Check out the New Course - Mod 4

According to a recent McKinsey survey, about 90% of global executives are personally worried about it...and 50% believe it is the social issue that will impact shareholder value most. What is it? Climate Change (I'm not kidding...) Mgt 455: The Law and Business of Climate Change Climate Change is now a huge business issue that is affecting law, policy and corporate strategy. McKinsey & Co. just released their most recent global executive survey conducted in September 2007 with over 2,687 executives around the world 36 percent of them CEOs or other C-level executives. Among the results: - Nearly 90% of executives personally worry about global warming - Nearly 50% of executives say that global warming and the environment is the social issue that will most affect shareholder value for companies in their industry. This course will use corporate responses to climate change to examine the legal, economic, and social influences on firm environmental behavior. Environmental regulations impose more than $100 billion in costs per year on the economy. In addition, much private regulation of firm environmental behavior occurs in the shadow of public environmental laws. Firms are voluntarily reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as other forms of pollution beyond what is currently required under the law. The course will draw on theoretical and empirical literature to explore the incentives for firms to comply with environmental laws, to participate in voluntary programs, to adopt environmental management systems, and to address environmental issues in corporate transactions. The course will include lecture and class discussion, along with mock negotiations in small group settings. The final grade will be based on class participation and performance on a written examination. The course is designed for both Owen and Law students and will be taught jointly by Professors Mark Cohen and Michael Vandenbergh. There is no requirement that Owen students have taken Environmental Law or that Law students have taken business courses. It is highly interdisciplinary, drawing upon fields such as law, business, and social psychology. (The course will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:40 - 5:20 at the Law School.

Currently the Social Impact Pillar is working with the OSGA Curriculum Pillar and Owen staff, faculty, and students to include more CSR classes or cases in the curriculum.  Our goal is to bring logical curriculum improvements that highlight corporate social responsibility and social impact.

How does Owen currently include CSR into the curriculum?

Currently we include CSR cases in core classes.  There is also an Ethics requirement that addresses CSR topics.

Where does Owen see itself in the future regarding the curriculum and CSR?

Ideally, moving CSR into the Core Curriculum to teach CSR principles from different perspectives, to all students. This idea would uses cases to incorporate CSR into existing concepts taught in the Core classes. A related opportunity for Owen might include consortiums with other schools to unite on the importance of CSR for future business leaders.