Module Guide / Training Guide

Course Guide Sustainable Management IP Program Metropolia University of Applied Sciences 2013

Course guide Sustainable Management

Name of course: Sustainable Management Course of study: Taught in International Business and Management Studies, Exchange Program of Institute of Business Administration and Minor Globalizing Business at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, The Netherlands. Year of study: Year 2 and 3, Undergraduate level ECTS credits: 3 Lecturer: Menno de Lind van Wijngaarden Date: April 2013

Short Description:

Sustainable Management is a term often used to refer to the relation between business and the external environment. It is an umbrella term that in general covers 3 levels. At the global level there are the sustainable development issues, special relating to inequality issues and the deterioration of the natural environment. The next level is the role that business can have in dealing with these issues. Business that is active in sustainability is often called Corporate Social Responsible (CSR) and applies the People, Planet, Profit model. At the individual level the entrepreneur has to make business decisions that create balance between people, planet and profit. This leads to ethical dilemmas that are not easy to solve. The question is: How to become a ‘good’ business; remaining profitable while addressing the social and environmental issues? This course will introduce you to the sustainability issues and shows you the ethical dilemmas that business has to deal with.

The question of what is sustainable can be raised upon almost any human activity. Let’s take the daily starting activity of many people: drinking coffee. What is sustainable about drinking coffee? We don’t need to drink it (although some people might argue that it increases labor productivity or that it’s addictive); in fact drinking water is more sustainable because the production of drinking water needs less energy and consumes fewer resources than coffee production. It was calculated that drinking a cup of coffee in the Netherlands uses 140 liter of water when you take the total production cycle into account. But the fact is that many people do drink coffee on a daily basis and prefer that to drinking water. It means that there is a lot that can be done to improve the sustainability of this particular consumer behavior. Coffee beans are produced in tropical countries in the South that are under-developed, the labor circumstances are not that what you would demand if it was an activity in the North. There is an inequity issue here that needs to be addressed. These issues are not in your mind when you enjoy your morning cup of coffee.

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But when you watch the daily news you are confronted with many items about sustainability. We look for clean energy sources, oceans are being empties of life through intensive fishing methods and pollution, forests are being cut and global

temperature is rising. The role of individual companies can be great when it comes to playing a part in sustainable use of earth’s resources. You would certainly remember the role of Exxon Valdez in the oil- spilling pollution, for instance. What usually doesn’t make the headlines on the front-page of the newspapers is the sustainable behavior of some companies, but they do make headlines in the economical section, especially when they show to be profitable. Now more and more companies adopt a Corporate Social Responsible policy and seem to be doing business very well. Gone is the left wing, liberal, dusty back-to-nature types and woolly socks in sandals image connected with sustainability issues that were prevalent in the seventies of last century. Now many CEO’s and consultants preach the values inherent to sustainable behavior as it belongs to the daily concern of their business.

Take for instance the small business of Simon Lévelt, a small Dutch company active in the Coffee and Tea Trade. They were founded in 1817 and have 40 people employed. Around 1976 the director at the time started a process that could be considered sustainable management. From that moment it was rooted in the companies’ values and culture. Together with the producers of coffee and tea in under developed countries they looked for a way to produce in a way that is as responsible as possible. It leaded to the introduction of biological tea and in 1984 of biological coffee. Simon Lévelt developed guiding lines for biological cultivation, labor circumstances and fair trade that was used as a model for other companies. Starting point for the company was that at least 50 % of every product category should be biological.

Essential in Simon Lévelts concept is control and quality of their supply chains. With the ownership of a coffee roaster and a chain of shops, they are the link between producers and consumers. By means of their direct contact with the producers they have managed to create a short supply chain. They support the producers in their efforts to improve their biological production methods. Their support is both financially and in the social support program. The effectiveness of the producers is audited by external, independent organizations. Transparency and traceability of the origin of the products are considered as of paramount importance. Through an Information System the consumers can see the origin of the products. On the website they have given access to this information, so that consumers are stimulated to use their biological products. So as a consumer and a business entrepreneur you have a choice, to work on sustainability issues, and still enjoy a good cup of coffee!

Competences At the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht we use an educational concept called competency based learning. It was developed together with the professional field to make sure that a graduate would not only have a solid theoretical background, but also has the right skills and proper attitude for the business environment The competences for courses on sustainability have been developed by the DHO (Sustainable Higher Education) platform organization and are translated below:

Generic competences RESFAP R Responsibility; the sustainable professional carries the responsibility for his/her own work. The sustainable professional can…. o Make a stakeholder analysis, o Take and bear the responsibility of its own actions, o Be held accountable of its own actions. E Emotional Intelligence; the sustainable professional can empathize with the values and feelings of others. The sustainable professional can…. o Understand own values and of others, recognize cultural factors and respect them, o Understand different world views and respect them, o Be sensitive, listen to opinions and emotions of others, o Distinguish between facts, assumptions and opinions. S System Oriented; the sustainable professional understands problems from a systems vision perspective. The sustainable professional can…. o Work with other disciplines besides her/his own, o Think in systems, can zoom in and out, be analytical and holistic,

o Be innovative, creative, out of the box thinking, o Be chain oriented (where does it come from, where does it go to). F Future Oriented; the sustainable professional thinks and works from a future perspective. The sustainable professional can…. o Recognize and understand non-linear processes, o Think in different time scales, can distinguish short and long-term solutions, o Estimate the duration and reach of the implications of decisions, o Think, act and anticipate in a future oriented way. A Act competent; the sustainable professional acts decisive and competent. The sustainable professional can…. o Make a comparative assessment of dilemmas and make choices, o Act when time is ripe, o Handle uncertainties, o Make decisions. P Personal commitment; the sustainable professional is personally dedicated in pursuing sustainability. The sustainable professional can…. o Connect sustainability upon own work as a professional (sustainable attitude), o Keep knowledge and expertise up to date, also outside own discipline, o Work with passion at dreams and ideals, o Judge according to one’s own standards.

+ Domain Related Competences D

D Domain of Business Administration; the sustainable professional is capable of applying sustainability in its professional environment. The sustainable professional can…. o Implement a change model for creating a Corporate Social Responsible (CSR) business or organization, o Effectively demonstrate the business case for CSR, o Put management decisions and initiatives in line with generally accepted norms and values of society and its own. o Understands people, planet, profit trends in business and values the importance of it for own professional environment.

Course objectives

After successful completion of this course the student will - Understand the various dimensions of sustainable development, - Apply the model of People, Planet, Profit (3 P’s) upon business and commodities and see the cause and effect of actions within this model. - Understand the systematical errors causing the ecological imbalance in the world of today. - Understand and apply several methods of measuring environmental impact - Understand the pillars of Corporate Social Responsible Business - Understand and formulate values underlying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - See business opportunities using the 3P’s and CSR theory, and become a part of a solution towards some of the major issues in the world.

Course Prerequisites

Preferable students should have a firm grasp of English and should be able to look at matters from a broad angle. Some empathy and affinity with ethical responsible behavior might also help to find this course interesting.

Didactic forms o Lectures, o Assignments (homework), o Class discussions, o Cases o Student presentations

Tests and assessments

Students need to make a portfolio about the following assignments. Assignment 7 will be used for the poster and final presentation

Assignment 1 Before we start the course Sustainable management, let’s do a zero measurement o Write 150-200 words about the following situation: o You live in 2030 and you have 2 kids 5 and 7 years old, how do you expect society looks like at that moment and what kind of future do you see for your children. Describe in your short story wealth, health, employment, and natural environment.

Assignment 2 o Calculate your ecological footprint: www.myfootprint.org o Bring tomorrow your footprint in planets and hectares. Which factors are being measured? o What is the country average for Finland, compare it with other countries: o The Netherlands o USA o China o Kenya

Assignment 3 o Bring two newspaper/magazine articles to class:

o One about a company being involved in a people, planet, profit issue in a positive way (best practice). How does this company align PPP? o One about a company involved in an issue in a negative way. How did this company respond to the issue?

Assignment 4 Visit Hans Rosling Gapminder site www.gapminder.org and load the gapminderworld software. o Compare Finland, USA, China and Kenya on

o CO2 emissions; which country emits most CO2 in total, and per capita? o Tax Revenues (% of GDP) o Battle deaths per 100.000 people o Internet users per 100 people o Water withdrawal (cu meters per person) o Improved sanitation, overall access (%) o Explain the differences you find.

Assignment 5 Find a company listed in Fortune Global 500 (2011), with GRI report. The company should also be in a dispute/controverse regarding CSR principles. o Check sources like: Economist / Business Week / Bloomberg / FT o centre of research international organizations; SOMO, OECD watch Check the CSR report on quality. Since how long do they report (and yearly)? What kind of GRI standard/level? Is it 3rd party audited/checked? Do they make use of (universal) standards? Like ISO, labels, LEED, etc. Are there other quality markers you can think of? What is the controversy about, regarding OECD guidelines, other regulation/standard. Describe the tension you found between CSR principles and the actual reality. What kind of CSR strategy does your company have?

Assignment 6

What is the marketing strategy of your CSR company? Give an example. What kind of labels/certification do they use to communicate their CSR policy/sustainability

What is their target group for their products? Do you consider them sincere? (e.g. is advertisement misleading or inspirational?) Evaluate together with assignment 5 the CSR policy of your company. Are they truly sustainable?

Assignment 7

Discuss in the team the findings of assignment 5 and 6. Select a company (only 1 company p. team) that is most interesting to share and use in a poster. What is the company doing in the field of CSR? What incident were they involved in? Are they truly CSR? How do they communicate it? Tell about Marketing strategy. Give a 5 minute presentation and make a 10 slide PowerPoint Assignment 8

Do the cultural Creative test. What is your score? Did you expect this? Do you consider this test to be valid and reliable?

Assignment 9

Evaluate the zero measurement. Did you change your mind? Why? Which parts of this course did influence you most? What is your stance towards CSR and Sustainable development?

Activities

Monday 7 May Introduction State of the Earth

Tuesday 8 May State of the Earth 2 Ecological Footprint Poverty and Development CSR and Sustainable Development

Wednesday 9 May Introduction to CSR CSR and International Business CSR and Marketing

Thursday 10 May Sustainable behaviour Social Context Vision for the Future

Friday 11 May Final presentation and posters

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