Greener Business Majors: MBA Students Want More Sustainability Instruction

Recently, a majority of MBA students at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder signed a letter strongly stating that the reason they chose the school was for its leadership position in sustainability and they encouraged the school to add more courses and opportunities related to this emerging field of management.

In a few short years, eco-friendly practices have gone from being new-fangled selling points to becoming essential requirements, with states vying with each other to offer incentives and legislation that promote green technology and business. While the corporate world is scrambling to devise strategies to address sustainability, business schools across the country have been incorporating it into their curriculum for the past several years, both in response to student demand and in line with industry trends.

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Comments

[joebiz]

When I received my 'real' MBA, the business environment was full of obnoxious hucksters and crooks: ENRON, TYCO, etc. Soon after B-schools began offering courses in business ethics (an obvious contradiction in terms). Business schools will do what is good for the bottom line, market it self as the "ethics" or "green" or "international" school. It will niche.

Let's not hope that green business is just a fad, but a viable alternative that will improve our conditions through bettering the environment (making it cleaner, greener, healthier, less wasteful, etc)

Good ways to make business more green is to implement a recycling program; cut down on waste, especially on paper products; turn off electric appliances when not in the office or cubicle, etc.

[trueblueredstater]

Well, there may be hope for the MBAs yet. Back in the 80's and 90's we used to worry that our employers were run by MBAs who were only concerned about this quarters financials. Now we have CEOs that obsess about the stock price - this week.

What is really scary is the possibility of nuclear power - think of it - an industry with a toxic byproduct that has a half-life of 90K years+, in the hands of people whose primary focus is this week. And, lest you think that the government will mandate safety inspectors - how long do you think those inspectors will last when the CEO needs to lay some people of to bump up the price on his stock options?

[OldKnute]

Jobiz,

You said it, These eager, brainy, hopeful youth will get plugged right into the structure that gave us Enron, disconnected Mortgage Writers armed with ARMs and other,, *COUGH* ,, Innovative financial instruments,,, rated as AAA paper.

Bush claims that Wall Street got drunk!

Guess what! On whose watch?

Yes,, while Bush was on the Beam,,,,, Jim Beam.

Oh and the medical breakthroughs that Bush tells us came out of the war in Iraq. Perhaps this is progress,,,, BUT progress at a horrible price. And I am NOT talking of the Trillions this war has cost us.

Wow all,,,, Just think,,,, the next time your are blown out of your Toyota by an IED,,, Bush says you will be OK.

Can GREEN jobs save America?

Hell yes,,, they WILL!

Jobiz,, I pray for these kids too!

GO America GO!

GO GREEN!

All the best

Knute

[dukeitout]

Any school that offers you business courses in "sustainablilty" should be avoided. What in the world do you think they're really talking about? No wonder we're having another economic crisis.

[mjt218]

Anyone notice how quickly GM pulled their "green" flex-fuel ads after Time and Rolling Stone published articles damning corn ethanol?

I'd appreciate it if anyone would share some insights into exactly what these sustainability programs teach. Do they teach how to position your company to take advantage of government tax and subsidy programs to actually have a positive impact on the bottom line? Do they teach about what kind of impact green marketing can have on your bottom line? Or to they actually teach real corporate responsiblity?

[KillTheMessenger]

If all you have is an MBA, you will always be looked down in your company by those who have a real degree. It really does not matter what they teach you or how you behave. Just the fact that you did an MBA instead of a real degree tells a lot about your personality.

And having taught computer science to MBAs I can see why. The first time around half the class tried to cheat their way through the exams. Needless to say, half the class failed. I had never seen anything like it as a physicist. In science you learn the material because you want to understand nature, not because you need the credits to graduate. But a large fraction of my MBA students did not care about the material. All they wanted was the credits and they were very surprised that they could not get them in the CS class without an actual learning effort. But I have to say to their credit that the second time around most people who had failed the first year did OK. I guess they could learn, albeit grudgingly, after all. But why they had to try to cheat the first time around is beyond me.

[KOisGod]

That's because they were itching to get a job and start scamming someone, or better yet get into MARKETING, so they can devise those 'get out of debt assistance' ads.