Program Feature
Environmental issues and business
Green Isn't Just the Color of Money at the Moore
School
Today’s students at the Moore School of Business want to learn more about sustainable development because they believe environmental issues are important, says Dr. Phillip E. Barnes, research professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of the Environment. Business students also think that
understanding “ green” issues will help them be more competitive in the job market of the
21st century.
Barnes thinks they’re right.
“If you go to work today for the government, private industry, or anywhere, you need to understand sustainability issues,” says Barnes, who teaches a new course at Moore about environmental management. Called “International Business and Sustainable Development,” the graduate course gives an introduction to national and international environmental and social management issues that affect a company’s operations and management practices.
First offered in the fall of 2006, Barnes’ course included guest speakers such as Jacob Park, assistant professor of business and public policy at Green Mountain College in Vermont, who talked about the major factors that are driving the issues of environmental sustainability into the boardroom, such as global ecological deterioration and rapid international demand for energy. Representatives of Duke Energy and BMW also spoke about their companies’ efforts to apply the concept of sustainability and integrate it into daily business procedures.
Barnes’ Sustainable Development course is just one of several new courses and initiatives at Moore that are bringing environmental issues to the fore.
Dr. Andrew Spicer’s new graduate “Globalization and
Corporate Social Responsibility” course discusses the challenges of managing social responsibility
under conditions of rapid change in the global environment. (See
story.)
Dr. Nancy Buchan’s International Negotiation course also has an environmental component. Student groups compose negotiation planning documents to help them role-play in class during simulated negotiating sessions. Some of the course cases focus on “ green” issues, such as one involving an entertainment corporation (“Mouse”) that wants to locate a giant theme park in a rural farming area outside Paris. Supporters say it would be great for the area’s economy. Opponents say the park would impact the area’s agriculture and degrade its quality of life. Can this be resolved?
Another simulation involves a proposed dam in the Himalayas that would have high revenue potential for the government but also affect the trailhead of a famous trek, thereby exerting a long-term negative influence on the local environment. Is there a solution?
Elective courses such as Dr. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra’s “Doing Business in Latin America” looks at environmental issues such as pollution and corporate social responsibility. Dr. Robert J. Rolfe, too, includes numerous environmental issues in his course on “African Business Issues.”
Some of the required five-month internships that International MBA (IMBA) students must do have also begun to have an environmental flavor.
During the summer of 2006, 11 first-year IMBA students spent their international internships working for nonprofit organizations and economic development agencies such as World Vision and Friends of the Earth.
Finally, MBA students at the Moore School last year revived a campus group called Net Impact, whose mission is to help its members (MBA students and professionals) use their business skills to make a positive social, environmental, and economic impact. Jackie Flewelling, a former Peace Corps volunteer who received her IMBA degree in May, was president of Net Impact at Moore for the 2006-2007 school year.
“We did a number of activities this past year,” Flewelling said, including leading a tour of USC’s “green” dorm (West Quad), introducing various “green” initiatives on campus, and bringing speakers to campus to discuss social entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Moore’s Net Impact chapter also has a member who talks to professors, encouraging them to include social- and environmental-related cases and discussions in their courses.
Dr. Spicer is the Moore chapter’s faculty advisor.
Net Impact, based in San Francisco, has more than 130 student and professional chapters in 90 cities and 70 graduate schools on five continents.
Today’s students at the Moore School of Business want to learn more about sustainable development because they believe environmental issues are important, says Dr. Phillip E. Barnes, research professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of the Environment. Business students also think that
|
| Barnes |
Barnes thinks they’re right.
“If you go to work today for the government, private industry, or anywhere, you need to understand sustainability issues,” says Barnes, who teaches a new course at Moore about environmental management. Called “International Business and Sustainable Development,” the graduate course gives an introduction to national and international environmental and social management issues that affect a company’s operations and management practices.
First offered in the fall of 2006, Barnes’ course included guest speakers such as Jacob Park, assistant professor of business and public policy at Green Mountain College in Vermont, who talked about the major factors that are driving the issues of environmental sustainability into the boardroom, such as global ecological deterioration and rapid international demand for energy. Representatives of Duke Energy and BMW also spoke about their companies’ efforts to apply the concept of sustainability and integrate it into daily business procedures.
Barnes’ Sustainable Development course is just one of several new courses and initiatives at Moore that are bringing environmental issues to the fore.
|
| Spicer |
|
| Buchan |
|
| Cuervo-Cazurra |
Dr. Nancy Buchan’s International Negotiation course also has an environmental component. Student groups compose negotiation planning documents to help them role-play in class during simulated negotiating sessions. Some of the course cases focus on “ green” issues, such as one involving an entertainment corporation (“Mouse”) that wants to locate a giant theme park in a rural farming area outside Paris. Supporters say it would be great for the area’s economy. Opponents say the park would impact the area’s agriculture and degrade its quality of life. Can this be resolved?
Another simulation involves a proposed dam in the Himalayas that would have high revenue potential for the government but also affect the trailhead of a famous trek, thereby exerting a long-term negative influence on the local environment. Is there a solution?
Elective courses such as Dr. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra’s “Doing Business in Latin America” looks at environmental issues such as pollution and corporate social responsibility. Dr. Robert J. Rolfe, too, includes numerous environmental issues in his course on “African Business Issues.”
Some of the required five-month internships that International MBA (IMBA) students must do have also begun to have an environmental flavor.
During the summer of 2006, 11 first-year IMBA students spent their international internships working for nonprofit organizations and economic development agencies such as World Vision and Friends of the Earth.
Finally, MBA students at the Moore School last year revived a campus group called Net Impact, whose mission is to help its members (MBA students and professionals) use their business skills to make a positive social, environmental, and economic impact. Jackie Flewelling, a former Peace Corps volunteer who received her IMBA degree in May, was president of Net Impact at Moore for the 2006-2007 school year.
“We did a number of activities this past year,” Flewelling said, including leading a tour of USC’s “green” dorm (West Quad), introducing various “green” initiatives on campus, and bringing speakers to campus to discuss social entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Moore’s Net Impact chapter also has a member who talks to professors, encouraging them to include social- and environmental-related cases and discussions in their courses.
Dr. Spicer is the Moore chapter’s faculty advisor.
Net Impact, based in San Francisco, has more than 130 student and professional chapters in 90 cities and 70 graduate schools on five continents.
—Jan Collins