Sustainability involves understanding the interconnections and dynamics of social, environmental, and economic systems over time and the complexities this brings.  Structured in three parts, the course takes participants through formulating, implementing, and assessing a sustainable strategy in the international context.

This course highlights that strategic management has deep roots in economic models, where economic success and financial health are critical to the success of the firm. However, this course also highlights that sustainability issues are challenging traditional business model approaches, and sustainability issues and challenges can influence the financial success and viability of firms. Sustainability issues provide both risks and opportunities for businesses by profoundly shaping the operating environment of businesses, both now and in the future.

The aim of this course is to enable participants to gain an understanding of integrating sustainability into the strategy formulation and evaluation process. Participants will be introduced to a number of frameworks which enable the assessment of sustainability at the macro-environmental, industry, and firm levels. This course aims to:

1. Create sustainable and responsible mindsets.
2. Enable an understanding of the interaction between social, economic, and environmental issues in dynamic and complex situations.
3. Foster a critical understanding of strategies and approaches to sustainability in the international context.
4. Develop an understanding of global, national, and local forces driving organisational behaviour and how these are incorporated into strategic decision-making and strategy implementation.

Attendance is a firm requirement of this course as many of the learning experiences take place during class and through interactions with peers. The attendance requirement is met if students are present for at least 80% of the scheduled sessions. Students who fail to meet the attendance requirement are de-registered from the course. Missing sessions will affect class participation credits and may also affect other graded components realized during class. In the exceptional case that you cannot attend a session due important reasons ( e.g., sick leave), you should provide proof of this.

This course adopts a multi-level approach, addressing how sustainability influences competitiveness. Topics include complexity, megatrends,   how businesses develop new business models, strategic analysis, the role of stakeholders and the development of KPIs. The class is highly interactive with mini lectures, small projects, workshop style classes and case studies.

Assignment 1 (20%): Blog: Leadership and sustainability mindset.

Assignment 2 (30%): Group Video Podcast: Evaluating strategy.

Assignment 3 (40%): Individual Report: Formulating a strategy

Class participation (10%)

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