Corporate Social Responsibility and Reporting

The course aims to provide students with an advanced understanding of the firm as an economic institution, by examining the main Law & Economics models of corporate governance. In particular, it analyzes shareholder-value-oriented paradigms, which place the maximization of shareholder value at the center of the firm's objectives, as well as stakeholder-value-oriented approaches, which broaden corporate responsibility toward a wider set of stakeholders, including employees, local communities, and the environment.
The course also examines voluntary institutional instruments of corporate social responsibility, such as Società Benefit, rating di legalità, and corporate codes of conduct.
Finally, it analyzes the role of social reporting as a governance mechanism aimed at reducing information asymmetries between management and various stakeholders, by affecting the information costs associated with monitoring and controlling firm activity and, more generally, by influencing corporate governance.

Students will have acquired a solid command of the fundamental concepts of the Law & Economics debate on corporate governance, as well as of the main theories concerning environmental and social responsibility and reporting. They will also have developed the ability to critically assess the role of sustainability and reporting instruments in pursuing economic, environmental, and social objectives of the firm, and to engage with the academic debate in a well-informed and reasoned manner, using appropriate technical language.