Develop a critical understanding of social and sustainable markets.
Join us online to examine the evolving roles of ethics, stakeholder engagement, and collaborative consumption in shaping sustainable business strategies.
In this Masters-level online short course, you’ll explore how markets can adapt to new expectations around social value, environmental sustainability, circular business models, and ethical responsibility.
With expert guidance, you’ll develop the skills to:
- design and critique sustainability-focused markets
- advise organisations on ethical and stakeholder engagement strategies
- support businesses in transitioning from shareholder to stakeholder-driven models
- assess social impact and return on sustainability
- work confidently in roles focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR); environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy; and sustainable business models.
Sustainability at our core
Study with a Business School that’s home to the Africa-Asia Centre for Sustainability, within a university that’s deeply committed to sustainability.
Research-led teaching
You’ll learn from industry professionals and academics who are actively researching sustainability and social markets.
Who can join this online sustainable markets course?
This distance-learning course is designed for graduates and professionals who want to develop their understanding of social and sustainable markets.
You can join us from any sector, and you’ll develop skills and knowledge that you can apply across sectors and industries.
Build credits towards a Masters degree
This short course is part of our online:
You can use the credits you earn with this short course towards either of these Masters qualifications.
What you’ll study
In this course, you’ll learn about sustainability-driven strategies, societal marketing, collaborative consumption, and circularity.
Your course content is based around the 3 pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic, as well as real-world case studies.
You’ll develop your understanding of:
- the assessment of sustainability-driven strategies and ethical frameworks
- stakeholder engagement models and their applications
- social, smart circularity, and collaborative consumption
- evaluating returns on sustainability in social markets contexts
- innovative, real-world sustainability practices.
You’ll study modules including:
- The Evolution of Societal Markets
- Ethics within Markets
- Business Perspectives on Sustainability
- Stakeholder Engagement and Collaborative Models
- Modes of Collaboration and Shared Value Creation
- Assessing the Return on Sustainability
- Social Promotions and Ethical Communications
- Smart Circularity and Circular Economy Strategies
- Measures of Social Impact and Performance
- Emerging Strategic Frameworks and Future Sustainability Trends.
By the end of this sustainable markets course, you’ll be able to...
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Apply key models and concepts in social and sustainable markets to assess how organisations adopt stakeholder- and sustainability-focused strategies.
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Evaluate the limitations of traditional stakeholder prioritisation methods and discuss how these affect ethical and sustainability-oriented decision-making.
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Assess and justify strategic approaches for adapting a business’s value cycle to incorporate stakeholder engagement and circularity principles.
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Critique and interpret the outcomes of societal and sustainable business models, with reference to ethical, environmental, and social impacts.
Choose the University of Aberdeen for online sustainable business courses
Fits around full-time work
This online course fits around work, with flexible hours and 24/7 study access.
We’re EQUIS accredited
Join a Business School that’s EFMD EQUIS accredited, placing it among a select group of globally recognised institutions.
Top 8 for Business and Management
We’re ranked 8th in the UK for Business and Management in the Guardian University Guide 2025.
Outstanding student feedback
We’re ranked 1st in Scotland for student positivity for both Business Studies and Management Studies in the National Student Survey 2024.
How you’ll study
Online learning
This distance learning sustainable markets course is delivered flexibly, 100% online.
You can learn with us anywhere, no student visa required, and manage your study hours to suit you.
Your teaching
This course is taught at Masters level.
Teaching is delivered through MyAberdeen, our online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It holds all the materials, tools and support you’ll need in your studies. Take a look around MyAberdeen.
You can access your learning materials on computer, smartphone and laptop, 24 hours a day. You’ll find a range of online resources available, including:
- live online webinars
- videos
- audio clips and podcasts
- slide shows
- quizzes
- reading materials
- discussion boards with your tutors and peers
- the online resources of our award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library.
Teaching is delivered primarily through asynchronous online learning, allowing you the flexibility to engage with materials at your own pace.
Weekly modules include curated readings, case studies, applied tasks, and guided discussion prompts accessible via MyAberdeen.
Live online webinars
Across the course, there will be a series of live online webinars with academic staff, all experts in the field of marketing. These one-hour live sessions support the main learning material and are central to your learning.
Ahead of each live webinar, you’ll be asked to study the online materials provided, post questions to your tutor online, undertake multiple-choice quizzes and other tasks. You may also be asked to work in small groups to prepare for some of the live sessions.
Your tutors
This course is delivered by the University of Aberdeen Business School.
You’ll learn from an internationally experienced team of social and sustainability researchers and academics.
This course is assessed online.
You’ll be assessed via:
- a group presentation/reflective report (worth 20% of your final course grade)
- a final individual report (worth 80%).
Live online webinars
This course features a series of live online webinars. Each webinar is scheduled to last for around one hour.
Webinar dates and times will be organised flexibly at the start of the course. Your course coordinator will consider everyone’s circumstances and time zones before setting up live webinar times.
Webinars will usually be recorded so you can watch them after they have taken place.
Study hours
The course totals approximately 150 hours of teaching, private study, and assessment time. That’s around 10 – 15 hours per week.
This is an indicative guide to the time required for a typical student at this level to achieve the learning outcomes.
You can largely set your own study hours each week to cover the materials. MyAberdeen is available 24/7, so you can log in and study when it suits you.
Activities at fixed times
There will be some activities scheduled at fixed times, such as your online webinars, or assessments with deadlines. But otherwise, you can access and work through the course at your convenience.
Our first-class support structure will ensure that you aren’t alone in your studies. You’ll have contact with your coordinator via email, MyAberdeen and Microsoft Teams. You can use social media and discussion boards to chat with your fellow students too.
We provide a wide range of services to support you in your studies and beyond:
- Careers and Employability Service
- Disability support
- IT support
- Library support
- Student Support Service – help with finances, stress, wellbeing and non-academic issues
- Student Learning Service – study support, with advice sessions available via phone or Skype
- Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA) – run by students for students
- Toolkit – clever apps and free training that can make your study life easier
Wherever you are in the world, you’ll feel part of our very special Aberdeen learning community.
Your course coordinator
Professor Zaheer Khan
Zaheer is a Professor in Strategy and International Business at the University of Aberdeen Business School.
He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Associate Editor of Critical Perspectives on International Business.
Zaheer’s research focuses on global technology management, alliances, nonmarket strategy, platform firms, sustainability, and internationalisation of firms from emerging markets.
View Zaheer’s profileWhere this will take you
Towards a Masters
You’ll earn 15 credits at Masters level (SCQF Level 11) with this course. You can use these credits towards our:
Online MBA
Tailored to your career and research goals, and flexibly online.
Develop key skills in leadership, innovation, change management, strategy development, sales and marketing.
View online MBA
Masters in Marketing
Join an online Masters in Marketing that’s designed to fit into your life – with flexible hours and no exams.
View MSc MarketingCareers
This course prepares you to lead initiatives that balance profit with social and environmental impact.
You’ll gain skills and knowledge that are valuable to progressive organisations across sectors.
Your learning will help you to progress within or towards roles in:
- sustainability consulting
- corporate social responsibility
- ethical markets
- stakeholder engagement
- social enterprise management, and
- sustainable business strategy.
Further study paths
This course can also prepare you for advanced study opportunities in this field, including PhD studies in sustainability and business ethics, international business, social entrepreneurship, or environmental management.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Your employer or professional institute may recognise this course for CPD hours. Talk to your employer or institute to find out more.
Free career support
Access our free careers service while you study.
- 1:1 appointments
- CV checks
- Interview prep
- Job opportunities
Choose the University of Aberdeen for part-time online courses
Learn anywhere
On smartphone, desktop and laptop, with no need for a student visa.
You’re in expert hands
We’ve been delivering online and distance learning for decades.
20% alumni discount
University of Aberdeen alumni get 20% off this online course.
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
We welcome students from all over the world.
This course has no formal entry requirements. You do not need to provide proof of your qualifications.
But you do need to check the entry guidance above to understand the level of teaching delivered, to decide if this course is right for you.
If you do not have qualifications from the UK, check the equivalent teaching level for your country.
Visa requirements
You do not need a student visa to study online with us.
English language requirements
Teaching is delivered in English.
You do not have to provide proof of your English language skills to join this course. But we want to make sure that you can use English well enough to study successfully.
Recommended level of English
This course uses our Postgraduate Higher level of English language proficiency.
These are our Postgraduate Higher requirements, and these are minimum scores.
IELTS Academic, IELTS UKVI Academic, or IELTS Online (not IELTS Indicator or IELTS General Training)
- 6.5 overall
- 5.5 for listening and speaking
- 6.0 for reading and writing
TOEFL iBT or TOEFL iBT Home Edition
- 90 overall
- 17 for listening
- 21 for reading
- 20 for speaking
- 21 for writing
- TOEFL DI code is 0818
Cambridge English: B2 First, C1 Advanced, or C2 Proficiency
- 176 overall
- 162 for listening and speaking
- 169 for reading and writing
LanguageCert Academic / LanguageCert Academic SELT
- 70 overall
- 60 for listening and speaking
- 65 for reading and writing
Oxford ELLT Digital – English Language Level Test Online
- 7.0 overall
- 5.0 for listening and speaking
- 6.0 for reading and writing
PTE Academic (online test not accepted)
- 62 overall
- 59 for listening, reading, speaking and writing
Skills for English: SELT
- B2 pass with merit
Duolingo – tests taken from 1 July 2024 onward
- 120 overall
- 95 for listening and speaking
- 105 for reading and writing
University of Aberdeen English Pre-sessional Programme (PSE)
- Pass
- Valid for one year. Refresher can be offered if out of date
Pre-sessional academic English preparation programmes undertaken at other UK universities
- Pass at an equivalent of 6.5 (C1)
- B2 in all four skills
- Certification must be within one year prior to the start of your course
For more information about language qualifications see our English Language Requirements page.
When you study with us, you can expect a first-class support structure so that you’re never alone in your studies.
But learning online does mean you have to motivate yourself and manage your own time.
Your most important commitment will be time – the time to work through, reflect on and understand your teaching materials.
Before you start a course that involves a high degree of independent study, we recommend looking at the time you will be able to devote to your studies each week:
- Be realistic
- Create a weekly schedule as a guide
If you have any questions about studying online, get in touch with our friendly team. We’re here to help.
You will need access to:
A computer (PC, laptop or Mac) with an up-to-date operating system
Most teaching materials are smartphone- and tablet-friendly. But we recommend a proper laptop or desktop for completing assignments comfortably.
Reliable internet access
We recommend:
- a wired connection
- a minimum download speed of 2 Mbps so you can take part fully in live sessions.
Speakers or headphones
- We recommend a headset with built-in microphone and earphones if you’re likely to study in an environment with background noise.
- A webcam is optional, but you may like to use one for some interactive sessions.
Software
We’ll give you access to Office365 applications. This means you can use online versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneDrive and install these programs on up to five personal devices.
If your course requires specialist software, we’ll provide you with access to this and a licence that lasts throughout your studies.
See our detailed IT requirements for more information.
Fee payment
Your course fee needs to be paid in full before you start your course.
We accept payment via Visa Debit, Visa Credit and Mastercard.
Ways to save
You may be able to get help funding this course via:
- discounts – if any discounts are available for this course, they’ll appear in the section below
- employer sponsorship – we accept full and partial fee payments from sponsors.
Find out more about funding options.
Student card
All our students are entitled to a University of Aberdeen student card. This gives you access to a range of student discounts around the city and online.
Learning resources
Access to all the essential books and resources you need are included in your tuition fee. They’ll be made available to you online and you do not have to buy your own copies.
We also provide optional recommended reading lists. Many of these resources are available electronically through our library, although purchases may be required if you wish to read the full list.
Printing
You may want to set aside a small budget for printing, depending on how you like to work.
This course has no formal entry requirements. You decide if it’s suitable for you.
The course is delivered at Masters level. At this level, you’d usually have at least:
- an undergraduate degree at UK honours level, or equivalent.
