The Lee Kong Chian School of Business

Academic Year 2011 /12

Term 1
MGMT003 BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT, AND SOCIETY
Instructor Name
Title
Tel
Email
Office

: Dr. Raj Komaran

: Associate Professor of Strategic Management (Practice)
: 6828 0272
: rajkomaran@smu.edu.sg
: LKCSB #0530

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course overviews the economic, legal, social, and ecological responsibilities of business and their
implications for managerial decision-making. The primary theoretical perspective taken is the stakeholder view
of the firm which allows for close examination of apparently conflicting goals between different stakeholders'
interests. Related frameworks and applications discussed in this course include corporate social responsibility,
globalization, corporate governance, and public policy measures affecting business. The frameworks and issues
discussed are critical to understanding how firms can be both financially successful and valuable to society, a
concern which is increasingly influencing managerial decision-making.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Explain the main forces determining the relationships between business, governments, and society.
Articulate principles governing corporate social responsibility.
Illustrate and evaluate major trade-offs between the shareholder view and the stakeholder view of the firm.
Analyze a number of topical fields surrounding todays businesses, including the environment, and
technological change.
Evaluate corporate governance mechanisms and how they relate to different set of stakeholders.

PRE-REQUISITE/ CO-REQUISITE/ MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE COURSE(S)

Please refer to the Course Catalogue on OASIS for the most updated list of pre-requisites / co-requisites for
this particular course.
If this course has a co-requisite, it means that the course has to be taken together with another course.
Dropping one course during BOSS bidding would result in both courses being dropped at the same time.

ASSESSMENT METHODS
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Class Participation
:
20%
Mid-Term Test
:
20%
Group Project Report and Presentation :
30%
Final Examination
:
30%
TOTAL
: 100%

(throughout term)
(Week 7)
(Weeks 12 & 13)
(Week 15)

Academic Integrity
All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts
of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the
academic work of other students) are serious offences.

All work presented in class must be the students own work. Any student caught violating this policy may
result in the student receiving zero marks for the component assessment or a fail grade for the course. This
policy applies to all works (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment.
Where in doubt, students are encouraged to consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU Code
of Academic Integrity may be accessed at http://www.smuscd.org/resources.html.

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS AND EXPECTATIONS

The class sessions consist of lectures, seminars, readings, case analysis, group discussions, and quizzes. If you
would miss any material or handout, please request classmates to collect for you or copy from them.
(a) Class Participation (CP, 20% throughout term)
The Table 1 below shows the approximate point ranges of Class Participation (CP) based on combination of
Attendance and Discussion Performance. Your CP scores will be adjusted for your studentship: punctuality,
communications etiquettes, adherence to course instructions, completion and timely submission of forms,
displaying namecard, not distracting the class (chatting, messaging, emailing, browsing), and general demeanour.
Table 1: Approximate ranges of Class Participation scores based on 100 points
DISCUSSION PEFORMANCE
ATTENDANCE

LOW

MEDIUM

HIGH

ATTEND ALL SESSIONS

60-65

70-85

85-100

ABSENT 1 SESSION*

50-55

60-75

80-90

ABSENT 2 SESSIONS*

40-45

50-55

70-75

ABSENT >2 SESSIONS*

<40

<50

<70

* It is your responsibility to explain your absence to me and TA. You will not be reminded.
You will be excused if you provide a valid medical certificate for an illness, an official letter to
verify your representation of SMU in competitions, etc. If not, you will lose some CP points.
The penalty for non-acceptable absence during the week your group is not presenting is higher.
Attendance:
Please sign the attendance sheets for each class session for yourself only.
If you were to file an Incomplete Grade, please note that university rules require that you must have at least
75% attendance. After the I Grade is approved, you may complete the course within a reasonable time or
the following term by with substitute tests or assignments.
Discussion Performance:
Please prepare according to the Weekly Lesson Plan. Read newspapers, periodicals and Yahoo homepage
to know the current business and societal issues. Your discussion performance will be rated for quality and
frequency. Random calling will give different students the chance to be involved on different occasions.
(b) Mid-Term Test (20%, Week 7)
The Mid-Test is closed-book and will examine the course material for Weeks 1 4. No electronic device is
allowed. Only foreign exchange students are each permitted a dictionary (with/without translations) that has
no handwritten or external notes in it. The Mid-Term Test will consist of TFs, MCQs and short essays.
There are penalties for wrong answers to TFs and MCQs to discourage guessing.
There will be no make-ups for missing the Mid-Term. If the reason is valid (e.g., medical certificate for an
illness, official letter for representing SMU in competitions), your Mid-Term score will be shifted to the Final
Examination score making it 50% of the course grade. If you do not explain or the reason is unacceptable
(e.g., holiday), your Mid-Term score will be zero and your Final Examination score remains at 30%.
(c)

Group Project Report and Presentation (30%, Weeks 12 and 13)

Prior to Week 1, you may form your own groups of up to 5 members. In Week 1, the Group Project topics
will be balloted. If bidding for this course section, please enrol early to increase the chance of forming the
group of your choice.
The Group Project will be graded equally on two sub-parts: Report and Presentation.
The Report must be written in a scholarly manner. It will be graded for its relevance, coverage, organisation,
linkage to course concepts, depth and clarity of analysis, writing skills, formatting, illustrations, and effective
editing. The entire document must not exceed 3,000 words as determined by MS Word Count. Do not
compress text, tables or graphs into images to circumvent the word length. If theres an Appendix section, it
would not count in the word length, but all tables and charts discussed in the main body must be in the main
Report, not in the Appendix. All sources of information must be properly cited, quoted and referenced. Refer
to the general guidelines on how to cite, quote and reference in the APA Quick Reference Guide which is
available on the intranet. The only modification to the APA guide is for all References to appear as footnotes
on the pages where they belong, so do not list them at end of the Report. See the Lawrence, Weber and
Komaran (2011) Custom Edition for examples.
The Presentation duration is 20 minutes, followed by 10-15 minutes of Q&A. Every member must present.
The presentation will be graded for content (relevance to topic, supporting concepts, etc), professionalism
(dress sense, language) and delivery (audibility, confidence, flow, coordination among members, creative
elements, skits, etc). It will be partially peer-evaluated by everyone who must submit a Peer Evaluation of
Group Presentations form immediately after the last group has presented.
Prior to start of your presentation, upload softcopies of the Report and Presentation slides (both in pdf) into
your groups folder in a thumbdrive that will be circulated. Provide me a hardcopy only of the presentation
slides (9 b/w slides to a page, double-sided). Do not submit CDs or any other hardcopies.
Please note that those who present in earlier weeks do not necessarily have extra time as they have other
modules and projects with different items and deadlines to manage.
Every member will receive the same score because all are expected to work harmoniously and cooperatively.
If there are free-rider or group problems, and if verified, the score will be adjusted in favour of those who
have been conscientious. If I am alerted early enough, the group will be disbanded and the Group Project
component replaced with alternatives.
(d) Final Examination (30%, Week 15)
The Final Examination is closed-book and will examine the course material for the entire term, including those
tested at Mid-Term. No electronic device is allowed. Only foreign exchange students are each permitted a
dictionary (with/without translations) that has no handwritten or external notes in it. The Final Examination
will consist of TFs, MCQs and short essays. There are penalties for wrong answers to TFs and MCQs to
discourage random guessing.
If you miss the Final Examination and have valid reasons, you may be allowed to take a Make-Up Examination
at a later date, subject to Registrars confirmation. If you do not provide a reason or the reason is not
acceptable, your Final Examination score will be zero.

RECOMMENDED TEXT AND READINGS

Lawrence, Anne T., James Weber and Raj Komaran, 2011, Business, Government & Society, Custom Edition,
McGraw Hill (Asia). This custom edition has more appropriate conceptual material, and cases and examples
from Singapore and Asia. Please note that this text is different from the Lawrence and Webers 13th edition.
Occasional readings will be assigned during the term.
Please keep abreast of international business and management developments from various newspapers and
periodicals such as the Straits Times, New Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Bangkok Post, Myanmar Times, Manila
Times, Viet Nam News, Vietnam Net, Sydney Morning Herald, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Economic

Times, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Global Finance, China Daily, Taipei Times, Korea Herald, Asahi Shimbun,
Economist, Financial Times, Business Week, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

WEEKLY LESSON PLAN

Week Topic

Custom
Edition, 2011
PART 1: BUSINESS AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY

Role of business in society

Chp 1

The BGS Framework

2

Corporate Responsibility and Stakeholder Management

Chp 2

PART 2: STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

3

Ethics and the Regulatory Environment

Chp 3 & Chp 4

Shareholder Issues and Corporate Governance

Chp 5

Employee Issues and Workplace Issues

Chp 6

Consumer Issues and Consumer Protection

Chp 7

MID-TERM TEST (20%, closed-book, 1 hours)

Group Project Consultation (rest of class session)

RECESS WEEK (no class)

Community and Environmental Issues

Chp 8 & Chp 9

PART 3: MANAGEMENT OF ISSUES & CRISES

10

(TBA)

11

Management of Issues and Crises

BGS Relations: into the future

Chp 11 &
Chp 12 (draft)

PART 4: GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATIONS (30%)

12

Groups 1, 2, 3 & 4

13

Groups 5, 6, 7 & 8

14

STUDY WEEK (no class)

15

FINAL EXAMINATION (30%, closed-book, 2 hours)