Postgraduate Course: Sustainable Knowledge-Based Business (CMSE11565)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Knowledge-intensive industries are ones in which spending on research and development is relatively high. We tend to identify these with tech (information technology) and assume that because they are new, dynamic, and not characterised by smokestacks, they are green and progressive. This course will look at the very extensive types of ethical problems unique to these industries and help students think about way to approach these problems as managers, employees, and consumers. |
| Course description |
The course will explore the way sustainability issues manifest in knowledge-intensive industries. We will build on an understanding of the ways the Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm elucidates global value chains and move on to examine ethical issues around surveillance in the digital economy, looking at the way the concepts of the commons and enclosure play out in knowledge and data contexts. In addition to identifying problems, we will endeavour to begin thinking about ways better systems can be designed.
Outline:
- Multinational Corporations in the global Knowledge-Based Economy
- Firms' knowledge and capabilities
- Surveillance capitalism and the data commons
- Imovation, Intellectual Property Rights and the knowledge commons
- Ways forward? Frugal innovation, shareholder value, CSR, and purpose
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 3 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 5,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
88 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% coursework (individual) - assesses all learning outcomes |
| Feedback |
Feedback will be provided on the assessment within agreed deadlines.
|
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain and critically evaluate the key concepts and approaches used in the analysis of ethical issues arising in knowledge-intensive industries
- Apply these concepts to the analysis of choices facing real-life firms
- Find and analyse relevant literature on a sustainability issue affecting new technology-based firms
- Organise a coherent critical argument concerning that issue, amply supported with evidence from the relevant literature
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Reading List
Ernst, Dieter (1997), From Partial to Systemic Globalization: International Production Networks in the Electronics Industry, BRIE Working Paper no. 98, Berkeley Roundtable on Industrial Economics, Chapter II (pp. 23-37).
Gary Gereffi, John Humphrey, Timothy Sturgeon (2005), The governance of global value chains, Review of International Political Economy 12(1): 78-104.
Kogut, B., Zander, U. (1993), Knowledge of the firm and the evolutionary theory of the multinational corporation. Journal of International Business Studies 24(4), 625-645.
Morozov, E. (2019). Capitalisms New Clothes.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
-Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
- Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Apply creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, sustainable and responsible business solutions to address social, economic and environmental global challenges.
- Work with a variety of organisations, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve -learning from them, and aiding them to achieve responsible, sustainable and enterprising solutions to complex problems.
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
- Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Rick Woodward
Tel: (0131 6)50 8345
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Connie Wong
Tel:
Email: |
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