Advanced Seminar F&A: Sustainability Management in Corporations
| Seminar leader | Robert Burkhardt, Annalena Poeppl, Prof. Dr. Alwine Mohnen |
| Course language | English |
| Credit points (ECTS) | 6 |
| Participants | max. 16 |
Course objective
The seminar offers participants an initial overview of current sustainability issues and how corporations may address them. Based on that, participants examine one sustainability topic in more detail by applying an appropriate qualitative or quantitative research method as part of their own research project in groups of two. The seminar may serve as a starting point for further research, but also prepares participants for issues they are likely going to face in their professional lives.
Topics
The seminar addresses the following issues:
- What is sustainability and what is sustainability management in corporations?
- Bringing business in line with the Paris Agreement: Corporate climate-related target setting
- Circular economy: A viable strategy to decouple well-being from resource use?
- Sustainability reporting & performance measures: How to quantify sustainability?
- Incentive systems: How do corporations set incentives for sustainable behaviour?
- Nudging for sustainability - Using Behavioral Economics to foster sustainable behavior
- Physical and mental health of employees: A pressing topic for corporations
Participants conduct their own research in groups of two in one of those fields. Participant’s exact research questions are to be specified individually based on participants’ research interests. Recommended readings will be presented in the Kick-off meeting.
Application
The registration and distribution for the limited courses of the TUM School of Management will take place via TUMonline.
Examination
Participants are required to make the following contributions:
- Seminar paper on a topic to be specified with their coach (70%);
- Presentation of the paper to the other seminar participants (30%);
The seminar papers are to be written and the presentations to be held by teams of two. Active participation in class is expected. All groups of two are assigned to a coach who will support them with their research.
Seminar papers are expected to be academic pieces of writing and are assessed by academic standards. Students who do not have any experience in academic writing are encouraged to complete a scientific writing course before taking this seminar.
Timeline
The main elements of the seminar are a kick-off meeting, coaching and peer-to-peer feedback, paper presentation day, and completion of the seminar paper. The seminar consists of the following milestones:
| April 26 | 09:00 – 17:00 | Kick-off day: Introduction and assignment of topics (in person) | Room 0505.02.544 |
| May 06-10 |
| 1st coaching session: Discussion of the research question and story line (meetings are to be arranged individually and will be held on Zoom) | |
| May 17 | 08:00 – 16:00 | Peer-to-peer feedback session (in person) | Room 0505.02.544 |
| June 20 | 23:59 | Deadline for submission of the presentation slides | |
| June 21 | 09:00 – 16:00 | Presentation day: Presentation and discussion of the teams’ research (in person) | Room 0505.02.544 |
| June 24-28 |
| 2nd coaching session: Discussion of any final questions before paper submission (meetings are to be arranged individually and will be held on Zoom) | |
| July 05 | 23:59 | Deadline for submission of the paper | |
| July 22-26 |
| Feedback sessions (meetings are to be arranged individually and will be held on Zoom) |
The kick-off day (April 26), peer-to-peer feedback session (May 17), and presentation day (June 21) are mandatory elements of the seminar. Attendance is compulsory and you cannot pass the seminar unless you attend these meetings.