60095-DuBois

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABILITY:

HOW COMPANIES ARE PROSPERING BY GOING GREEN

Spring 2015

Tuesday 6:35 – 9:20 pm

Bowman Room 204

MIS 44009 & BAD 60095

3 credits

INSTRUCTOR

Name: Dr. David DuBois

E-mail: david.a.dubois.phd@gmail.com

Phone: 330-612-2773

Office hours: Tuesday, by appointment only (send email to schedule a time)

READINGS

The text for this course The Sustainable MBA by Giselle Weybrecht (second edition). It’s available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also, additional required readings will be posted each week.

COURSE WEBSITE

Website: We will use Blackboard to exchange announcements, files, links, and other resources. We may add a wiki to help us exchange information.

OVERVIEW

This course will introduce you to the range of issues, ideas, and concepts involved with ‘going green’—helping organizations become more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. For example, we will explore renewable energy, green buildings, transportation, food and health, the environment and waste management. We will explore how these issues are connected, and what opportunities for jobs, careers, and companies this new direction creates. While our focus will be on business organizations and understanding the business reasons and drivers for why organizations are embracing this concept, we will also touch on the choices and impacts this will have on individuals and communities.

The basic premise of sustainability for organizations is that successful organizations are ones that can effectively balance the goals of profitability with environmental stewardship and social responsibility. This is the triple bottom line of sustainability: People, Planet, Profit.

The focus of this course is on understanding environmental challenges and identifying useful solutions that may also present profitable opportunities.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The goals for this course are the following:

1. Introduce you to the basic terminology, concepts, and issues of environmental and social sustainability—‘going green’, and the business opportunities it presents.

2. Provide an integrated perspective on how the variety of challenges are interrelated, and the ways that organizations are responding to them.

3. Understand models and tools for individual and organizational behavior change.

4. Introduce you to the wide variety of new jobs, careers, and organizations that are emerging from the response to existing environmental challenges.

5. Use sustainability as a framework to understand business holistically – business models and missions, value creation and profitability, operations and supply chains.

6. Develop your personal skills in:

· Speaking / Presentation

· Teamwork

· Leadership

· Networking and making new friends

COURSE FORMAT

This class will be taught in a blended learning format. We will have some class presentations—by the instructor, guest lecturers, and by each of you. When class meets we will combine some lecture with discussion, group exercises, and student presentations. A lively learning environment is available for everyone when we are engaged in dynamic discussions. Successful students will come to class having read all assigned material. When everyone is prepared, class is more enjoyable for all (including you!), and everyone (including me!) learns more effectively. To help with this, we will have weekly quizzes on the assigned material. Class participation and team contributions are important parts of your grade!

GRADING

Final grades will be comprised of the following:

Quizzes 20%

Participation 20%

Peer grade 10%

Instructor grade 10%

Presentations (2) 20%

Project 20%

Final Exam/Paper 20%

Total 100%

Optional bonus project 10%

QUIZZES

There will be a quiz at each class, covering the assigned readings.

CLASS PREPARATION AND PARTICIPATION

Successful students arrive at class ready to discuss and apply assigned material. Active participation in class is an integral part of this course, both for class discussions and small group work. Arrive at class having thought about the material; bring your notes on chapters, video segments and readings, as well as a list of questions to ask. Use discussions to bring up your personal and work experiences that are salient to course material. Be prepared to be called on to state main points of assigned material at any time! Your responses will significantly impact your grade.

Recognize that class participation is a subjective thing – I can’t tally how many times you speak or the quality of what you say in some objective manner. It's your responsibility to make sure I notice your contributions. It’s your responsibility to take the initiative to speak (rather than my responsibility to call on you if you do not raise your hand – though I do this regularly.) Class preparation/participation comprises an important portion of your grade in this course.

Classroom attendance is part of the participation grade. Please notify the professor if you will be unable to attend. For two or more absences, contact the professor to discuss options for making up the absence. Typically, that will involve a short (2 page) paper.

Green in the News presentations, and your participation in discussions, are also part of the participation grade.

Also note that half of your participation grade is determined by your peers. Your active participation in your teams – sharing information, taking initiative, helping each other, supporting the group, etc., -- being a good team player results in great feedback from your peers.

PROJECT

We have a couple of different opportunities for projects in this class. We will discuss options in February, after hearing from KSU’s sustainability officer about projects on campus.

PRESENTATIONS

You will give two presentations during the course, in addition to your portion of the final team project presentation. The purpose of these presentations is to help you gain additional depth in an area of sustainability, and to provide opportunities for you to develop your presentation and discussion skills.

Topic Presentation. Each team will prepare and present material on a sustainability topics, corresponding to a chapter in the textbook. In addition to summarizing and leading discussion about the chapter, this presentation is expected to incorporate additional material from 4-5 key references. References should come from sources such as the Harvard Business Review, MIT/Sloan, consulting firms such as McKenzie, and others of that quality. Shorter articles from Business Week, Forbes, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, etc. can also be included in the mix.

‘Green in the News’ Presentations (2). This 2 minute presentation will consist of a brief summary of the *highlights* of a sustainability (ES)-related article that appeared in the recent popular press (articles no older than 6 months past; from newspapers, internet news sites, magazines like Business Week or Newsweek). See the “Green in the News” resources at the end of the syllabus. Additionally, every student will briefly comment/note on an article they read, each week.

Presentation style has a significant impact on the effectiveness of your presentations. Give your presentation as if you were presenting in a major organization. Dress appropriately, look at and connect with your audience, “own” the material you are presenting, monitor your time, smile and present with energy. Be sure to clearly state why this is relevant to your classmates, and/or to your community, or to the business community.

We will have 2 or 3 ‘Green in the News’ presentations each class period, and one topic presentation by a team. The presenter has 2 minutes for ‘Green in the News’ presentations. Topic presentations should be about 20 minutes, with another 20 minutes for questions, discussions, and an exercise.

Project Presentations (1). Each team will give a 30 minute presentation on their class project. This might be a case presentation, an in-depth view of a topic not previously presented in class (e.g., on biomimicry, green design, green buildings, etc.), or on a project outside of class (e.g., a Kent State sustainability initiative). The main purpose of Project, Project Presentation, and Final Exam/Paper is to help you holistically integrate the material from the class.

FINAL EXAM / PAPER

There will be a final exam that covers the basic content of the course. It will be a multiple choice test, about 40 questions that covers the full range of topics, readings, and presentations (e.g., guest lectures, instructor presentations).

Alternately, you may write a 5 page, double-spaced paper to explore one of the issues, companies, or green jobs of your choosing. If you elect this option, you MUST let Dr. DuBois know that you wish to pursue this option by the end of March, and come to an agreement about the topic.

Writing Guidelines

Effective written and oral communication skills are highly influential in your life success. Professional writing used in organizational communications is concise and well organized. Communications that contain rambling paragraphs or lack clear sections are simply not effective (and often not even read!).

Format your writing for this class to make your message ‘jump off the page’. To do this, incorporate the following elements into your writing: make liberal use of “bullet points” – phrases that effectively summarize ideas (use appropriate terms and be succinct), subheadings, numbered lists, outlines, and Tables of Contents. Be sure to write full sentences when needed, when your message cannot be clearly communicated in more abbreviated form; avoid complex sentences and lengthy paragraphs. Say a lot with little writing; use page space wisely and attractively; make every word count. Quality of writing is superior to great quantity of writing.

For some of you this will come easily, because you already incorporate these elements in your writing. For others it will be challenging, for you are accustomed to being ‘long-winded’ because you have previously been rewarded with high grades when you turn in lengthy prose. However, because it is not appropriate in a business setting, lengthy prose will earn low grades in this class!

Information from the KSU College of Business Administration

The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course

A. Students attending the course who do not have proper prerequisites risk deregistration from the class.

B. Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Student Tools on Flashline) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section. Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Sunday, January 31, 2010 to correct the error with your advising office. If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

C. Academic Honesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit. The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense. It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course. Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

D. For Spring 2015, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, April 4, 2010. Withdrawal before the deadline results in a "W" on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade will be reported.

E. Students with disabilities: University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access equal access course content. If you have documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures).

‘GREEN IN THE NEWS’ RESOURCES

www.GreenBiz.com

US Green Building Council (Founder of LEEDs)

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=1399

Wikipedia Environmental Portal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Environment

American Solar Energy Society

http://www.ases.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=22

IBM Smarter Planet

http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/?ca=agus_brspnonfllp-20090227&me=psearch&met=google&re=smart_earth_mkwid_sAC073109T3482_4690573123_432spytgm4qw01052&S_TACT=106AW01W&cm_mmc=agus_brspnonfllp-20090227-106AW01W-_-k-_-google-_-smart_earth_mkwid_sAC073109T3482_4690573123_432spytgm4qw01052

American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy

http://www.aceee.org/press/index.htm