STRATEGIC PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT - 2

The course contributes to the educational objectives of the Master’s Degree Programme, which aims at providing students with economic and managerial knowledge with a specific focus on sustainability and long term value creation.
The course deepens the topic of strategic innovation & planning from a sustainability perspective. In particular, it focuses on how corporate strategy can embed the sustainability perspective in order to generate value shared with all the stakeholders involved.

1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
- know the main pillars of sustainability;
- know the evolution of the concept of sustainability across time and space;
- know the main principles of strategic innovation & planning.
2 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
- identify the main strategic priorities of companies;
- know how to formulate strategies leading to the creation of shred value;
- know how to identify the main stakeholders of a company.
3 MAKING JUDGEMENTS
- know how to frame hypotheses concerning the consistency of corporate strategy with the sustainability principles.

A knowledge of basic business economics vocabulary or a three-year course of strategy or equivalent knowledge of the main strategic issues is highly recommended. In particular, students would benefit from reading basic strategy manuals such as:
G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington (2019), "Exploring corporate strategy - 12th edition", Pearson.

1. The concepts of «strategy» and «sustainability»
- The different meanings of «corporate strategy»
- The evolution of the concept of "corporate strategy"
- The evolution of the concept of "sustainability" in companies
2. The tetrahedron of "sustainable" value
- "Sustainable" corporate governance
- Strategic paradoxes
- The "sustainable" corporate mission and vision
3. The "sustainable" corporate strategy
- The macro trends of «(un)sustainability» and possible future scenarios
- «Sustainable» strategic planning/direction
- «Sustainable» strategic innovation
4. The "sustainable" business model
- Business model innovation
- Circular business models
- Social business models

- C. Bagnoli e A. Maura (2021) "Modelli di business circolari" Giappichelli editore
- Slides by the module leader.
Suggested readings:
- R. J. Orsato, "When does it pay to be Green?"
- M. E. Porter, M. R. Kramer (2011), "Creating shared Value", Harvard Business Review

The exam will be divided into two parts, both for attending and non-attending students.

The first part consists of a written exam, evaluated out of 15 points, delivered via the moodle platform (hence the need to have a laptop or tablet). This exam includes 30 multiple-choice questions, each with 4 options (of which only one is correct), all related to the course content. Each correct answer will contribute to obtaining 0,5/15 of the total score. Answering all 30 questions correctly will ensure the achievement of the maximum score possible through the quiz.

The second part of the exam includes an obligatory individual task for both attending and non-attending students. Each student will be asked to carry out a desk analysis of the virtuous practices from a sustainability perspective of companies belonging to an industry to be defined and described through a PPT presentation using the theoretical frameworks of the Green & Circular Business Model and the Social Business Models. In particular, each student will have to propose, in decreasing order of interest, 10 companies belonging to the identified industry that highlight virtuous practices from a sustainability perspective - 5 with a focus on Green & Circular themes and 5 with a focus on Social themes - reporting the main information and the reason for the choice. Each student will be assigned 1 company among those proposed with a focus on Green & Circular themes and 1 company with a focus on the Social themes to be analysed. The correct completion of this individual task will be evaluated and contribute 15 points to the overall grade.
The final grade will be determined by the sum of the quiz scores and the individual task scores.

During the course, more information will be given on the technical methods of carrying out the exam, and some questions will be provided to help students prepare.

The course is designed so that participation and discussion enable the learning process. Much of the course will be based on thorough discussions of case studies. We will use real business cases that provide a forum for students to apply the concepts and tools they will be exposed to. Each case discussion aims at providing students with a thorough understanding of the strategic nature of the situation, at helping them in defining the key issues and in proposing strategic alternatives and/or recommendations.

Italian

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion
Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments
Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support
services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with
mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

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