The Sustainable MBA: A Business Guide to Sustainability (2nd ed. Wiley)

Whether you are an employee, a manager, an entrepreneur or a CEO, The Sustainable MBA: A Business Guide to Sustainability provides the knowledge and tools to help you ‘green’ your job and organisation, to turn sustainability talk into action for the benefit of your bottom line and society. The book is organised like a business school course, allowing you easy access to the relevant information you need about sustainability as it relates to Accounting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Finance, Marketing, Organizational Behavior and HR, Operations and Strategy.

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What is it about?

Based on more than 150 interviews with experts in business, international organizations, NGOs and universities from around the world, this book brings together all the pieces of the business and sustainability puzzle including:

What sustainability is, why you should be interested, how to get started, and what a sustainable organization looks like.
A wide range of tools, guidelines, techniques and concepts that you can use to implement sustainability practices.
Information on how to be a sustainability champion or intrapraneur in your organization including how to sell these ideas to your team and how to incorporate them into any job.
A survey of the exciting trends in sustainable business happening around the world.
A wealth of links to interesting resources for more information.

“rightly becoming essential reading, read it, re-read it, imbibe it and make it a core part of the way you do business.”

“It is hard to think of a more useful contribution to developing an understanding of sustainability amongst current and future business leaders.”

“gives graduates the tools to embed sustainability into their day to day business practices."

“highly relevant and utterly useful guide for executives and managers....”

“It will ensure that all future corporate leaders understand the benefits that sustainability can deliver...”

“A game changer!"

“first of its kind, has show how this can actually happen. A must for student researchers and practitioners.”

“The book has become an unarguable success story and leading companies are ordering copies for all their employees.”

Additional Information

Table of Contents

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xix

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE 1

Chapter 1: About this Book 3

Chapter 2: What is Sustainability? 13

Chapter 3: What does this Mean for Business? 23

Chapter 4: The Sustainability Journey 33

Chapter 5: Getting Started 41

PART II: THE CORE TOPICS 51

Chapter 6: Accounting 55

Chapter 7: Economics 85

Chapter 8: Entrepreneurship 123

Chapter 9: Ethics and Corporate Governance 153

Chapter 10: Finance 183

Chapter 11: Marketing 217

Chapter 12: Operations 255

Chapter 13: HR and Organizational Behavior 295

Chapter 14: Strategy 323

PART III: TOOLS 361

Chapter 15: Tools for Monitoring, Managing, and Improving Performance 363

Chapter 16: Tools for Greening Offices and Buildings 377

PART IV: WRAPPING IT ALL UP 399

Chapter 17: What Can I Do? 401

Chapter 18: What will the Future Bring? 409

Endnotes 435

Index 439

The Story Behind the Book

In 2005 after several years working with the UN in sustainability issues internationally, I left to pursue an MBA at London Business School to learn more about what the business sector was doing in this area. The original plan had been to then go and work on these issues from within a company, working to make changes from the inside out. However, once I started the MBA, I realized that students were not being adequately exposed to sustainability issues and had a very limited knowledge of what it all meant and how it could and was being applied to organizations of all shapes and sizes. By some estimates more than 60% of today’s business leaders have MBAs, not to mention those with undergraduate business degrees or that have passed through different executive training programmes. Most of these students are still getting limited training in sustainability issues if any at all.

How can sustainability really be taken seriously, really move forward, if every year thousands of new managers are entering the ranks of business without being exposed to these issues. This goes beyond just business students; it includes future law makers, government officials, engineers. Imagine the change a whole new generation of managers and leaders could have on the business sector if they were armed with the knowledge and the tools to explore sustainability in their businesses and their jobs, whatever job that may be.

After being approached by many students asking about sustainability options and careers, in second year I decided to do something about it. I started a project focused on understanding why sustainability was not being addressed in the curriculum and what could be done to change that. One of my findings was that in order to really reach all students, and not just those who were already interested in these issues, the information needed to be embedded into the material already being taught.

So rather than waiting for things to change, I started working on a booklet that would be made available to the students and alumni that would give clear information on what sustainability was and how managers could use it. It would be organized according to the different classes taught in the MBA so that students could easily follow it and use it as part of their core courses, or apply it to their businesses. It would be full of tips, tools and useful advice on how to bring these ideas to whatever career they chose post graduation.

The idea was so well received that upon graduation I looked at ways to scale things up. Wiley believed in the project and agreed to publish it internationally as a book. I then set out to interview over 150 experts from business leaders, sustainability experts from NGOs and international organizations, academics, students and young managers from around the world in order to make the book as relevant and useful as possible.

The Illustrations

At the beginning of all of the chapters of the book you will some wonderful little illustrations. These have been created by the very talented Paul Woolfenden. Paul lives and works in Paris. His wife is French and they have two children. His illustrations appear in Advertising, Publishing, the Press and Audiovisual communication. It’s possible his British sense of humour is tinged with a French accent.

This is what Paul had to say about the illustrations he created for the book…
“All but one of the illustrations show a stylized figure bearing a graphic feature loosely linked to the chapter heading. The aim of this combination is to mark the significance of the verb, to bear, as it denotes not only something to be sustained but also suggests a sense of responsibility. Advancing from right to left the figures meet the reader’s gaze, summarizing the dual nature of text – a combination of signs and sounds, thought and imagery.”

Paul Woolfenden / pauwool@free.fr / tel-fax 01 58 59 19 53

Endorsements

… The Sustainable MBA, offers a refreshing, straight-forward and highly readable tour of the challenges and opportunities facing businesses and employees in a rapidly changing and swiftly unfolding 21^st century. …This book offers the kind of advice people from all walks of life can appreciate and offers it in a down to earth and practical way.….”. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director UN Environment Programme

“… this books should be read by CEOs, CFOs, CSOs (the new breed of Chief Sustainability Officers) and everyone else in – or aspiring to enter – the C-Suite.” John Elkington, Co-Founder of Environmental Data Services, SustainAbility and Volans. Co-author of The Power of Unreasonable People (Harvard Business School Press, 2008).

“ Giselle has provided practicing managers with this helpful and thought-provoking green business guide.” Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean, London Business School

“This book … presents a comprehensive overview of business and sustainability issues structured around the core business functions from accounting through to strategy. Giselle’s book reminds us that jobs and age are not barriers to sustainable business practices – everyone can make a difference. “Katherine Madden, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

“… “The Sustainable MBA” will be a valuable guide for young graduates. It will give them the tools they need to embed sustainability into their day to day business practices in a way that is profitable both to their companies and to society as a whole”. Paul Polman, Chief Executive, Unilever

“If ‘people’ are central to the purpose of a business, then corporate responsibility or sustainability cannot be an add-on. …Giselle Weybrecht, in her comprehensive book, perhaps first of its kind, has shown how this can actually happen. The book is a must for management students, researchers and practitioners”. Anant G. Nadkarni Vice President – Corporate Sustainability – Tata Group

“The Sustainable MBA… is a highly relevant and utterly useful guide for executives and managers seeking to redefine business value in the spirit of sustainability.” Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact

“An essential read for managers and entrepreneurs alike,…” Tom Szaky, CEO Terracycle

“This groundbreaking book … is full of useful tips and advice for those looking to apply sustainability to their job, whatever job or business that may be.” Liz Maw, Executive Director, Net Impact

“…I hope the Sustainable MBA book becomes a prerequisite text for all MBA programmes as ’sustainability’ is a key issue that the next generation of managers cannot afford to miss.” Prof Eric Cornuel, Director General & CEO, EFMD

…. This book is a timely resource which will enable and empower many sectors of society to ‘fast forward’ their sustainable journeys. Martin Hancock Chief Operating Officer, Westpac London and Former Chair United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)

“…. Young people are the leaders of today who will deliver on the promise of tomorrow. This means that sustainability is no longer a passing trend for us but one we all must embrace. This book provides an excellent and necessary toolkit to guide young people in making a difference through their careers….”Aman Jain, President AIESEC International

… Tomorrows business leaders will need to understand the global sustainability debate so that their business’s may benefit from it. Many of those leaders will come through the MBA education process and this book will provide a excellent resource for them on that journey.” Will Oulton, Director Responsible Investment, FTSE Group

The global recession has highlighted the need for managers to build a more sustainable future; one that takes into account environmental and social issues and the potential devastating effects of climate change. “The Sustainable MBA – The Managers Guide to Green Business” will help the business leaders of tomorrow meet these challenges and build the sustainable future that we are all striving for.” Robert Tacon, Chair, UNEP Finance Initiative

“… The Sustainable MBA presents a timely and important case for comprehensively integrating ESG issues into business training.” Ernst Ligteringen, Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative

“The role of business is to make the world a better place….The Sustainable MBA will help us along this road with its abundance of thinking, tools, and resources.” Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi

Press

A selection (which I regularly forget to update) …

Sustainable Brands – Why Organizations still rely on games to teach sustainability

Small Business Trends – 10 Essential Reads for an Unpredictable Business Future

Cambridge Review – Book Review

The Telegraph – Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles: My Kind of Town

Inc.com – Why Business Schools Need to Teach Sustainability

Emerald Insights – Book Review The Sustainable MBA

CSR Wire: Feature on Giselle Weybrecht

PSFK – Future of Business School Illustrated Online Over 100 Days

Thomson Reuters – Reimagining the MBA, “Here and Now”

London Business School – For the third year in a row, all incoming students given copies of The Sustainable MBA