Business in the natural environment

No prerequisites

After having completed the course, students are familiar with the main discussions, developments, organizations and tools in corporate environmental responsibility and have the capability to monitor developments in the field and find further information. Students understand the mainstream and critical research perspectives on business and the natural environment and are able to develop an empirical research question that connects to a body of academic research in the field. They can write credibly, objectively and critically about corporate environmental responsibility

Completion methods

The course is completed completely online, as independent study. The course consists of two parts:

1) Overview: Each student completes an online (Moodle) exam consisting of 10 short questions. Each question points to online information sources: webcasts, research articles, websites of relevant organizations or statistical reports, which you will need to study in order to answer the question. The aim of this part of the course is to ensure that you have an overview of the field and its practices (such as environmental management systems, the global reporting initiative, product-service systems)

2) Research perspectives essay: Drawing on the book Hoffman, A. & Georg, S. (2018) Business and the Natural Environment (Routledge Focus), each student should write a 10-page essay where you:

• select and describe a research perspective on business sustainability that interests you (3-4 p.)
• select and describe an empirical research topic that you could investigate from this perspective (3-4 p.)
• frame and motivate your essay with a good introduction (1-2 p.)
• end your essay with concluding reflections concerning the pros and cons of using this research perspective (1-2 p.)
• carefully copy-edit your text and make sure your references are in good order.

Grading scale

Scale 0-5 

Assessment practices and criteria

Graded on a scale of 0-5. Moodle exam, 50% and essay, 50%.

Activities and methods in support of learning

Independent study, including reading articles, watching webcasts, analyzing statistics and news items (40 hours) in order to answer questions in Moodle exam. Reading the textbook (30 hours) and writing the assigned essay (65 hours).

Target groups

Master’s students in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability, Master’s students in Social Sciences

Teaching period when the course will be offered

Twice yearly: Period 1 and 3

Recommended time or stage of studies for completion

1st study year in master’s

Study module

Optional in ECGS-200 Consumer-Citizens and Sustainability Transitions

Expiry of studies

valid for 10 years

Language of instruction

English

Language of learning

English, Finnish or Swedish

Literature and learning material

Independent study, materials available on Moodle

Course level

Master’s level, (second-cycle degree/EQF level 7).

Course level: intermediate