ORIGINAL COURSE IMPLEMENTATION DATE: September 2013

REVISED COURSE IMPLEMENTATION DATE: January 2025

COURSE TO BE REVIEWED (six years after UEC approval): December 2029
Course outline form version: 28/10/2022

OFFICIAL UNDERGRADUATE COURSE OUTLINE FORM

Note: The University reserves the right to amend course outlines as needed without notice.

Course Code and Number: BUS 400 Number of Credits: 3 Course credit policy (105)
Course Full Title: Business, Society, and Nature
Course Short Title: Business, Society & Nature
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Computing Department (or program if no department): School of Business
Calendar Description:
Explores how businesses are embedded within social and ecological systems. Provides students with an analysis of complex
organizational challenges. Topics like climate change, corporate governance, Indigenous peoples’ rights, Indigenous worldviews, and
business-community relations intertwine. Students foster a global sustainability mindset, learning frameworks and tools to enhance
social and ecological resilience in changing times.

Prerequisites (or NONE): 60 university-level credits including BUS 100 or AGRI 142.
Corequisites (if applicable, or NONE): NONE

Pre/corequisites (if applicable, or NONE): NONE

Antirequisite Courses (Cannot be taken for additional credit.) Course Details
Former course code/number: Special Topics course: No
Cross-listed with: (If yes, the course will be offered under different letter
designations representing different topics.)
Equivalent course(s):
Directed Study course: No
(If offered in the previous five years, antirequisite course(s) will be (See policy 207 for more information.)
included in the calendar description as a note that students with credit
for the antirequisite course(s) cannot take this course for further credit.) Grading System: Letter grades
Delivery Mode: May be offered in multiple delivery modes
Typical Structure of Instructional Hours
Expected frequency: Twice per year
Lecture/seminar 45
Maximum enrolment (for information only): 25

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR)

PLAR is available for this course.

Total hours 45 Transfer Credit (See bctransferguide.ca.)

Transfer credit already exists: Yes
Scheduled Laboratory Hours
Submit outline for (re)articulation: No
Labs to be scheduled independent of lecture hours: No Yes
(If yes, fill in transfer credit form.)

Department approval Date of meeting: November 7, 2023

Faculty Council approval Date of meeting: November 10, 2023
Undergraduate Education Committee (UEC) approval Date of meeting: December 15, 2023
BUS 400 University of the Fraser Valley Official Undergraduate Course Outline Page 2 of 3
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
LO 1. Explain how Indigenous methods and perspectives frame business, society, and nature as interconnected and interactive.
LO 2. Explain how Indigenous methods and perspectives inform the moral, ethical, and social responsibilities of business.
LO 3. Evaluate how businesses can establish collaborative relationships with governments, civil society groups, and Indigenous
communities to address local or global social and environmental challenges, while respecting and integrating Indigenous
perspectives and approaches
LO 4. Apply Western modernist, contemporary, and Indigenous ethical approaches to analyze ethical problems in business.
LO 5. Recommend the steps by which businesses can take locally and globally to tackle climate change, loss of biodiversity and
other common environmental issues and promote sustainable development.
LO 6. Demonstrate how effective sustainability practices can help businesses gain a competitive advantage within the markets they
operate.
LO 7. Evaluate the effectiveness of partnerships between businesses and communities, including Indigenous peoples, with a focus
on enhancing community well-being through the incorporation of Indigenous methods and worldviews when relevant.
LO 8. Utilize tools to find solutions that address significant challenges faced by organizations when dealing with environmental and
social issues.

Recommended Evaluation Methods and Weighting (Evaluation should align to learning outcomes.)

Quizzes/tests: 20% Project: 20%

Final exam: 20% Assignments: 40%

Details: 10% of the assignments grade will be derived from active participation, which may include contributions to class discussions,
written discussions (on Blackboard Discussion Board), group work, or presentations. The remaining 30% will be based on the
completion of assignments, such as case analysis.

NOTE: The following sections may vary by instructor. Please see course syllabus available from the instructor.

Typical Instructional Methods (Guest lecturers, presentations, online instruction, field trips, etc.)
Format of the course includes lectures, case studies, presentations, group research projects, and guest lecturers.

Texts and Resource Materials (Include online resources and Indigenous knowledge sources. Open Educational Resources (OER)
should be included whenever possible. If more space is required, use the Supplemental Texts and Resource Materials form.)
Type Author or description Title and publication/access details Year
Lawrence, A.T., Weber, J., Hill, V. D., & Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Current
1. Textbook
Wasieleski, D.M. Policy. McGraw Hill edition
Business cases on Indigenous
https://www.cbu.ca/indigenous-affairs/purdy-crawford-
2. Online resource businesses and entrepreneurs across
chair-in-aboriginal-business-studies/teaching-resources/
Canada. Cape Breton University
United Nations' 17 Sustainable
3. Online resource https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Development Goals (SDGs)
OECD Guidelines for Multinational https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/finance-and-
4. Online resource Enterprises on Responsible Business investment/oecd-guidelines-for-multinational-enterprises-
Conduct on-responsible-business-conduct_81f92357-en

Required Additional Supplies and Materials (Software, hardware, tools, specialized clothing, etc.)

Course Content and Topics

Module One: The Corporation and Its Stakeholders
• Business, society, and nature – a systems perspective
• The stakeholder theory of the firm
• Indigenous methods and perspective to stakeholder engagement
• Incorporating land acknowledgements into business
• Assignment, in-class and written discussions (LO1, 7, 8)

Module Two: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Citizenship (CC)
• Balancing economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities
• Management systems for CSR and CC
• Assessing and reporting CSR performance
• Quiz, assignment, in-class and written discussions (LO2, 3, 4)

Module Three: Business Ethics and Ethical Reasoning

BUS 400 University of the Fraser Valley Official Undergraduate Course Outline Page 3 of 3
• Why business should be ethical from a practical and normative perspective
• Western modernist vs. contemporary ethical theories vs. Indigenous ethical perspectives and priorities
• Business ethics across organizational functions
• Quiz, assignment, in-class and written discussions (LO2, 4, 5)

Module Four: Sustainable Development and Global Business

• Planetary boundaries, the Anthropocene, and the UN SDGs
• Indigenous ways of knowing and sustainable development
• Business and ecological trends including climate change, threats to marine ecosystems and decline of biodiversity
• Quiz, in-class and written discussions (LO3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
• Case analysis (LO7, 8)

Module Five: Managing for Sustainability

• Ecological principles of corporate sustainability
• Climate change, environmental justice, and Indigenous knowledge
• Alternative types of organizing for corporate sustainability, including cooperatives, social business, and B corps
• Incorporating ESG (Environmental, social, and governance) factors into investment and innovation decisions
• Quiz, assignment, in-class and written discussions (LO1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Module Six: Shareholder Rights and Corporate Governance

• Ethical issues in corporate governance
• The role of the board of directors in protecting the interests of investors and other stakeholders
• Shareholding for sustainability
• Quiz, in-class and written discussions (LO2, 4, 6)

Module Seven: Business and its Suppliers

• Examine the social, ethical and environmental issues that arise in Global supply chains
• The ethical challenges of global production networks and impact on local, Indigenous businesses
• Labor rights in global supply chains, ethical sourcing, and Fairtrade
• In-class and written discussions (LO7, 8)
• Group project (LO6, 7, 8)

Module Eight: Business - Community Relationships

• Ethical issues in the relationship between business and communities, including Indigenous peoples and communities
• Benefits of collaborative partnerships between business and communities
• Minority, women, and Indigenous community - owned enterprises
• Final exam (LO4, 5, 6, 8)