Faculty
Dr Patricia Plackett and guest speakers

Course Coordinator
Dr Jan Mouritsen

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

Today there is tremendous potential for ‘climate-friendly innovation.’ Few issues are likely to be of greater concern to businesses and to 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. It can be argued that companies are the largest single player involved in causing climate change and also in experiencing its impacts. Increasingly, company leaders will be required to deliver short-term financial returns and, at the same time, to build capacity for the challenges that climate change presents in the longer term. This course will focus on providing deep insights about ‘green innovation’ in terms of the following question: How do companies respond to ‘green innovation’ opportunities arising from global warming? The Financial Times Climate Change Challenge, which attracted nearly 300 entries from around the globe, provides an indication of the diversity of ‘green innovation’ projects that are being devised to mitigate the impacts of global warming. 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 in cows and sheep and a ceiling tile that cools rooms in place of air conditioning. The goal of such ‘green innovations’ is commercial success as well as greenhouse gas emission reductions.

The course is divided into four parts. It will open with a discussion of the issues central to climate change and then will look at the drivers and barriers to ‘green innovation’ that are present today, including the role of scientists and politicians. The course participants will then study a range of examples of ‘green innovations’ followed by concluding discussions on the implications for future ‘green innovation’ initiatives to address climate change. Classes will include a combination of mini-lectures, videos and in-class exercises as well as group discussions. Various examples will be examined to identify specific ways in which companies are creating value through ‘green innovations’ aimed at addressing the challenges posed by climate change. 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 class groups will post blogs on the key discussion topics.

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.

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.

Individual oral exam.

Porter, Michael E. and Reinhardt, Forest L. (2007), A strategic approach to climate,” Harvard Business Review, October, pp. 22-24.

Rau, Alex, Toker, Rob and Howard, Joanne (2010), “Can technology really save us from climate change?” Harvard Business Review, January/February, pp. 21-23.

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.

Nidumolu, Ram, Prahalad, C.K. and Rangaswami, M.R. (2009), “Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 87, No. 9, pp. 57-64.

Kolk, Ans and Pinkse, Jonatan (2005), “Business responses to climate change: Identifying emergent strategies, California Management Review, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 6-20.

Johnson, Mark W. and Suskewicz, Josh (2009), “How to jump start the cleantech economy,” Harvard Business Review, November, pp. 52-60.

Bonabeau, Eric, Bodick, Neil and Armstrong, Robert W. (2008), “A more rational approach to new-product development,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86, No. 3, pp. 96-102.

Fűller, Johann (2010), “Refining virtual co-creation from a consumer perspective,” California Management Review, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 98-122.

Henke, Jr., John W. and Zhang, Chun (2009), “Increasing supplier-driven innovation,” MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 41-46.

Simanis, Erik and Hart, Stuart (2009), “Innovation from the inside out,” MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp. 77-86.

Amram, Martha and Kulatilaka, Nalin (2009), “The invisible green hand: How individual decisions and markets can reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” California Management Review, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 194-219.

Case studies: Green rubber: The revolution of the rubber recycling business [Asia Case Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, 2009

Innovation at BMW: Can green powertrain technology be introduced by 2020? [IMD, June 2009].