BMIB5006 Corporate Sustainability and Business Ethics Assignment 02 Brief - DMU

BMIB5006 Assessment Information – What you need to do

This assignment is an individual assignment.

This assignment requires you to produce a 2500-word individual written essay evaluating the sustainability performance of a Multinational Company (MNC) of your choice, WITHIN the sectors specified below.

• Technology, Media and Telecommunications
• Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals
• Oil and Gas
• Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
• Sport (including Esports and Gaming)

There are three (3) parts to this assessment. Please make sure you address each part.

You are required to show critical thinking and clear application of the theoretical concepts covered in the course materials. Support your ideas with research evidence and specific examples throughout.

Research

• Select and apply relevant theoretical frameworks and concepts throughout your analysis. These must be explicitly stated in your essay.
• Use statistics, research evidence, and examples to support your analysis throughout.
• Support your work with in-text citations throughout and a reference list at the end - use the Harvard style. A guide to referencing is provided separately and available on the DMU library website here: Referencing - DMU Referencing Guide - LibGuides at De Montfort University.
• You will be assessed on your ability to investigate a range of sources of research data, as well as your ability to select relevant information and structure your findings. Your work must be thoroughly researched and appropriately referenced.
• You will need to use the university library databases, company websites, news sites, latest sustainability reports, market reports such as Mintel (available via the DMU library), Statista, company reports, industry reports, and Journal articles.
• Information from company websites and other internet sources may be included, but this is insufficient on its own and must be complemented by academic sources of information.

BMIB5006 Guidelines for the essay

Essay outline Guidelines

Include module name and code; assignment name; title of essay; P Number of author; name of seminar tutor; seminar day and time; date of essay; word count Be creative. Make the title page professional and interesting.

Part 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY (MNC) 

Introduce your chosen multinational company; include background information about the company, the industry in which it operates, its market (including trends, opportunities, challenges etc); indicate the purpose and scope of your essay;

Part 2 EVALUATION OF THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY'S CSR APPROACH 

The analysis and evaluation should focus on three (3) key areas specified below:
 
1. CSR practices: Evaluate the company's CSR practices in response to its environmental, social and economic impacts on society. Some critical questions to address include: what are the impacts of this business on society? what CSR practices does the company implement? How adequate and/or effective are these CSR practices? 

2. Sustainability matters: Evaluate the company's corporate social responsiveness to sustainability  matters, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Some critical questions to address include: what sustainability issues are relevant to this company and to what extent are these being addressed? What is the nature of the company's contribution to the SDGs? What strategies could the company implement to improve in this area? 

3. Ethical practices: 

a. Highlight two (2) relevant and supported examples of good and/or bad ethical practice linked to your chosen MNC's key business functions such as manufacturing, supply chain and distribution, marketing and sales, recruitment and employment etc. 
b. Reflecting on your own personal values, suggest two (2) relevant ethical practices you would implement in a similar business setting and why? Approx. 2000 words 

Part 3 CONCLUSION

• Conclusion with summary of findings; highlighting key points from each section.

BMIB5006 Assessment Criteria

Learning Outcomes of BMIB5006

LO1 Conceptualise and evaluate the relationship between CSR and corporate and managerial behaviour 
L02 Describe and critique the various components of socially responsible behaviour 
L03 Evaluate possible actions of a corporation in response to environmental, social and economic impacts
L04 Apply critical and interpretative skills to an evaluation of corporate activity 
L05 Critically reflect on their own personal values in making choices and decisions in a business setting 

BMIB5006 Assessment Details:

The word count for this essay is 2,500 words (-1+ 10%) 

There will be a penalty of a deduction of 10% of the mark for work exceeding the word limit by 10% or more. 
The word limit includes tables, figures, quotations and citations, but excludes the title page, table of contents, references list and appendices. 

How to Submit your Assessment

The assessment must be submitted by 12:00 noon (GMT/BST) on 06/06/2025. No paper copies are required. You can access the submission link through the module web. 

• Your coursework will be given a zero mark if you do not submit a copy through Turnitin. Please take care to ensure that you have fully submitted your work. 
• Please ensure that you have submitted your work using the correct file format, unreadable files will receive a mark of zero. The Faculty accepts Microsoft Office and PDF documents, unless otherwise advised by the module leader. 
• All work submitted after the submission deadline without a valid and approved reason will be subject to the University regulations onlate submissions. 

• If an assessment is submitted up to 24 hours late the mark for the work will be capped at the pass mark of 40 per cent for undergraduate modules or 50 per cent for postgraduate modules
•  If an assessment is submitted beyond 24 hours late the work will receive a mark of zero per cent
• The above applies to a student's first attempt at the assessment. If work submitted as a reassessment of a previously failed assessment task is submitted later than the deadline the work will immediately be given a mark of zero per cent

• If an assessment which is marked as pass/fail rather than given a percentage mark is submitted later than the deadline, the work will immediately be marked as a fail The University wants you to do your best. However, we know that sometimes events happen which mean that you can't submit your coursework by the deadline — these events should be beyond your control and not easy to predict. If this happens, you can apply for an extension to your deadline for up to five working days, or if you need longer, you can apply for a deferral, which takes you to the next assessment period (for example, to the re-sit period following the main Assessment Boards). You must apply before the deadline for your assessment. You will find information about applying for extensions and deferrals here.  
• Students MUST keep a copy and/or an electronic file of their assignment. 
• Checks will be made on your work using anti-plagiarism software and approved plagiarism checking websites. 

Return of Marked Work

You can expect to have feedback returned to you on 27/06/2025 (15 working days). If for any reason there is a delay you will be kept informed. Marks and feedback will be provided online. It is important that you access the feedback you receive as this will help to make improvements to your later work, you can request a meeting with your Module Leader or Personal Tutor to discuss your feedback in more detail.

Marks will have been internally moderated only, and will therefore be provisional; your mark will be formally agreed later in the year once the external examiner has completed their review. More information on assessment and feedback can be found here.