Management and sustainable development : constraints and opportunities

The course covers the following topics:

Part 1: Foundations

• A brief historical overview of economic development and the environment;

• Measuring Wealth and Well-being;

• An Overview of Environmental Economics;

• An Outline of Ecological Economics;

• Cost-Benefit Analysis and Measuring Environmental Benefits;

• Placing a Value on Human Life;

• Risk Analysis and the Precautionary Principle;

• Some Relevant Ecological Principles.

Part 2: The Private Sector

• A Brief History of Corporate Response to Sustainability Issues;

• Eco-efficiency and other paradigms;

• Mimicking Nature: Biomimicry and Industrial Ecology;

• Thinking Systemically: Mass Balances and Industrial Metabolism; Life-Cycle Analysis; Carbon Accounting; Input-Output Analysis;

• The Search for Innovative Business Models;

• Defining Sustainability and its Components;

• Internalizing Sustainability into Corporate Strategy;

• Social Enterprise and the Social Return on Investment;

• Sustainability and Corporate Culture.

The theoretical contents of this course are mainly based on Nemetz, Peter N. 2014. Business and the Sustainability Challenge: An Integrated Perspective. London: Routledge.

This course aims at offering a comprehensive overview of the issues of sustainability as they relate to business and influence corporate strategy. It features a wide range of cases and an extensive discussion of tools to incorporate sustainability issues into strategic decision making. Students will build and then be able to apply a solid understanding of sustainability in business.

The course includes 20 contact hours (Eric Monami: 16h; Nicolas Denis: 4h) and combines various teaching methods including case studies, videos and external guest speakers.

Contribution to the teaching profile

It is vitally important for future business leaders to have a holistic understanding of the many issues surrounding and shaping sustainability. The objective of this course is to make students aware of the big challenges of the world we are currently living in and teach them, through a variety of new tools, how to transform these constraints into new business opportunities.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

Available at https://uv.ulb.ac.be/

Contacts

Eric Monami (eric.monami@ulb.ac.be); Nicolas Denis (nicolas_denis@mckinsey.com).

Method(s) of evaluation

• Other

Other

Continuous evaluation (no final exam).

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

Continuous evaluation (no final exam).

Language(s) of evaluation

• english