businesses within Asian Civil Societies: The New Dynamics
Chapter 4: The Rise of CSR Public Policy in Asia: The Case of SE Asia and China, J. Brohier Meuter, pp. 65-86
Chapter 5: The Role of Civil Society: Organizational Drivers of CSR in Asia, B. Lariche, N. M. Helwig, pp. 87-99
Chapter 6: From CSR Concepts to Concrete Action: Integrated Approaches to Improvements at the Factory
Level, I. Mamic, C. Bodwell, pp. 100-116.
Chapter 7: Social Partnership Industrial Relations in P. T. Hero Supermarket, Indonesia, M. M. Kong, pp. 117132.
S3: Extended Simulation Exercise (applying ideas from Sessions 1-3)
Acid Mine Drainage: Soon Coming to an Asian Nation near You (materials to be supplied by instructor)
S4: The New Drivers for Corporate and Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Chapter 8: Consumers and CSR in Asia: Making Sustainability Easy for Consumers: The New Opportunity for
Corporate and Societal Innovation, C. D. Hicks, F. Hovenden, pp. 133-145
Chapter 10: Corporations and CSR in Asia: Sustainability as the Future Driver of Corporate Innovation and
Entrepreneurship, C. D. Hicks, K. Teo, pp. 161-178
Chapter 9: Responsible Tourism in Asia, R. A. A. de Lara, A. Thöny, pp. 146-160
S5: The Challenges and Opportunities of “Going Green”
Chapter 11: The Growing Risk of Climate Change: Implications and Strategies for Asian Companies and
Economies, R. Yeoh, pp. 179-202
Chapter 12: CSR Initiatives for Green Buildings: Perspectives of Hong Kong Financial Institutions, P. Boldy, L.
Barnes, pp. 203-222
Chapter 13: Practical Ethics and Carbon Finance, W. Walsh, pp. 223-233
S6: Asian Investments, Investors and Socially Responsible Businesses
Chapter 14: Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, G. Williams, pp. 234-255
Chapter 15: Sustainable Investing in Asia: Uncovering Opportunities and Risks, F. Paetzold, pp. 256-276
Chapter 16: Sustainability Reporting: Measurements and Goals for a Sustainable Future, N. Arbex, pp. 27-294
Conclusion: Corporate Social Responsibility: Perspectives from Asia – The Future and Its Challenges, G.
Williams, pp. 295-320