Syllabus
Course Topic
In recent years, sustainable development has increasingly become a key imperative for businesses. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders in 2015, showcase universally applicable targets intended to mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities, and tackle climate change.
While the SDGs are not legally binding, countries are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks aimed to accomplish the goals. Furthermore, all stakeholders including governments, civil society, the private sector, and others are demanded to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
Consequently, businesses are supposed to play an integral part in contributing to the Agenda 2030. However, these developments imply radical rethinking of established business practices, models, approaches, and paradigms.

United Nations, 2015
Under the theme of the SDGs, this course encourages students to rethink international management. It is designed as a blended-learning course, combining online and face-to-face sessions. The online component embeds the Global Virtual Course, jointly designed and further devloped by universities in the SIGMA Alliance (Copenhagen Business School, ESADE, Hitotsubashi University, Singapore Management University, University of St. Gallen, Paris Dauphine University and Vienna University of Economics and Business).It consists of eight modules.
In addition to completing all online modules, students work in virtual cross-national, cross-institutional teams, to develop a best-practice case study on a selected company or organization. Teams receive guidance from assigned supervisors from any of the participating universities.
The Online Modules
Eight online modules will be provided on the platform Coursera
Module 1: Global Virtual Teamwork |
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Module 2: What are the SDGs? Origins and prospective |
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Module 3: From Social Problem to Business Model |
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Module 4: Responsible Global Leadership |
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Module 5: Social Innovation & Value Creation |
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Module 6: From Carbon Risk to Clean Energy Business Opportunities |
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Module 7: Partnerships for gender equality in business: The role of ESG investment |
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Module 8: Reporting and the SDGs |
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The Case Cast
The Case Cast is the final outcome of the group work in international student teams. A 2.5 minute screencasted powerpoint presentation based on the case study will have to be prepared. The most basic version is to record slides and incorporate voice over, but it is also possible to include animations.
More information on the Case Cast: Helpful information