NIL

A foundation unit in the Graduate Certificate of Commerce nested program within the Master of Commerce

This core unit explores sustainable business practice from the perspectives of opportunities created, responsibilities & accountabilities incurred for commercial, environmental, social, people & governance business practices. The unit aims to contextualise the pace of change & key challenges for sustainable business practice.

Learning Objectives

On completing this unit students will be able to:

1. Apply a range of definitions of sustainable business practice & challenges associated with the global sustainability agenda in analysing business opportunities & challenges

2. Critique strategic approaches to business opportunities & risk through aligning commercial & sustainability strategies

3. Apply a business model to explore value creation for stakeholders through the lens of business sustainability goals in a constant change environment

4. Critique holistic models of risk & stakeholder management to identify sustainable business practices in complex & high change environments

5. Evaluate change models from the perspective of pace, complexity, characteristics & impact on governance & commercial practices

6. Assess the impact of constant change on business sustainability objectives & organisational capability as a means of critiquing organisational performance

7. Critically analyse appropriate forms of sustainability as a driver of organisational culture & individual employee well-being in a constant changing environment

8. Explore characteristics of the resilient organisation & determine aspects of organisational & individual resilience & coping

9. Critique the business case for sustainability & broader ethics related to Corporate Social Responsibility & Corporate Citizenship.

10. Assess responsible leadership's contribution to developing sustainable practices in a constant change environment

Face-to-Face, Online, Blended

 

Online delivery is supported by a unit website, learning materials and online activities. Voluntary face-to-face
workshops may also be offered.

Group-based Discussion 10-30%

Individual Report 30-50%

Case-based Project 30-50%

1. Strategic competence to align organisational decision making with environmental challenges.

2. Holistic & systemic thinking across business & commerce to support decision making & risk management in complexity

3. Analytical & problem solving skills that include rational-analytical, sense making & anticipatory competencies relevant to a shifting & turbulent business environment.

4. Communication, teamwork & advocacy skills to support the building of social capital in diverse project environments.

5. Capacity to apply normative ethical standards in the context of the business/society interface.

Dunphy, D 2008 ‘Sustainable Organizations’, in Cummings, TG (Ed) H&book of Organizational Development, Sage, California

Elkington, J 2006, ‘Governance & Sustainability’, Corporate Governance, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 522-529

Garnaut, R 2008, Garnaut Climate Change Review, Commonwealth of Australia, viewed 5 February 2009, www.garnautreview.org.au/index.htm

Jones, TM, Felps, W & Bigley, GA 2007, ‘Ethical Theory & Stakeholder Related Decisions: The Role of Stakeholder Culture’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 137-155 Kaplan,

RS, Mikes, A, Simons, R, Tufano, P & Hofmann, M 2009, ‘Managing Risk in the New World’, Harvard Business Review, October

Osterwalder, A & Pigneur, Y 2010, Business Model Generation, John Wiley & Sons

Porter, ME & Kramer, MR 2011, ‘Creating Shared Value’, Harvard Business Review, March, pp. 62-78

Shafer, SM, Smith, HJ & Linder, JC 2005, ‘The power of business models’, Business Horizons, vol.48, no. 3, pp. 199-207

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) 2010, Vision 2050: The new agenda for business, viewed 29 June 2010 www.wbcsd.org/Plugins/DocSearch/details.asp? DocTypeId=25&ObjectId=MzczOTc

Benn, S & Bolton, D 2011, Key Concepts in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sage, London