Risk and Uncertainty Analysis for Sustainable Business

Course aim

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the fundamental concepts and current theoretical and empirical work in identifying, analysing and managing the uncertainties inherent in sustainable business, deriving from the inherent volatility of physical, social and economic systems and their interactions.

Course content

This course provides an introduction to the foundational concepts of risk and uncertainty analysis as it is applied to business enterprise. The topics presented in the course include a theoretical analysis of the concepts of risk and uncertainty, with their application to economics in the ideas of risk neutrality/aversion/preference, certainty equivalence, expected value and utility, and the cost of risk bearing; the domain of application of these principles to sustainability decision-making, including the key concepts of thresholds, irreversibility, non-linear dynamics, safe minimum standards, and the precautionary principle; decision analysis principles and practice, including a theoretical account of probability and probabilistic risk analysis, the development of influence diagrams and decision trees, with a consideration of values, utility, and optimization; a review of other key approaches to analysing and modelling risk and uncertainty, such as simulation and multi-attribute analysis; the application of these methods to the task of environmental risk management in sustainable business, with a particular focus on strategy development, operations and whole-of-business modelling; and review and analysis of some major international case studies, with a range of risk adequacies and their respective outcomes.

Textbook(s)

Anderson, DR 2005, Corporate survival: the critical importance of sustainability risk management, 1st edn, iUniverse, Inc., Lincoln, NE

Prerequisite(s)

Nil

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Component	Duration
INTERNAL, CITY WEST
Seminar	3 hours x 11 weeks
EXTERNAL, CITY WEST, ONLINE
External (Asynchronous Online Discussion)	3 hours equiv. x 11 weeks

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

Group project: written paper, Group project: written paper and class presentation, Individual written project, Online responses posted to selected questions, Responses in class small group work and class discussions

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 3)
To determine the fee for this course as part of a Commonwealth Supported program, go to:
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Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
Non-award tuition fees are set by the university. To determine the cost of this course, go to:
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Not all courses are available on all of the above bases, and students must check to ensure that they are permitted to enrol in a particular course.

* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.