Sustainable Business Management
| Module title | Sustainable Business Management |
|---|---|
| Module code | BEPM008 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Jose Melenez Roman (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 12 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 25 |
|---|
Module description
Organisations are doing more than ever before to tackle issues like climate change, poverty human rights and corruption. As businesses become ever more engaged in sustainability initiatives around the world it becomes increasingly important for them to embrace ideas of ethical practice and sustainable business management. To this end, the module is intended as a foundational model to enable you to deepen your knowledge and skills in the management of environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The aim of the module is to help you develop the capacities to think and design actions to create more sustainable futures for yourself, your organisations and your communities. More specifically, the module will cause you to challenge (and overthrow) the business-as-usual model in search of a more integrated, systemic approach to business management. You will learn to design actions that will lead to more sustainable futures by studying concepts such as sustainability, business ethics, social Responsibility, systems thinking, ecological economics, sustainable business modelling, circular economy, and regenerative business.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand key principles, theories, and strategies to analyse and implement sustainable business management practices.
- 2. Appraise business management through a complexity and systems aware lens to assess business sustainability performance.
- 3. Develop an impact-focused sustainability career plan to address societal, political, economic and environment needs.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Critically analyse the role of businesses in achieving the sustainable development goals and local needs.
- 5. Reflect on the tensions and challenges faced by businesses to engage in sustainable practices.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Demonstrate high level critical thinking skills to apply theory to practice.
- 7. Critically engage with interdisciplinary academic literature to develop convincing arguments.
- 8. Think creatively about different communication strategies to effectively convey business-aware complex information to diverse audiences.
Syllabus plan
The module will cover, but not be limited to, the following themes:
- The wider context of business and non-market interactions: Planetary boundaries, natural capital, SDGs and the economic model.
- Understanding the role of business in society and environment: ecological economics, doughnut economics, and the circular economy.
- Business analysis from a complex adaptive systems and systems thinking perspective.
- Sustainable production and consumption, and sustainability marketing
- Social enterprises, social impact investment and grassroots entrepreneurship.
- Designing sustainable business models
- Sustainability-oriented innovation.
- Financing sustainable businesses.
- Stakeholder management, collective actions and businesses.
- ESG and CSR., sustainability schemes and certification
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | 116 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 22 | 11 x 2-hour lectures with the module leader or guest speakers combined with application exercises |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 6 | Seminars to apply key theories in practical settings |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 6 | Field trip to assess sustainable business principles in real-world scenarios |
| Guided independent study | 116 | Preparation for seminars, career mapping, reading materials, individual research and project work. |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Career map | 500 words | 3, 5, 8 | Verbal and written |
| Group report plan | 10-minute presentation | 2, 4, 6, 8 | Verbal |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career map | 30 | 5-minute presentation | 3, 5, 8 | Verbal and written |
| Report | 40 | 1500 words | 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 | Verbal and written |
| Group presentation | 30 | 10-minute presentation | 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 | Verbal and written |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Career map | Individual essay (1500 words, 40%) | 3, 5, 8 | Referral/deferral period |
| Report | Report (2500 words, 60%) | 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 | Referral/deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
The sustainability assessment report will be individual and without a presentation.
Deferral – if you have been deferred for any assessment you will be expected to submit the relevant assessment. 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 50%) you will be required to sit a further examination. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will count for 100% of the final mark and will be capped at 50%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
- Blowfield, M. ( 2013) Business and Sustainability, Oxford, Oxford University Press
- Kopnina, H. & Bliwett J (2018) Sustainable Business, Issues, London, Routledge
- Alexander, A., Pascucci, S. & Charnley, F. (2023).?Handbook of the Circular Economy: Transitions and Transformation. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.?https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110723373
- Geissdoerfer, M., Vladimirova, D., & Evans, S. (2018). Sustainable business model innovation: A review.?Journal of cleaner production,?198, 401-416.
- Bocken, N. M., Short, S. W., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes.?Journal of cleaner production,?65, 42-56.
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 08/02/2022 |
| Last revision date | 08/04/2025 |
