Einführung in die Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik

The course provides a comprehensive overview of the essential theoretical foundations of business and corporate ethics and establishes numerous practical application references. At the beginning of the lecture, the necessity of dealing with the topic of business and corporate ethics is discussed. Subsequently, important theoretical foundations of business and corporate ethics as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR) are presented in detail. The fundamental relationship between economics and ethics is discussed, key terms are defined and a distinction is made between individual, corporate and business ethics. In the next step, various approaches to business and corporate ethics are presented and critically discussed. The aim is to understand the special features of the approaches and to work out their differences. Business and corporate ethics will have no impact if their findings are not applied in practice. Accordingly, the lecture then focuses on the discussion of selected approaches to the concrete implementation of business and corporate ethics in companies.

The following topics will be discussed in detail in the lecture:

1. Necessity of Business and Corporate Ethics

2. Theoretical Foundations of Business and Corporate Ethics

   2.1 Relationship between Economics and Ethics

   2.2 History of Business and Corporate Ethics

   2.3 Explanation of Key Terms

   2.4 Differentiation between Individual, Corporate and Business Ethics

3. Theoretical Approaches to Business and Corporate Ethics

   3.1 Philosophical Approaches

   3.2 Shared Value Approach According to Porter & Kramer

   3.3 Stakeholder Approach

   3.4 Political CSR

4. Selected Approaches to the Implementation of Business Ethics in Practice

   4.1 Implementation in Companies

   4.2 National and International Initiatives

The course consists of a lecture and two tutorials with the same content. The entire course is held in German and explains the basic concepts and theories of business and corporate ethics with practical application references.

Due to the restrictions in teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both the lectures and the exercises will take place completely digitally. In the summer semester 2021, there will be no face-to-face teaching at MIBAS. The course will be administered via OpenOLAT in particular:

https://www.openolat.uni-hamburg.de

Teaching is largely asynchronous. This means that the content of the lecture is mainly provided in the form of videos and can be accessed by students at a time of their choosing. However, three lecture dates in the semester take place synchronously. These take place at the beginning, middle and end of the semester to allow for a personal introduction of the lecturers and a direct exchange with the course participants. In the tutorial, students will have a live digital meeting with the lecturer on six dates during the semester. Further details on the organization and technical implementation can be found in the course description (please note the respective status of the course description, due to the dynamic development of the infection process, updates may occur regularly).

The synchronous dates for the lecture are Mon, April 12, 2021, Mon, May 17, 2021 and Mon, June 28, 2021, each from 12:15 to 13:45.

For details on the synchronous dates in the tutorial, please refer to the course description.

From a methodological point of view, PowerPoint slides will be used as a framework for discussing the content to be discussed. These slides will be included in the lecture and tutorial videos. The set of slides can be downloaded by the course participants on OpenOLAT. The slides serve more as a visual “stimulus” and not as a substitute for a lecture manuscript. Students are therefore strongly advised to supplement the lecture and tutorial slides with their own notes.

The tutorials supplement and deepen the lecture content and prepare students for the Take Home Exam. The tutorials are also intended to train essential academic skills. These include raising awareness of problems in business and corporate ethics, critical thinking, argumentation and reflection skills, improving general text comprehension and a more precise understanding of the differences between theory and practice. In contrast to the lecture, students must actively participate in six out of 10 tutorials. This creates special space for independent thinking and work. In the synchronous sessions, questions about the lecture are answered, content is explored in depth and current research articles relevant to the Take Home Exam are discussed. Otherwise, asynchronous study will also be possible in the tutorial. Discussions with fellow students will be facilitated via OpenOLAT. Details on the exercise can be found in the course description (please also note the status here).

References will be announced in the lecture and tutorial.

The examination will take the form of a take home exam (open book).

The exam will be equivalent to a 90-minute face-to-face exam. However, students will be given a period of five days to complete the exam. The deadlines will be announced on Stine in good time.

The exam will also be administered via OpenOLAT. Detailed instructions on the technical implementation will be made available to students in good time during the semester. However, registration for the exam and, if necessary, deregistration takes place via STiNE!

No retake date will be offered.