Sustainable MBA

The traditional MBA degree (Masters in Business Administration) requires coursework and other study of business from a primarily financial standpoint, with some attention to management of people, to conventional economic theory, and to business ethics. A sustainable MBA program includes these subjects, and also study of managing for environmental and social sustainability. These programs are sometimes called Green MBAs.

Conceptual Foundation

Sustainability in these programs is generally defined to include economic, environmental, and social sustainability, collectively known as the Triple Bottom Line. For each of these domains, sustainability means that it will be possible to continue through the foreseeable future, at least, without major breakdowns, such as

* Economic: running out of oil or other natural resources and having nothing to replace them on the scale required
* Environmental: loss of habitat, species, and whole ecologies; global warming
* Social: overpopulation beyond the carrying capacity of the Earth; consequences of eliminating poverty within the current economic model

The environmental and social justice movements are sources for many of the issues, arguments, and research on sustainability, but the idea has firm roots in Classical Economics.

* Externalities: Economically significant effects of manufacturing and trade on those who are not part of the industry or market in question. The classic example of a negative externality is pollution, while the largest current issue is Global Warming. The literature has identified many others, and many positive externalities, and has proposed many controversial measures to improve the balance.

* Natural resources: Conventional accounting, including national accounts, treats extraction of finite natural resources as income, priced at the cost of extraction, and not as depletion of non-renewable Natural Capital. The resources of Nature come to us for free. They are of infinite value from the point of view of preserving and sustaining life, but may not be subject to trading in a market, as in the case of air for breathing, for agriculture, or for burning fuels.

* The problem of value: Conventional economics can describe the process of setting prices in a marketplace through the interaction of supply and demand, but cannot adequately explain value. (Though not for lack of trying. See Labor Theory of Value and Util for examples.) The most economists generally agree on is that an individual purchaser in a Free Market will only buy something worth more to that individual than the price, and that the seller values the goods less than the price, so that both sides come out ahead.

* Participation: The so-called Free Market is not free to those who have no access to it.

One of the themes of sustainable MBA education is the extent to which environmental and social sustainability can be achieved at a profit, a question by no means answered fully.

ustainable MBA programs

The following are some of the available sustainable or Green MBA programs.

* Anaheim University Kisho Kurokawa Green Institute
* Antioch University New England
* Bainbridge Graduate Institute
* Colorado State University - Global Social & Sustainable Enterprise program [http://www.csugsse.org]
* Dominican University of California
* Duquesne University - Donahue - Palumbo Schools of Business - MBA - Sustainability Program [http://mba.sustainability.duq.edu/]
* Green Mountain College
* Lipscomb University Sustainability MBA - Institute for Sustainable Practice [http://sustainability.lipscomb.edu]
* Marlboro College MBA in Managing for Sustainability [http://gradcenter.marlboro.edu/academics/MBA.html]
* Presidio School of Management of Alliant International University
* University of East Anglia - Norwich Business School: [http://www.carbonmba.com MBA - Strategic Carbon Management]

* University of Michigan - Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise

Rankings of Sustainable MBA programs

[http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/ Beyond Grey Pinstripes] , a program of [http://www.aspencbe.org/ the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (Aspen CBE)] , is a research survey and alternative ranking of business schools that spotlights innovative full-time MBA programs leading the way in the integration of issues concerning social and environmental stewardship in to the curriculum. Aspen CBE feels that these schools are preparing students for the reality of tomorrow's markets by equipping them with the social, environmental and economic perspectives required for business success in a competitive and fast changing world.

The survey results allow prospective and current students, faculty and administrators to compare best practice. For corporate recruiters and human resource executives, the results help identify the MBA graduates best equipped to lead business in the 21st century. The 2007-2008 Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings can be viewed here: [http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/rankings/index.cfm/ 2007-2008 Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings] .

In 2008, The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education published"The Aspen Institute Guide for Socially Responsible MBA Programs: 2008-2009", which provides an overview of how global MBA programs bring social impact management into their curricular and extracurricular programs. It was published by Berett-Koelher, and can be purchased at their site [http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=9781576756669] .

Criticism

Followers of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of economics often claim that business has no other duty than profits to shareholders, and that business therefore has a duty not to pursue environmental and social sustainability except where it increases profits. The extent to which such actions are profitable is much disputed. On the other hand, Friedman actually did not say [Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom: "There is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."] that the duty to shareholders was absolute: corporations also had a duty to obey the law and compete fairly.

The debate must then turn to the question of what laws may properly be placed on corporate behavior to prevent fraud and other forms of malfeasance, and to ensure open and free competition, with what enforcement mechanisms. Also, whether corporate lobbying for subsidies and other legally-mandated advantages is fair, given that it is economically inefficient and indeed harmful. This question turns in part on the honesty and effectiveness of governments, where results are decidedly mixed. It also turns in part on the honesty and effectiveness of public pressure groups. Results there are also decidedly mixed.

Criticism of sustainable or Green MBAs has also been heard from environmentalists and social activists. Some complain of corporate Greenwashing, that is, of companies pretending to be sustainable or Green by hiring graduates of these programs when the companies really are not. Some complain that the programs themselves are not sustainable enough.Fact|date=September 2007

Notes

Further reading

* Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins. ISBN 0-316-35300-0 ISBN-13: 978-0316353007
* The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success -- and How You Can Too, by Andrew W. Savitz and Karl Weber. ISBN 0-787-979074 ISBN-13: 978-0787979072
* Cradle-To-Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. ISBN 0-865-47587-3 ISBN-13: 978-0865475878