Applied Business Ethics

The seminar focuses primarily on the relationship between theory and practice in business ethics. Students will thus critically discuss and present current topics and issues on international business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability management. The seminar will be held in English, meaning that coursework, presentations and papers can be submitted in English only.

Preliminary topics to be covered in this seminar are:

• Business Models of the Platform Economy: A Critical Analysis from a Business Ethics Perspective
• The Human Rights Responsibilities of Multinational Corporations: Rationale, Examples and Critical Analysis
• Critical Perspectives on Political CSR: Limits, Potential and Cases
• Sweatshops and their Role in Global Value Chains: A Critical Analysis

The seminar is structured as follows: On April 1th, the seminar will start with a kick off meeting, where students will be briefed on the overall subject of the seminar. Upon this occasion, students will also be introduced to the different topics of the seminar which will be allocated to students according to their preferences. After the kick-off meeting, students enter the writing phase where they work individually on their topics and write their term papers. Within four weeks after the topic allocation the seminar reconvenes for a research Q&A session where students can discuss their outline draft with their tutor. After the submission of term papers students receive a short feedback in order to facilitate and guide the preparation of the group presentations. Then, students work together to prepare a group presentation of their topic.

Please note that this seminar is administered through Openolat: https://www.openolat.uni-hamburg.de

Students are required to write a paper and give a presentation to earn credit points. The grade is comprised as follows:

50% paper (10-12 pages, individual grade), 50% group presentation and discussion of findings (group grade)