GRA 8331 Succeeding with Sustainable Growth
GRA 8331 Succeeding with Sustainable Growth
This course introduces green and sustainable growth as a field of leadership and strategy. Most studies show that the more sustainable businesses are better at attracting talent, managing risks, discovering new opportunities for innovation and collaborating with regulators. We spell out these links, discuss hybrid business models and explore the personal motivation and ethics of sustainability leadership. Participants will gain insight into the main differences between green economics and mainstream economics, learn how to create visions with broader purpose and set science-based targets. The course will give tools for analysing impact, applied AI, the latest reporting requirements (CSRD etc) and assessing opportunities for profitable healthy growth and impact investing under geopolitical uncertainty. We will also discuss controversies of “greenwashing”, the circular economy and radical resource productivity.
Upon completion, the student will be able to:
- Analyze how sustainability can improve corporate financial performance under scenarios of geopolitical uncertainty
- Analyze theories of Green Growth and how they relate to EU Green Deal and reporting
- Evaluate the main differences between conventional economics and Green / Ecological Economics
- Analyze business cases for improvements in circular economy and resource productivity
- Understand core concepts: planetary boundaries, carbon-, material- and ecological footprint, carbon budget etc
- Evaluate and analyze criteria for distinguishing greenwashing from green growth
Upon completion, the student will be able to:
- Create sustainability strategies, risks and opportunities tailored to any company by mastering green growth tools
- Analyse both low-hanging fruits and long-term breakthrough options, including applied AI
- Evaluate opportunities in the main sectors: buildings, transport, energy, food, industry, and public sector
- Analyse and calculate the business case for sustainability projects and impact investments
- Evaluate pitfalls and success criteria for the communication of climate and sustainability issues
General Competence (2026-2027)
Upon completion, the student will be able to:
- Assess the personal motivation and ethics of sustainability leadership
- Create an integrated sense of purpose for a greater good
- Evaluate ideology and motivation: how to resolve "sustainability versus profits dilemmas”?
- Analyze how to balance short- and long-term considerations in sustainable business
- Green Growth: Definitions, Current trends - future scenarios under geopolitical uncertainty
- Opportunities in the main sectors: buildings, transport, energy, industry, food, public sector
- "Green Economics" and mainstream economics
- How and why are "sustainability" and “profits” related
- "Greenwashing” vs green-hushing: When is “green” a fraud? Or real impact
- Applied AI for Sustainability Opportunities
- Circular economy and radical resource productivity - is sufficient decoupling of value creation from resource use possible?
- The communication of climate and sustainability issues
A mix of lectures, plenary discussions and case-work, as well a group-work on creating a green strategy improvement for a company, with group presentation. The course will integrate with and provide the sustainability requirements for the CP - consultancy projects.
Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.
Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.
The course is a part of a full Executive MBA programme and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.
In all BI Executive courses and programmes, there is a mutual requirement for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge.
Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.
Disclaimer
Changes in exam type can be made until the course starts. In addition, unforeseen events or external conditions may call for deviations in teaching and exams.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Exam/hand-in semester: Fourth Semester Weight: 60 Grouping: Individual Duration: 4 Week(s) Exam code: GRA 83311 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Exam/hand-in semester: Fourth Semester Weight: 40 Grouping: Group (2 - 6) Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Written assignment in groups, counts 40% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 83312 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 32 Hour(s) | |
Prepare for teaching | 25 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 63 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 4 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 110 hours.
This examination is based on the students' experience from the modules, with describing these including personal reflections and links to theories from curriculum.