Business and Sustainability

2 credits · Undergraduate

This course—a mixture of lectures, readings, business cases and corporate speakers—uses theory, frameworks, tools and business cases to teach students how to systematically evaluate and implement sustainability strategies that also maintain or maximize financial returns. Students are taught to identify opportunities to create business value from environmental and social challenges, and to evaluate the competitive implications related to sustainability initiatives. What type of long-term strategies can organizations set to simultaneously foster sustainable development strategy and sound financial practice? How should decision makers make trade-offs between these two organizational objectives? When is “sustainability” also “good business”?