Columbia MBA Says B-Schools Need to be Green

earth_dayearthColumbia Business School‘s Public Offering post celebrates Earth Day today by explaining why business schools need to be green. Christopher Baker (’09), co-founder of the Green Business Club at CBS, says sustainability and environmental issues are here to stay and touch upon so many policy issues, regardless of one’s political persuasion.

Here are some highlights from Baker’s post:

Today, some of the world’s largest and best-run companies, including DuPont, GE, Sony, 3M and Coca-Cola, have already recognized the reality that their industry landscapes will be profoundly impacted by a greater focus on the environment….Given the direction in which these industry bellwethers are moving, business schools must start paying attention. The limited supply of managers educated in both business and the environment creates enormous opportunities for those students coming out of school with knowledge of both these areas.

Columbia Business School has been quick to recognize this, responding with a number of theoretical and practical learning opportunities for its students. Course offerings such as Finance & Sustainability, Green Marketing and New Developments in Energy Markets focus specifically on how students can maximize organizational performance in light of environmental opportunities. Practical experience in the form of cutting-edge programming and activities has been supplied by the recently formed Green Business Club, which had a membership of almost 200 students in its first year on campus.

Columbia Business School is creating leaders who truly understand the importance of environmental impacts on business performance. While more apprehensive managers may think it unwise to divert their attention to environmental issues until absolutely necessary, savvy executives will see the advantages of being first-movers. For institutions with the mandate of preparing forward-thinking, strategic leaders, now is the time to start focusing on environmentally sustainable business. And that starts here, at business school.

For more thoughts on the green MBA movement, check out yesterday’s post, “Five Good Reasons for Going Green,” on my BNET blog. I interviewed Clifford Schorer, a professor at Columbia’s Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, to find out what benefits he thinks green business practices have to offer.

 

(photo credit: Carmen Baez-Molina, Earth Day Network)

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