Sustainable Management and Value Chains

llsms2281  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

Sustainable Management and Value Chains
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
5 credits
30.0 h
Q1
Teacher(s)
Reuter Carsten;
Language
English
Main themes
This course will address environmental, social and ethical risks, and new business opportunities arising from managing the natural environment. This course will also look at responses at a strategic and operational level: sustainable innovation and green supply chain management, environmental management systems and certification (ISO 14001, EMAS, etc.), supplier code of conducts, sustainable supplier selection and supplier development, waste reduction, eco-efficiency, greenwashing, child labour and labour safety. The focus is not only on operations of the focal firm, but particularly also on sustainability challenges that enfold along globally dispersed supply chains.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 On successful completion of this program, each student will acquire the following skills :
  • Demonstrate independent reasoning,look critically and consciously acquired knowledge (both academic and common sense) and managerial practices, in light of emerging circumstances and their outcomes.
  • Decide and act responsibly,  while taking into account the social, economic and environmental sometimes antinomic, outcomes in the short, medium and long term, for the various stakeholders.
  • Perceptively synthesize the essential elements of a situation, demontsrating a certain conceptual distance, to diagnose and identify pertinent conclusions.
  • Position and understand the functioning of an organization, in its local and international socio-economic dimensions and identify the associated strategic issues and operational decisions.
  • Work in a team :Join in and collaborate with team members. Be open and take into consideration the different points of view and ways of thinking, manage differences and conflicts constructively, accept diversity.
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Content
In the 21st century, a company cannot maintain its competitive position or achieve continuous operating improvement without the successful implementation of strategic, well-designed, and well-implemented sustainability initiatives. Sustainability improvements are critical at many points in an operation's value chain, from initial product conception to production/manufacturing, distribution, and waste disposal.
A sustainable, socially responsible, and financially-driven company must develop, analyze, select, and implement measures that will help it capitalize on the opportunities for improved operating performance, and that will mitigate the inevitable unfavorable effects of business operations. This requires managers who can identify potential threats and challenges, develop strategies to address such challenges, conduct the evaluations of competing alternatives, and make the fact-based decisions. It also requires managers to articulate the decisions to broad sets of stakeholders (i.e., the facility manager, the chairman of the board, individual employees, community organizations, governmental/regulatory agencies).
Teaching methods
The format is based on active learning and includes lectures, case studies, videos, incidents and class discussion, qualified speakers and a project work in sustainability management.
Each guest speaker discusses his or her professional background and organization, sustainability program objectives, and concrete strategies for meeting those objectives.
The course provides time for questions and discussion among the instructors, the speakers, and the students, giving students valuable insights into how sustainability is managed in the real world.
Students will read case studies and some background material designed to help them answer the questions posed at the end of each case exercise. The cases will always pose practical issues for decision makers to address'but issues that are best addressed with a firm grounding in the literature of management and sustainability.
Evaluation methods
1.     Evaluation continue
Planning des travaux de groupe et/ou évaluations
  • Date et type d'évaluation (travail, test, autre) : travail en groupe, 20.12.2017
  • Date et type d'évaluation : test, 19.12.2017
2.    Examen pendant la semaine d'évaluation
Q1 : du lundi 06/11 au ve 10/11 ; Q2 : du lundi 19/03 au ve 23/03
Oral : non
Ecrit : no
3.     Examen en session d'examens
Oral : non
Ecrit : oui
Nombre d'heures : 1.5
Bibliography
Examples of references are listed below :
  • Porter, M. & M.R. Kramer, (2011) Creating shared value, Harvard Business Review, January-february, pp. 62-77.
  • Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J., & Sturgeon, T. (2005). The governance of global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 12(1), 78-104.
  • Crane, A. (2013). Modern slavery as a management practice: Exploring the conditions and capabilities for human exploitation. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), 49-69.
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  • Jiang, B. (2009). Implementing supplier codes of conduct in global supply chains: Process explanations from theoretic and empirical perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(1), 77-92.
  • Egels-Zandén, N. (2014). Revisiting supplier compliance with MNC codes of conduct: Recoupling policy and practice at Chinese toy suppliers. Journal of Business Ethics, 119(1), 59-75.
  • Reuter, C., Foerstl, K., Hartmann, E. & Blome, C. (2011). Sustainable global supplier management: the role of dynamic capabilities in achieving competitive advantage. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(2), 45-63.
  • Wilhelm, M.M., Blome, C., Bhakoo, V. & Paulraj, A. (2016). Sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: Understanding the double agency role of the first-tier supplier. Journal of Operations Management, 41, 42-60.
  • Hofmann, H., Schleper, M. & Blome, C. (2016). Conflict minerals and supply chain due diligence: an exploratory study of multi-tier supply chains. Journal of Business Ethics, in print.
Faculty or entity
CLSM


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] : Business Engineering

Master [120] : Business Engineering

Master [60] in Management

Master [120] in Management

Master [120] in Management