ETHICS, RESPONSIBILITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY
0. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 6
Lecture 1: ERS & Planetary Boundaries...................................................................................................7
1.1. Anthropocene & Planetary Boundaries............................................................................................ 7
1.1.1. From Malthus to the Anthropocene (I)................................................................................... 8
1.1.1.1. The Malthus Model – Concept........................................................................ 8
1.1.1.2. From Local Scarcity to Global Limits...........................................................................9
1.1.2. What Are Planetary Boundaries?............................................................................................ 9
1.1.2.1. Nine Planetary Boundaries.......................................................................................... 10
1.1.2.2. From Planetary Limits to Business Strategy............................................................... 10
1.1.2.3. Examples planetary boundaries.................................................................... 11
1.2. Sustainable Development & Intergenerational Justice................................................................... 12
1.2.1. Sustainable Development & Intergenerational Justice......................................................... 12
1.2.1.1. Energy Consumption Shares........................................................................ 12
1.3. Ethics & Responsibility in Management: Case Spotlight – Umicore (Antwerp, Belgium)........... 13
1.3.1. Phase 1 — Colonial Mining Origins (1906–1960)..................................................13
1.3.2. Phase 2 — Post-Colonial Transition (1960–1990s)..............................................................13
1.3.3. Phase 3 — Strategic Transformation (1990s–2000s)............................................................14
1.3.4. Phase 4 — Circular Materials Strategy (2000s–Today)........................................................14
1.4. Social Sustainability & Responsibility in Management................................................................. 14
1.4.1. Employment & Community: Mutual Dependence (Acemoglu and Wolitzky 2025)............14
1.4.1.1. Mechanisms of Cooperation Breakdown.................................................................... 15
1.4.1.2. Equilibria: Soft vs. Tough Employment Regimes....................................................... 15
1.4.2. Implications for Sustainable Management............................................................................16
1.5. Cases............................................................................................................................................... 16
1.5.1. Case 1 – Ford Motor Company (1914)................................................................................ 16
1.5.2. Case 2 – Robert Bosch GmbH.............................................................................................. 17
1.5.3. Case 3 – Amazon Warehouses.............................................................................................. 18
1.5.4. Case 4 – Uber Drivers (Gig Platform Work)........................................................................ 18
Lecture 2: Commons and Collective Action........................................................................... 21
2.1. Part 1 – Types of goods: An Economic Classification.................................................... 21
2.1.1. Rivalry & Excludability............................................................................................21
2.1.2. Commons and Common-Pool Resources............................................................. 22
2.2. The Logic of Collective Failure....................................................................................... 22
2.2.1. Tragedy of the Commons: Intuition (Hardin’s)....................................................... 23
2.2.2. Public Goods Provision: Intuition........................................................................... 24
, 2.2.2.1. Public Goods Provision: Simple Model......................................................... 24
2.2.3. Prisoner’s Dilemma: Payoff Matrix.........................................................................25
2.2.3.1. Prisoner’s Dilemma: Structure and Sustainability Link................................. 25
2.3. Institutional Solution Approaches................................................................................... 26
2.3.1. Ostrom’s Design Principles for Robust Commons.................................................27
2.3.2. Institutions and Business Strategy.........................................................................28
2.3.2.1. Looking ahead: From incentives to ethics.....................................................28
2.3.2.2. Looking ahead: From commons to stakeholders.......................................... 28
2.4. Cases..............................................................................................................................29
2.4.1. Case 1: Peru’s Anchoveta Fishery.........................................................................29
2.4.2. Case 2: Mining and the Commons – Ok Tedi (PNG)............................................. 31
2.4.3. Case 3: Sierra Leone - Chiefs and Mining Permits................................................32
2.4.3. Case 4: ICMM - A Club Solution in Mining.............................................................33
Lecture 3: Business ethics....................................................................................................... 34
3.1. Why Ethics in Business?................................................................................................ 34
3.1.1. Morality, the firm and its surroundings................................................................... 34
3.1.1.1. St. Martin example........................................................................................ 34
3.1.1.2. Milton Friedman (1970).................................................................................35
3.1.2. Morality, the firm, and its internal organization............................................................ 36
3.1.2.1. Integrity as Internal Motivation...................................................................... 36
3.1.2.2. Cognitive Dissonance in Firms..................................................................... 36
3.2. Structured Ethical Frameworks.......................................................................................37
3.2.1. Why Ethical Frameworks?..................................................................................... 37
3.2.2. Utilitarianism.......................................................................................................... 37
3.2.2.1. Consequences and Welfare..........................................................................37
3.2.2.2. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (Utilitarian Lens).........................................37
3.2.2.3. Utilitarianism – Strengths and Limits (EXAM!).............................................. 38
3.2.3. Deontology (Kant).................................................................................................. 38
3.2.3.1. Duties and Rights..........................................................................................38
3.2.3.2. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (DeontologicalLens)................................... 39
3.2.4. Rawlsian Justice.................................................................................................... 39
3.2.4.1. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (Rawlsian Lens)......................................... 39
3.2.5. Virtue Ethics...........................................................................................................40
3.2.5.1. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (Virtue Lens).............................................. 40
3.2.6. Summary................................................................................................................41
3.2.6.1. Limitations – Frameworks Can Conflict........................................................ 41
3.2.6.2. Ethics in Economic Terms.............................................................................41
3.3. Case: Lithium, EVs & Justice..........................................................................................42
3.3.1. Lithium Case – Utilitarian Lens.............................................................................. 42
3.3.2. Lithium Case – Deontological Lens....................................................................... 43
3.3.3. Lithium Case – Rawlsian Lens...............................................................................43
, 3.3.4. Lithium Case – Virtue Ethics Lens......................................................................... 43
3.3.5. Exercise – Advising Global Lithium Corp (6 minutes)............................................44
3.3.6. Exercise – Board Vote........................................................................................... 45
3.3.7. The Bribery Dilemma – A Prisoner’s Dilemma...................................................... 46
3.4. Implications for Management..........................................................................................46
3.4.1. Rejecting Both Extremes....................................................................................... 46
3.4.2. Duties Beyond Compliance....................................................................................46
3.4.3. Ethics as Strategic Self-Interest.............................................................................47
Week 4: Alternative Organizing................................................................................................48
4.1. The Corporate Objective Problem.................................................................................. 48
4.1.1. Firms as Institutions............................................................................................... 48
4.1.2. The Corporate Control Problem.............................................................................49
4.1.2.1. A Simple Principal–Agent Model...................................................................49
4.1.3. How Organizational Design Shapes Outcomes.....................................................50
4.1.3.1. PA Problems and Sustainability.................................................................... 50
4.1.3.2. Fiduciary Duty — Value vs. Welfare..............................................................50
4.1.3.3. H&Z: The Separability Condition: When does Friedman work?....................51
4.1.3.4. H&Z: Clean vs. Dirty Technology.................................................................. 52
4.1.4. Why Organizational Design Matters for ERS.........................................................52
4.2. Ownership, Governance, and Amoral Drift..................................................................... 53
4.2.1. Ownership and Incentives......................................................................................53
4.2.2. Common Organizational Forms............................................................................. 53
Week 5: Stakeholder Management...........................................................................................54
5.1. Who Is a Stakeholder?................................................................................................... 54
5.1.1. Freeman’s Definition.............................................................................................. 54
5.1.2. Friedman vs. Freeman...........................................................................................55
5.1.3. Three Approaches to Stakeholder Theory............................................................. 56
5.2. Stakeholder Salience: Power, Legitimacy, Urgency....................................................... 56
5.2.1. Step 1: Identifying Stakeholders (Textbook Fig. 3.4)............................................. 56
5.2.2. Step 2: From Identification to Prioritization............................................................ 56
5.2.2.1. Mitchell et al. (1997): Three Attributes of Salience....................................... 57
5.2.2.2. Class exercise Ok Tedi Stakeholder Mapping.............................................. 58
5.3. Stakeholder Influence Strategies....................................................................................61
5.3.1. How Stakeholders Exert Influence.........................................................................61
5.3.1.1. Frooman’s framework:.................................................................................. 61
5.3.1.2. Applying Frooman to Ok Tedi........................................................................62
5.3.2. How Firms Respond to Stakeholder Pressure.......................................................63
5.3.3. Stakeholder influence strategies (L5) are the other side of institutional solutions
(L2): Connection prior lectures.........................................................................................64
5.4. Social License to Operate...............................................................................................65
5.4.1. What Is a Social License to Operate?....................................................................65
, 5.4.2. Levels of Social License........................................................................................ 65
5.4.3. Economic Logic of SLO......................................................................................... 65
5.4.3.1. Henisz et al. (2014) – Method.......................................................................65
5.4.3.2. Henisz et al. (2014): Implications..................................................................66
5.4.4. Double Materiality: SLO Meets Regulation............................................................ 67
5.4.4.1. CSRD / Double Materiality – Overview........................................................ 67
5.5. Strategic Implications & Bridge Forward.........................................................................68
5.5.1. Stakeholder Management as Strategy...................................................................68
5.5.1.1. When Engagement Is Easy vs. Hard............................................................ 68
5.5.2. Four Layers of Responsibility – Updated............................................................... 68
5.5.3. Bridge to L6: Grand Challenges & Systems Thinking............................................69
5.5.4. Key Takeaways...................................................................................................... 69
Week 6: Grand Challenges & System Thinking...................................................................... 70
6.1. Grand challenges & wicked problems............................................................................ 70
6.1.1. The limits of Firm-level Analysis............................................................................ 70
6.1.2. From Grand Challenges to Wicked Problems........................................................71
6.1.2.1. Wicked Problems.......................................................................................... 71
6.1.2.2. Why Wicked Problems Break Standard Problem- Solving........................... 72
6.1.3. Grand Challenges vs (and) Wicked Problems....................................................... 72
6.1.3.1. Super Wicked Problems............................................................................... 73
6.1.4. Why This Matters for Resource Industries.............................................................74
6.2. Systems thinking toolkit.................................................................................................. 75
6.2.1. What Is a System?.................................................................................................75
6.2.1.1. Reductionism vs. Systems Thinking............................................................. 75
6.2.1.2. Emergence: Properties Not in the Parts....................................................... 75
6.2.2. Feedback Loops: The Engine of System Behavior................................................76
6.2.2.1. Example: Reinforcing Loop – Viral Adoption................................................ 76
6.2.2.2. Example: Balancing Loop – Thermostat....................................................... 76
6.2.3. Leverage Points: Meadows’ Hierarchy.................................................................. 76
6.2.3.1. Example: Food Banks as Low Leverage...................................................... 77
6.2.3.2. Exercise: Identify the Feedback Loops......................................................... 78
6.2.4. Tipping Points: When Reinforcing Dominates....................................................... 79
6.3. Application: live system mapping (Umicore case).......................................................... 80
6.3.1. Umicore as a Grand & Wicked Problem................................................................ 80
6.3.2. Umicore as a Super Wicked Problem.................................................................... 81
6.3.3. Umicore’s Elements for the System Map...............................................................81
6.3.4. Leverage Points in the Umicore System................................................................82
6.3.5. What the Umicore Map Reveals............................................................................ 82
6.4. Strategic implications & bridge forward.......................................................................... 83
6.4.1. When Is Systems Thinking Necessary?................................................................ 83
6.4.2. From Map to Action: The Limits of Systems Thinking............................................83
SUSTAINABILITY
0. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 6
Lecture 1: ERS & Planetary Boundaries...................................................................................................7
1.1. Anthropocene & Planetary Boundaries............................................................................................ 7
1.1.1. From Malthus to the Anthropocene (I)................................................................................... 8
1.1.1.1. The Malthus Model – Concept........................................................................ 8
1.1.1.2. From Local Scarcity to Global Limits...........................................................................9
1.1.2. What Are Planetary Boundaries?............................................................................................ 9
1.1.2.1. Nine Planetary Boundaries.......................................................................................... 10
1.1.2.2. From Planetary Limits to Business Strategy............................................................... 10
1.1.2.3. Examples planetary boundaries.................................................................... 11
1.2. Sustainable Development & Intergenerational Justice................................................................... 12
1.2.1. Sustainable Development & Intergenerational Justice......................................................... 12
1.2.1.1. Energy Consumption Shares........................................................................ 12
1.3. Ethics & Responsibility in Management: Case Spotlight – Umicore (Antwerp, Belgium)........... 13
1.3.1. Phase 1 — Colonial Mining Origins (1906–1960)..................................................13
1.3.2. Phase 2 — Post-Colonial Transition (1960–1990s)..............................................................13
1.3.3. Phase 3 — Strategic Transformation (1990s–2000s)............................................................14
1.3.4. Phase 4 — Circular Materials Strategy (2000s–Today)........................................................14
1.4. Social Sustainability & Responsibility in Management................................................................. 14
1.4.1. Employment & Community: Mutual Dependence (Acemoglu and Wolitzky 2025)............14
1.4.1.1. Mechanisms of Cooperation Breakdown.................................................................... 15
1.4.1.2. Equilibria: Soft vs. Tough Employment Regimes....................................................... 15
1.4.2. Implications for Sustainable Management............................................................................16
1.5. Cases............................................................................................................................................... 16
1.5.1. Case 1 – Ford Motor Company (1914)................................................................................ 16
1.5.2. Case 2 – Robert Bosch GmbH.............................................................................................. 17
1.5.3. Case 3 – Amazon Warehouses.............................................................................................. 18
1.5.4. Case 4 – Uber Drivers (Gig Platform Work)........................................................................ 18
Lecture 2: Commons and Collective Action........................................................................... 21
2.1. Part 1 – Types of goods: An Economic Classification.................................................... 21
2.1.1. Rivalry & Excludability............................................................................................21
2.1.2. Commons and Common-Pool Resources............................................................. 22
2.2. The Logic of Collective Failure....................................................................................... 22
2.2.1. Tragedy of the Commons: Intuition (Hardin’s)....................................................... 23
2.2.2. Public Goods Provision: Intuition........................................................................... 24
, 2.2.2.1. Public Goods Provision: Simple Model......................................................... 24
2.2.3. Prisoner’s Dilemma: Payoff Matrix.........................................................................25
2.2.3.1. Prisoner’s Dilemma: Structure and Sustainability Link................................. 25
2.3. Institutional Solution Approaches................................................................................... 26
2.3.1. Ostrom’s Design Principles for Robust Commons.................................................27
2.3.2. Institutions and Business Strategy.........................................................................28
2.3.2.1. Looking ahead: From incentives to ethics.....................................................28
2.3.2.2. Looking ahead: From commons to stakeholders.......................................... 28
2.4. Cases..............................................................................................................................29
2.4.1. Case 1: Peru’s Anchoveta Fishery.........................................................................29
2.4.2. Case 2: Mining and the Commons – Ok Tedi (PNG)............................................. 31
2.4.3. Case 3: Sierra Leone - Chiefs and Mining Permits................................................32
2.4.3. Case 4: ICMM - A Club Solution in Mining.............................................................33
Lecture 3: Business ethics....................................................................................................... 34
3.1. Why Ethics in Business?................................................................................................ 34
3.1.1. Morality, the firm and its surroundings................................................................... 34
3.1.1.1. St. Martin example........................................................................................ 34
3.1.1.2. Milton Friedman (1970).................................................................................35
3.1.2. Morality, the firm, and its internal organization............................................................ 36
3.1.2.1. Integrity as Internal Motivation...................................................................... 36
3.1.2.2. Cognitive Dissonance in Firms..................................................................... 36
3.2. Structured Ethical Frameworks.......................................................................................37
3.2.1. Why Ethical Frameworks?..................................................................................... 37
3.2.2. Utilitarianism.......................................................................................................... 37
3.2.2.1. Consequences and Welfare..........................................................................37
3.2.2.2. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (Utilitarian Lens).........................................37
3.2.2.3. Utilitarianism – Strengths and Limits (EXAM!).............................................. 38
3.2.3. Deontology (Kant).................................................................................................. 38
3.2.3.1. Duties and Rights..........................................................................................38
3.2.3.2. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (DeontologicalLens)................................... 39
3.2.4. Rawlsian Justice.................................................................................................... 39
3.2.4.1. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (Rawlsian Lens)......................................... 39
3.2.5. Virtue Ethics...........................................................................................................40
3.2.5.1. Shipwreck Thought Experiment (Virtue Lens).............................................. 40
3.2.6. Summary................................................................................................................41
3.2.6.1. Limitations – Frameworks Can Conflict........................................................ 41
3.2.6.2. Ethics in Economic Terms.............................................................................41
3.3. Case: Lithium, EVs & Justice..........................................................................................42
3.3.1. Lithium Case – Utilitarian Lens.............................................................................. 42
3.3.2. Lithium Case – Deontological Lens....................................................................... 43
3.3.3. Lithium Case – Rawlsian Lens...............................................................................43
, 3.3.4. Lithium Case – Virtue Ethics Lens......................................................................... 43
3.3.5. Exercise – Advising Global Lithium Corp (6 minutes)............................................44
3.3.6. Exercise – Board Vote........................................................................................... 45
3.3.7. The Bribery Dilemma – A Prisoner’s Dilemma...................................................... 46
3.4. Implications for Management..........................................................................................46
3.4.1. Rejecting Both Extremes....................................................................................... 46
3.4.2. Duties Beyond Compliance....................................................................................46
3.4.3. Ethics as Strategic Self-Interest.............................................................................47
Week 4: Alternative Organizing................................................................................................48
4.1. The Corporate Objective Problem.................................................................................. 48
4.1.1. Firms as Institutions............................................................................................... 48
4.1.2. The Corporate Control Problem.............................................................................49
4.1.2.1. A Simple Principal–Agent Model...................................................................49
4.1.3. How Organizational Design Shapes Outcomes.....................................................50
4.1.3.1. PA Problems and Sustainability.................................................................... 50
4.1.3.2. Fiduciary Duty — Value vs. Welfare..............................................................50
4.1.3.3. H&Z: The Separability Condition: When does Friedman work?....................51
4.1.3.4. H&Z: Clean vs. Dirty Technology.................................................................. 52
4.1.4. Why Organizational Design Matters for ERS.........................................................52
4.2. Ownership, Governance, and Amoral Drift..................................................................... 53
4.2.1. Ownership and Incentives......................................................................................53
4.2.2. Common Organizational Forms............................................................................. 53
Week 5: Stakeholder Management...........................................................................................54
5.1. Who Is a Stakeholder?................................................................................................... 54
5.1.1. Freeman’s Definition.............................................................................................. 54
5.1.2. Friedman vs. Freeman...........................................................................................55
5.1.3. Three Approaches to Stakeholder Theory............................................................. 56
5.2. Stakeholder Salience: Power, Legitimacy, Urgency....................................................... 56
5.2.1. Step 1: Identifying Stakeholders (Textbook Fig. 3.4)............................................. 56
5.2.2. Step 2: From Identification to Prioritization............................................................ 56
5.2.2.1. Mitchell et al. (1997): Three Attributes of Salience....................................... 57
5.2.2.2. Class exercise Ok Tedi Stakeholder Mapping.............................................. 58
5.3. Stakeholder Influence Strategies....................................................................................61
5.3.1. How Stakeholders Exert Influence.........................................................................61
5.3.1.1. Frooman’s framework:.................................................................................. 61
5.3.1.2. Applying Frooman to Ok Tedi........................................................................62
5.3.2. How Firms Respond to Stakeholder Pressure.......................................................63
5.3.3. Stakeholder influence strategies (L5) are the other side of institutional solutions
(L2): Connection prior lectures.........................................................................................64
5.4. Social License to Operate...............................................................................................65
5.4.1. What Is a Social License to Operate?....................................................................65
, 5.4.2. Levels of Social License........................................................................................ 65
5.4.3. Economic Logic of SLO......................................................................................... 65
5.4.3.1. Henisz et al. (2014) – Method.......................................................................65
5.4.3.2. Henisz et al. (2014): Implications..................................................................66
5.4.4. Double Materiality: SLO Meets Regulation............................................................ 67
5.4.4.1. CSRD / Double Materiality – Overview........................................................ 67
5.5. Strategic Implications & Bridge Forward.........................................................................68
5.5.1. Stakeholder Management as Strategy...................................................................68
5.5.1.1. When Engagement Is Easy vs. Hard............................................................ 68
5.5.2. Four Layers of Responsibility – Updated............................................................... 68
5.5.3. Bridge to L6: Grand Challenges & Systems Thinking............................................69
5.5.4. Key Takeaways...................................................................................................... 69
Week 6: Grand Challenges & System Thinking...................................................................... 70
6.1. Grand challenges & wicked problems............................................................................ 70
6.1.1. The limits of Firm-level Analysis............................................................................ 70
6.1.2. From Grand Challenges to Wicked Problems........................................................71
6.1.2.1. Wicked Problems.......................................................................................... 71
6.1.2.2. Why Wicked Problems Break Standard Problem- Solving........................... 72
6.1.3. Grand Challenges vs (and) Wicked Problems....................................................... 72
6.1.3.1. Super Wicked Problems............................................................................... 73
6.1.4. Why This Matters for Resource Industries.............................................................74
6.2. Systems thinking toolkit.................................................................................................. 75
6.2.1. What Is a System?.................................................................................................75
6.2.1.1. Reductionism vs. Systems Thinking............................................................. 75
6.2.1.2. Emergence: Properties Not in the Parts....................................................... 75
6.2.2. Feedback Loops: The Engine of System Behavior................................................76
6.2.2.1. Example: Reinforcing Loop – Viral Adoption................................................ 76
6.2.2.2. Example: Balancing Loop – Thermostat....................................................... 76
6.2.3. Leverage Points: Meadows’ Hierarchy.................................................................. 76
6.2.3.1. Example: Food Banks as Low Leverage...................................................... 77
6.2.3.2. Exercise: Identify the Feedback Loops......................................................... 78
6.2.4. Tipping Points: When Reinforcing Dominates....................................................... 79
6.3. Application: live system mapping (Umicore case).......................................................... 80
6.3.1. Umicore as a Grand & Wicked Problem................................................................ 80
6.3.2. Umicore as a Super Wicked Problem.................................................................... 81
6.3.3. Umicore’s Elements for the System Map...............................................................81
6.3.4. Leverage Points in the Umicore System................................................................82
6.3.5. What the Umicore Map Reveals............................................................................ 82
6.4. Strategic implications & bridge forward.......................................................................... 83
6.4.1. When Is Systems Thinking Necessary?................................................................ 83
6.4.2. From Map to Action: The Limits of Systems Thinking............................................83
