Academic Year 112-01

Course # 911410 - 91401 & 91402

Course Title Business Ethics & Sustainability
International College - International Business & Trade Program

____________________________________________________________________

Instructor Information

Course Instructor: Dr. David Tsai

Email: dtsai@mail.mcu.edu.tw
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drdavidtsai
LINE: davidtsai100
Office Location: Building I, I 229
(Use the entrance next to the International VIP Conference Centre)
Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM or by appointment

Course Information
IBT 4A
Meeting Day: Thursday
Meeting Time: 1:10 PM – 4:00 PM
Class Location: B401

IBT 4B
Meeting Day: Monday
Meeting Time: 9:10 AM – 12:00 PM
Class Location: B301
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Course Description

This course helps you become aware of and reflect on the ethical challenges you will likely encounter
in your business and professional life. The material is designed to prompt your exploration and
analysis of conflicts between personal values, expected behaviour, and procedures in organizations.
Attention is directed toward examining critical approaches to address ethical issues and how these
theories/philosophies can be applied to cases and contemporary management concerns. This course
also introduces CSR and ESG reporting as a new global standard for organizations.

Required Textbook
Ghillyer, Andrew W. (2021) Business Ethics Now, 6th Ed.,
ISBN-13: 9781260575736;
ISBN-10: 126057573X.

Supplement
DesJardins, Joseph (2024) An Introduction to Business Ethics,7th Ed.,
ISBN13: 9781266150692;
ISBN10: 1266150692

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Student Assessment (Daily 40%; Mid-Term 30%; Final 30%)
Grade
Assignment Due/Date
Weight
1) Quizzes 10% Complete on Moodle
• Quiz 1 Week 3
• Quiz 2 Week 6
• Quiz 3 Daily Week 9
• Quiz 4 10% Week 12
• Quiz 5 Week 15
• Quiz 6 Week 18
2) Attendance & Participation 60%
Midterm
Attendance (10%+10%) 10% Week 1 – Week 18
Final 10%
Service Hours +|One page Mid-Term
Week 1 – Week 9
reflection (20%) 20%
Service Hours + One page Final
Week 10 – Week 18
reflection (20%) 20%
3) Group Project 30%
Submit via Moodle
Daily Topic due Week 8 in class
Group Case Analysis
30% Project due Week 17
Peer Assessment due Week 17

1. Quizzes (10%): Individual open-book timed quizzes

You are expected to complete each quiz individually. Multiple-choice question quizzes draw from
course discussions and other course material. See the course schedule for quiz dates. Quiz material
will come from lectures, assigned readings, our textbook and are open book. Quizzes will be
conducted on Moodle in class. There are no makeup quizzes, unless a medical note is provided.

2. Attendance and Participation (10%+10%)

Students are required to come to class and be on time. Each absence will result in the loss of
semester grades. For example, every class skipped will cost 1% of one's semester grade. Absences
should occur only under exceptional circumstances.

Individual Participation
We are in training for active engagement and professional behavior in the workforce. Active
engagement is a proven success factor in this course. Professional behavior is required from all
students, which includes attendance to class meetings. Students are expected to attend and
participate in class meetings. Students should come to class not only having read and viewed the
materials assigned for that day but also prepared to both discuss the readings. Much of the learning
from the course comes from the analysis and discussion of the material.

3. Service Hours and Reflection Paper (1 page) (Mid-Term 20%+ Final 20%)
Students are required to participate in Service Hours and submit one page reflection paper in Week
8 and Week 17. Course Instructor will provide details in the class during week 1 and 2.

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4. Group Project – Analysis of a Published CSR/ESG Report (30%)

This grade component is made up of:

• Group assignment (80%) and Peer assessment (possible 20% deduction)

For example
Assignment Grade Peer Grade Final Grade
80% 20/20 80%
80% 10/20 70%
80% 0/20 60%

Course instructor will assign all students to groups of 5 for the group project. Each group will select
a unique CSR/ESG (or Sustainability) published report (where there are condensed versions or
executive summaries, it is the full report that should be used) of a public firm and must obtain
approval of the selection from the professor. The published report must be the latest available and
the link or copy thereof be submitted with the request for approval. To avoid a concentration within
an industry group, students are encouraged to talk to the professor because subsequent requests for
similar firms will not be accepted. Approvals will be based on first come first serve basis. All
groups will present their findings in a class presentation and submit a final report.

The project’s main goal is to find out how well the chosen company has integrated the principles of
CSR/ESG (i.e., environment, social, ethics, Human Rights, legal compliance, etc.) into its business,
as reported in the CSR/ESG report. Remember, CSR/ESG concept is closely connected with
sustainable development, management, philanthropy, and various forms of donations as well.

So, the objective is to identify what the chosen organization mainly focuses on (e.g., a
comprehensive focus on multiple aspects of CSR/ESG or just sustainability only) and
evaluate/discuss the scope and legitimacy of the organization’s selected corporate projects for
institutionalizing social responsibility, including the level of responsibility the company claims for
and relationship of CSR/ESG practices to company’s financial performance. Some aspects to keep
in mind while analyzing the selected CSR/ESG report:
• Start by introducing the company, reputation, context, etc.
• What is your overall impression on the quality of this CSR/ESG report?
• Who is the intended audience for this CSR/ESG report, based on its content?
• Does this CSR/ESG report provide details on CSR/ESG practices/policies?
• Does this CSR/ESG report provide systematic data or just anecdotes?
• Does this CSR/ESG report present data in a consistent/comparable format?
• Does this CSR/ESG report present future goals as well as past practices?
• Does this CSR/ESG report include bad news as well as good news?
• Does this CSR/ESG report address company's greatest challenges?
• Does this CSR/ESG report refer to company’s business strategy?
• Does this CSRESG report link to company’s financial reporting?
• How could a “non-expert” reader look beyond this CSR/ESG report?
• Anything else you learned about this company worth sharing?

The body of the report should be between 10 pages long, with 1-inch margins, single-spaced in 11pt
Times New Roman font for the paragraphs. Appendices can be of any length deemed relevant by
the group. Grades will be based on the following criteria:
1. Clarity and quality of structure and writing (10 pts)
• Layout and format of the report are professional.
• Writing is clear (spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, etc.)
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 2. Appropriate and complete application of relevant readings in the analysis (15 pts)
• The full content of the selected CSR/ESG report is analyzed thoroughly and
completely.
• The analysis is based on an effective use of relevant course concepts and readings.

Note: It is required to have an Executive Summary for the group project report. In addition, it is
expected from the students to provide a soft copy and a hard copy of the report.

Class Schedule (Chillyer = G, DesJasdins = D)

Date Date
Week Lesson Readings Activities/Assignments
(4B) (4A)
Introduction, Course Form groups of 4 before
1 9/11 9/14
overview, Syllabus Week 2
Introduction & why G - Ch. 1
2 9/18 9/21
study business ethics D - Ch. 1
G - Ch. 1, p. 5-8
3 9/25 9/28 Ethical Theory
D - Ch. 2
Corporate Social G - Ch. 3, 4 Quiz 1 – Week 1, 2 & 3
4 10/2 10/5
Responsibility & ESG D - Ch. 3
Corporate Culture,
10/9 G - Ch. 1, 5
5 10/12 Governance, and
Holiday D – Ch. 4
Ethical Leadership
Moral right in the Quiz 2 – Week 4 & 5
6 10/16 10/19 D – Ch. 6
workplace
Employee G – Ch. 7
7 10/23 11/26
Responsibilities D – Ch. 7
Groups confirm ESG
8 10/30 11/2 ESG Reporting 1 reports
Read assigned
ESG Report
ESG Reporting 2
before class Quiz 3 – Week 6, 7 & 8
9 11/6 11/9 Industry Expert
Presentation
Workplace Diversity
10 11/13 11/16 D – Ch. 11
and Discrimination
In Class Competition
11 11/20 11/23
#1
In Class Competition Quiz 4 – Week 10
12 11/27 11/30
#2
Marketing Ethics:
13 12/4 12/7 Product Safety and D – Ch. 8
Pricing
Marketing Ethics:
14 12/11 12/14 Advertising and Digital D – Ch. 9
Marketing
Quiz 5 – Week 13 & 14
15 12/18 12/21 Ethics in Technology G– Ch. 8

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 Ethics in Globalization
G – Ch. 7
16 12/25 12/28 (International Business
D – Ch. 7
and Globalization)
Final Group Analysis
1/1 Sustainability and the Report and Peer
17 1/4 D – Ch. 10
Holiday Natural Environment Assessment due

Making it Stick: Doing

Quiz 6 – Week 16, 17 &
18 1/8 1/11 What’s Right in a G- Ch. 10
18
Competitive Market

Grading Rubric
Assignment Specifications—Fulfillment of the requirements; how well directions were followed; how well instructor
and colleague feedback was applied

Need
Excellent Good Acceptable Below Standard
Improvement
Many project
Some key project Some project specifications
Project
All project specifications specifications were specifications misunderstood or
specifications
followed perfectly not exactly misunderstood or missing, or are
mostly followed
followed missing non-
gradable

Writing Project
Technical Proficiency—Grammar, spelling, and legibility of submission

Need
Excellent Good Acceptable Below Standard
Improvement
Good grammar and
Grammar and
Flawless grammar, spelling for the Average grammar
spelling
and most part. and Grammar and spelling
need improvement.
spelling. Submission is spelling with some are below standard. Poor
Legibility issues
Submission is legible and easy to issues related to legibility and many errors
and
legible and easy to read. legibility. Some detected.
several errors
read Only a few minor errors detected.
detected.
errors.
Composition—Organization, structure and flow of composition

Need
Excellent Good Acceptable Below Standard
Improvement
Superior Above average Average Below average Poor organization,
organization. organization. Good organization organization with structure, and flow of
Excellent structure structure and flow with typical improvement the composition and
and of the structure needed to the sentence structure. Major
flow of the composition and and flow of the structure and flow editing and
composition and sentence structure. composition and of rewriting needed.
sentence structure. sentence structure. the composition
A bit and
more editing and sentence structure.
rewriting expected. More editing and
rewriting needed.

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~ End of Syllabus ~