Nowadays, firms operating beyond national boarders have to deal with different environmental laws, diverse cultural backgrounds, and, given the rise of social media, face greater scrutiny by stakeholders over the nature of their global operations. The module aims to provide students with knowledge of global sustainability as it pertains to marketing and communications. It further aims to deliver the skills to enable students to critically appraise the history of and current discourse on corporate responsibilityand sustainability, and comprehend the multi faceted and nature of these concepts. The global forces driving sustainability initiatives will be explored, their impact on the firm’s marketing and communication practices will be identified, and their relationship with organizational stakeholders and profitability will be assessed.

Course Outline

The course consists of three blocks with the following themes:

1. “Understanding global sustainability marketing”

     Framing global sustainability marketing

    Global sustainability problems and opportunities

    Globalization and stakeholder relationships as drivers of responsibility

2. “Developing and managing global sustainability standards and strategies”

    Global sustainability management and marketing strategies

    Global sustainability product and pricing strategies

    Global sustainability distribution strategies

    Global sustainability communication strategies

3. Measuring and developing the future of global sustainability

    The impact of global sustainability

    Global sustainability marketing transformations

    Critiquing and reframing global sustainability marketing

Upon completion of this module students will be able to:

recognize the historical roots, theories, definitions, and operationalizations of sustainability and corporate responsibility

identify and analyze the mainsocial and environmental problems related to global organizations today

demonstrate critical knowledge of the key tensions and debates around global corporate responsibility,sustainability and stakeholder   management

explain in great detail the issues driving global sustainability

analyze in depth the various sustainability marketing practices available

explore a number of global sustainability marketing examples, issues, and problems

thoroughly assess and discuss the impact of global sustainability on marketing, business and the society at large

Skills

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

apply global sustainability marketing best practices

produce solutions in dealing with real sustainability problems faced by international firms

think critically in analyzing relevant global sustainability issues

Please note that the first session and last session is mandatory. If you do not attend the first session, you will be de-registered from the course. In order to obtain a grade for the course, students must attend at least 80% of the course. An absence of 4 hours  (1 session)  is  permitted with the exception of the first and the last session.

The course will contain a range of lectures, workshops, and seminars. The lectures are intended to provide you with essential information, to help you structure that information and to be a source of explanation. The workshops and seminars are a vehicle for you to build on the knowledge gained in the lectures, to develop a methodology for applying your knowledge to problems and to refine your analytical and oral communication skills.

Assessment of the course depends on one piece of individual essay worth 100 percent of the final module mark. Students will be provided with a written case which they will need to analyze and appropriately answer. The submission date will be confirmed on the first session and the indicative length for assignment is 3000 words per individual essay.

Attendance and active participation in class discussions (10%)

Group-presentations (40%)

Final exam(50%)

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Not applicable.

Not applicable.

imm@wu.ac.at

Please note that there will be a case package to be purchased from the IMM Institute before the course begins. You will be notified by email beforehand when the case material is available for purchase.

 Regarding the readings above - a detailed reading list will be provided at the end ofeach lecture or seminar session.