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Faculty
Patricia Plackett, CBS / Guest speakers on specific topics

Course Coordinator
ISUP Secretariat

Prerequisite/progression of the course

Students should have had prior courses in one or more of the following: Economics, management, strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing, international business, or CSR.

Course content, structure and teaching

Few issues are likely to be of greater concern to businesses – and business school graduates – over the next few decades than climate change. It is widely acknowledged to be the most pressing problem that we will face in our lifetime.

Over the past 10 years or so discussions about ‘climate-friendly innovations’ would likely have raised comments about “fringe environmentalism” and “high costs for minimal returns.” However, there has recently been a very significant shift in perception with the growing recognition that strategies with positive benefits for the world can also have a significant positive impact on the bottom line. The vigorous international debate on climate change now in progress increasingly highlights the role that innovation must play in offsetting the steadily worsening impacts of global warming. It can be argued that companies are the largest single player involved in causing climate change and gradually they are becoming more interested in using their innovative capacity to mitigate climate change’s adverse consequences. This course focuses on a central question in the climate change debate at present: How can companies effectively respond to the ‘green business’ opportunities arising from global warming?

The Climate Change Challenge, a competition sponsored by The Financial Times which attracted nearly 300 entries this year from around the globe, provides an indication of the diversity of solutions that have ‘green business’ potential. The winning entry selected by a panel of experts was a solar-powered cardboard and acrylic cooker made in Kenya that sells for $5.The other four competition finalists were a truck wheel cover that reduces fuel consumption by 2 %, a machine that converts waste into carbon-rich material for fertilizer instead of adding to CO2 emissions, a food additive that reduces the greenhouse gas-rich flatulence of cows and sheep and a ceiling tile that cools rooms in place of air conditioning. The goal of products such as these is commercial success based on material reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The course is divided into four parts. It will open with a discussion of the business implications of climate change based on an overview aimed at CEOs and a provocative series of panel discussions convened by Harvard Business Review. The course participants will then look at current drivers and barriers to ‘climate-friendly innovation’ and examine a range of examples of such innovations followed by concluding discussions on the lessons learned about managing ‘green business’ opportunities.

Classes will include a combination of mini-lectures, videos and in-class exercises as well as group discussions. A range of cases and examples will be examined to identify specific ways in which companies are creating value through ‘climate-friendly innovations.’ Students will be encouraged to actively share their viewpoints by drawing on their own experiences and information from other courses as well as the materials for this course.

The course's development of personal competences

This course provides students with an opportunity to gain insights based on concepts and theories as well as best practices for managing climate change risks drawing on a range of published materials that provide practical and actionable advice.

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course the student should be able to manage competently the following objectives:

Learning Objective 1 – Empirical examples: Be able to describe empirical examples illustrating various ways in which ‘green business’ opportunities are recognized and solutions created to respond to these opportunities.

Learning Objective 2 – Theoretical foundations: Be able to explain the theoretical foundations relevant to realizing ‘green business’ opportunities, including key concepts, theories, models and frameworks.

Learning Objective 3 – Practical application: Be able to apply the course content in recognizing climate change-related business opportunities and creating appropriate solutions.

To obtain a score of 12 in this course a student must master the three learning objectives to an exceptional level with lower scores awarded in accordance with reductions in the levels of mastery.

Examination

Mandatory mid-term feedback assignment: In order to be allowed to present the final assignment, each student will be required to submit one short blog commentary (maximum 2 pages) on a specified problem drawing on theoretical and empirical content from the course literature.

Final exam: Project/home assignment (written individually), 10 A4 pages.

Re-take exam: Project/home assignment (written individually), 10 A4 pages.

Recommended literature

Berkhout, Frans, Hertin, Julia and Gann, David (2006), “Learning to adapt: Organizational adaptation to climate change impacts,” Climate Change, Vol. 78, pp. 135-156.

Bishop, Steve, Walker, Brian, Hoffman, Andy, Woody, John G., Rose, Stuart, Samuelson, Judith, Khurana Rakesh and Nohria, Nitin (2008), Six critical conversations about business and the environment, Boston: Harvard Business Publishing.

Hoffman, Andrew J (2009), Climate change: What’s your business strategy? Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kolk, Ans amd Pinkse, Jonatan (2004), “Market strategies for climate change,” European Management Journal, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 304-314.

Sachs, Jeffrey (2009), An industrial policy for climate change, 23 February 2009. http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/climate_change/an-industrial-policy-for-climate-change

Case studies:

Global warming and climate change [IFCAI Business School, 2008] – A concise presentation with many key facts and figures on the climate change business case, corporate responses and ethical retailing.

Feeling the heat: Allianz and WWF pushing an industry towards climate change action [IMD, April 2009] – An interesting analysis of relationships aimed at fostering green innovation.

Three case studies examining ‘green innovations’ and the challenges that they faced:

• Green rubber: The revolution of the rubber recycling business [Asia Case Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, 2009].
• Scandinavian Airlines: The green engine decision [Richard Ivey School of Business, June 2009].
• Innovation at BMW: Can green powertrain technology be introduced by 2020? [IMD, June 2009].

Sidst opdateret af ISUP Secretariat 29.01.2010