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 S-Lab: Laboratory for Sustainable Business  posted by  member150_php   on 3/5/2009  Add Courseware to favorites Add To Favorites  
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Abstract/Syllabus:

Sterman, John, Rebecca Henderson, Richard Locke, and Sarah Slaughter, 15.992 S-Lab: Laboratory for Sustainable Business, Spring 2008. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 10 Jul, 2010). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

S-Lab: Laboratory for Sustainable Business

Spring 2008

World map showing ecological footprint by region.
The area of each country has been distorted to represent its consumption, i.e. its ecological footprint. Countries which appear larger than normal are consuming more than their fair earth share and smaller countries are consuming less. (Image courtesy of Jerrad Pierce. Used with permission.)

Course Description

How can we translate real-world challenges into future business opportunities? How can individuals, organizations, and society learn and undergo change at the pace needed to stave off worsening problems? Today, organizations of all kinds—traditional manufacturing firms, those that extract resources, a huge variety of new start-ups, services, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types, among many others—are tackling these very questions. For some, the massive challenges of moving towards sustainability offer real opportunities for new products and services, for reinventing old ones, or for solving problems in new ways. The course aims to provide participants with access and in-depth exposure to firms that are actively grappling with the sustainability-related issues through cases, readings and guest speakers.

Technical Requirements

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .xls.

Syllabus

Introduction

How can we translate real-world challenges into future business opportunities? How can individuals, organizations, and society learn and undergo change at the pace needed to stave off worsening problems? Today, organizations of all kinds—traditional manufacturing firms, those that extract resources, a huge variety of new start-ups, services, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types, among many others—are tackling these very questions. For some, the massive challenges of moving towards sustainability offer real opportunities—opportunities for new products and services, for reinventing old ones, or for solving problems in new ways. Other organizations tackling sustainability are engaged in very real struggles in which the solutions are far from obvious. Alongside our questions about the problems of sustainability and how to reconcile free-market capitalism with the need for more sustainable business practices are real questions about how to move along the path towards sustainability.

This course seeks to address these questions by providing students with:

  1. in-depth knowledge of the various sustainability issues we face today;
  2. a set of analytical tools and frameworks that will help you understand/analyze as well as impact these issues; and
  3. experience working with a firm or organization currently developing new business models (or reforming existing ones) in line with sustainable development.

The course aims to provide participants with access and in-depth exposure to firms that are actively grappling with the sustainability-related issues through cases, readings and guest speakers.

Given the enormous challenges we face as a society and as a species, this course is focused around the question "what can companies do?" Our hope is to explore the wide variety of ways in which commercial firms are already responding to problems like global climate change, environmental degradation and social dislocation in order to support you in crafting a response that is committed both to the reality of "the bottom line" and to the need to sustain the natural and human systems on which we all rely. The course will be taught through a mixture of case studies, readings, class discussion and class visitors. A particularly important feature is the term project — a "live" project during which participants will work in groups of three to four people with an organization that has requested the Sloan School's help in thinking through an issue related to sustainability. Prior projects have included work with large companies like Disney, Intel and Nike, smaller companies like Good Energies, GoLoCo and Green Fuel Technologies and NGOs like MiBanco.

Grading

ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Class participation and attendance 30%
Project work plan 5%
Intermediate report 20%
Final report 45%

Missing Class

We have designed this class as an integrated whole, and if you miss class it makes it very difficult to maintain a coherent conversation. You'll miss ideas and concepts — many of them raised by your colleagues — that are not in the readings and you'll have a more difficult time contributing to the discussion. So if for some reason you are forced to miss class (and we hope that this will be a very rare occurrence!), please let the teaching assistants know in advance. We'll ask you to write up a "two pager" — a brief response to the discussion questions for the day that you will miss — and we'll also talk about how to keep you current with the conversation. Should you miss more than one class without alerting us in advance and writing up a "two pager," you will fail the course.

Calendar

Speakers

Henderson = Rebecca M. Henderson
Locke = Richard M. Locke
Slaughter = Sarah Slaughter
Sterman = John Sterman

SES # TOPICS SPEAKERS KEY DATES
Framing the challenge
I. Introduction
1 Course overview Locke; Lorrie Vogel, Manager, Nike "Considered" Brand Assignment 1 out
2 The state of the world Sterman Assignment 1 due
3 Organizational response Henderson  
Framing a response
I. Get your own house in order
4 Redefining traditional business models Locke; Ricardo Marini, Banco Itau  
5 Walking the talk: sustainability and new product development Locke Project bids due two days before Ses #5
6 Sustainable retail. Can big box stores really go green? Sterman  
II. Restructure the supply chain
7 Ensuring sustainability along the supply chain Locke  
8 Ensuring the sustainability of shared resources Henderson  
9 Social sustainability and labor standards Locke Work plan due
III. Be aware of what is possible
10 What is legal? What is politically feasible? Locke; Jeff Shames, MIT Sloan  
11 Pause for reflection: everything's connected    
IV. Build a new industry (or rebuild an old one)
12 Alternative transportation networks: simulation Sterman  
13 Case example of alternative transportation opportunities Sterman Interim report due
14 Energy efficiency as a new market Henderson Assignment 2 out
15 Green buildings: new markets and services Slaughter Assignment 2 due
16 Sustainable infrastructure and international markets Slaughter  
17 Organic foods: creation of a new industry Henderson  
18 Growth with vision Henderson  
V. Change the world
19 Action at the macro level: setting a price for carbon Sterman  
20 Action at the industry and societal levels: industry collaborations, certification efforts, and partnerships with NGOs Locke; Peter Senge  
21 Action at the community level Henderson; Bill Reed  
22 Individual action Sterman Draft final report due
VI. Summary
23 Poster session: project presentations   Project poster due
24 Reflections   Final report due



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