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Environment, Society and Business

Module description

Business-as-usual is threatening the stability of the ecosystems that support our lives. We are exceeding planetary boundaries: most of the land surface and the ocean are impacted by human activities, forests continue to be cut down to make space for agriculture and animal husbandry, the poles are losing their ice, the depletion of natural resources such as drinking water is affecting local communities worldwide, overfishing and loss of biodiversity are increasing at a dramatic rate. Addressing challenges of this scale require an interdisciplinary response. It requires cooperation, long-sightedness and critical, creative and system thinking. This module brings different disciplines together to draw attention to the role our economy plays in exacerbating the ecological crisis, and what a sustainable economy might look like. The module offers an introductory insight into ecology, environmental science and different traditions of economic thought linking the economy and the environment. In so doing, it provides the theoretical basis for understanding, designing and implementing new purpose-driven business models, enabling business to make a positive contribution to the environment and society. No prior knowledge skills or experience is needed in order to able to take this module. This module is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module is designed to help you develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between business, society and the environment. Throughout the module, you will engage with some of the global challenges the environment, business and society are facing, and appreciate how business can make a positive contribution in tackling those challenges through purpose-driven business models that are distributive and regenerative by design. In seminars, structured around continuous reflexive practice, you will engage in critical inquiry, using questions as a tool to explore the concepts and issues that emerge from within the module. As a result, you will acquire and be able to evidence critical thinking and analysis skills while bringing your own experiences as a citizen into discussion and inquiry.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Articulate the complexity of the interdependent relationship between the environment, society and business
• 2. Expose the grand environmental challenges that business and society face (such as climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, etc.)
• 3. Compare, contrast and apply a range of theories on environment and economy (such as environmental economics and ecological economics)
• 4. Assess the role of purpose-driven business models in enabling business to make a positive contribution to the environment and society

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Engage with pluralist economic thinking
• 6. Appreciate the interdependence of business, ecology and environmental science
• 7. Evaluate purpose-driven business models and their ability to contribute towards more equitable and sustainable societies

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Communicate evidence-based ideas and present compelling arguments
• 9. Reflect on the challenges of working collaboratively, and inclusively, encountering different perspectives to achieve shared goals
• 10. Evidence critical analytical thinking when working with others

Syllabus plan

Topics discussed on the module include (not exclusively):

• An economy within the environment: the interaction between economic activity and the environment
• The ecological ceiling of business: the planetary boundaries
• The social foundations of business: corporate social responsibility
• A social-ecological systems approach to business
• Economic schools and the environment: environmental, ecological and doughnut economics
• Change the goal: purpose-driven business models
• Create to regenerate and design to distribute: doing business ‘in the doughnut’
• Stories from the field: purposeful entrepreneurship in Cornwall.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

The following books are a key resource for this course:

• Cato, M. S. (2020). Environment and Economy (2^nd Edition). Routledge.
• Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut Economics. Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Blowfield, M. (2013). Business and Sustainability. Oxford University Press.
• Carroll, A.. B.  & A. K. Buchholtz, (2015). Business & Society. Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management (9^th Edition). Cengage.
• Gibson-Graham, J.K., & Dombroski, K. (Eds.). (2020). The Handbook of Diverse Economies. Edward Elgar.
• Gray, B., & Purdy, J. (2018). Collaborating for our future: Multistakeholder partnerships for solving complex problems. Oxford University Press.
• Mazzucato, M. (2021). Mission economy: A moonshot guide to changing capitalism. Penguin.
• Parker, M., Cheney, G., Fournier, V., & Land, C. (2013). The Routledge companion to alternative organization. Routledge.

Key words search

Business and Environment, Ecological Economics, Diverse Enterprise, Sustainability, Planetary boundaries.