Sustainable business development

Quote

"Useful! Sustainability from a new perspective."

- Student

Layout

The course module comprises 1 credit and consists of three parts. The teaching material is adapted to the subject area of each educational programme with, for example, industry-specific company examples.

Part 1 - Lectures at KTH

Purpose: To create a common platform for continued learning about sustainable business development.
Objective: To acquire knowledge on:

• Definitions
• Historical reflection
• International outlook
• Existing frameworks and tools
• The company's driving forces for working with sustainability

The lectures are given by KTH's teachers. Alternatively, ÅF's staff can be engaged at a cost.

Part 2 - Group work at ÅF's headquarters in Solna

Purpose: To provide in-depth knowledge of sustainable business development in practice.
Objective: To acquire knowledge on:

• The company's driving forces for working with sustainability
• Practical sustainability work (description of relevant issues and processes in companies for managing the areas of environment, human rights, anti-corruption and working conditions)

Group exercise in the form of an overview company analysis from a sustainability perspective, as well as the reporting of this and joint final discussion.

Part 3 - Assignment

Based on the outcome of the group exercise and the joint final discussion, students write one fictitious memo per group (approximately 1/2 A4 page) with economic arguments and sustainability recommendations to the management of one of the selected companies in the group exercise.

Issues:

• Where do you see opportunities for increased income, reduced costs and improved environmental and sustainability performance?
• Does the company need to change its business idea or business model to become more sustainable?

Examination

Written assignment in group, based on the group exercise and discussion. Grade, pass or fail. Parts of the course are mandatory.

Course material

The course material is based on current literature in the field and is based on ÅF's experience of practical work with sustainable business development in companies.

For access to lecture material, contact sustainability@kth.se

Course literature

For the students, the mandatory course literature consists of the following reports, as well as information on websites, annual reports, sustainability reports, etc., which are required to complete the group assignment.

• The Worldwatch Institute (2015). [LL1] State of the World 2015 – Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability. Chapter 1: “The Seeds of Modern Threats” by Michael Renner.
• Porter, M., & Kramer, M. (2011). Creating shared value, Harvard Business Review. Reprint R1101C www.hbr.org
• Circular Advantage: Innovative Business Models and Technologies that Create Value. Accenture. (2015) Read more on accenture.com

Additional material:

• BSR/GlobeScan (September 2015). State of Sustainable Business Survey 2015. Read more on bsr.org
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) www.globalreporting.org
• United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) www.unglobalcompact.org
• Borglund, T. et al (2012), CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – A guide to corporate responsibility, Sanoma Utbildning AB, Stockholm.

The course module's teaching material is based largely on the book CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility - A guide to corporate responsibility, written by researchers at, amongst others Stockholm School of Economics with thorough knowledge and experience of sustainable entrepreneurship. The book can be helpful as reference material for the teacher, but also as additional material for the students.

Background

In the context of KTH's ongoing commitment to environment and sustainable development, ÅF has worked with KTH (supported by ÅF's research foundation ÅForsk), to develop a course module in the area of Sustainable Business Development with 1 credit. A first version of the course module was developed in 2012 and since 2013 has been a standing element in the course AG1812 Environmental Economics (7.5 credits), which is given in Cycle 3 of the Degree Programme in Energy and Environment. There has been further development and adaptation to more educational programmes and, during 2015, the module was implemented in different courses on a further three masters and bachelor engineering programmes.

Contact

If you are interested in introducing the module into programmes or courses, contact KTH Sustainability Office, sustainability@kth.se