The “Green MBA”: Profit and Planet in Harmony

Today’s global economy has two faces: one of exponential growth in developing countries, and the flip side””a voracious ravaging of resources by developed nations. While some business leaders continue to march in step to the “more is better” mantra, others are realizing that business as usual is not sustainable for our planet. Hence, the emergence of the Green MBA.

A sustainable, or “Green”, MBA program includes the typical financial and management coursework of a traditional business school, as well as the study of managing for environmental and social sustainability. According to an article this week in the Seattle Times, these days, business schools across the country are incorporating the environmental and social costs of doing business into their curricula, and a few, such as Dominican University of California, aim for an all-green program. The Dominican program is one of a handful of such degrees; others include MBAs offered at Antioch University New England, the Presidio School of Management in San Francisco and the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Washington.

The move to balance economy and ecology is showing up all over, says Rich Leimsider, director of the Center for Business Education at The Aspen Institute, a leadership think tank which reports on how Master of Business Administration programs are adding social and environmental issues to their courses in its biennial “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” report.

The Stanford Graduate School of Business, ranked No. 1 in the 2005 Aspen report, introduced a joint-degree program for MBA students in environment and resources in April. On the East Coast, officials at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business plan to launch an initiative with Duke’s environmental school that will study the emerging field of doing business in a sustainable context and the advantages to the business community of coming up with innovative practices.

Read the full article here.

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