Introduction to Sustainable Development & Corporate Sustainability

2 Credit Core course to BM & HRM Students

XLRI Jamshedpur
Instructor: Dr. Tata L. Raghu Ram (Ph: 6653196; M: 9934360121)
The strategist who is unconcerned by sustainability is akin to an architect who cares not whether their building stands
or falls

James Mackenzie

Introduction
Sustainable Development (SD) in the corporate context has most commonly been interpreted to mean business
development that integrates socio-environmental and equitable benefit sharing concerns into decision making while
contributing to inter and intra-generational human well being. Various national and international policy and regulatory
frameworks have emerged to encourage adaptation of SD practices. Historically, businesses have treated SD concerns as
peripheral issues, outside the realm of mainstream business decision making. Social responsibility and environmental
management have been framed as added costs driven primarily by guilt or regulation. Over the last decade the
understanding of business and sustainability inter-linkages has undergone a paradigm shift. Balancing the often
conflicting stakeholder interests has emerged as a new business challenge. As Porter and Kramer (2011) framed it,
shared value creation (creating win-win outcomes for all stakeholders) has emerged the path forward for 21st century
business enterprises. In this context, to maximize a firms competitive advantage, managers should learn to include SD
concerns into the full range of business operations and strategic decision making. Even more importantly, they need to
be able to take advantage of the business opportunities inherent in societys demands for SD.
In a nutshell, SD aims to achieve a balance between economic (Profit), social (People) and environmental (Planet)
objectives. Many enterprises are now actively seeking to pull these together under a competitive strategy that captures
this triple bottom line. There is a real potential for competitive advantage to be increasingly rooted in such new
capabilities as resource optimization, designing for environment, social responsiveness, stakeholder engagement, going
beyond compliance and gaining social consent to operate etc.
This course is designed to sensitize and equip students with skills to navigate the interface of business and SD.

Course Objectives and Assurance of Learning Goals

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
Develop an understanding of the emerging national/global Sustainable Development trends and their relevance
to business management.
Develop stakeholder sensitivity to be able to drive managerial decisions to create shared value for inter and
intra-generational equity
Develop a familiarity with the various tools and frameworks that enable integration of SD concerns into business
decision making

Standard Text Book/reference material

*Course kit will have basic reading materials and URLs of important resources. Additional resources will be provided
as when required.
Sessions 1, 2
What is Sustainable Development?
Growth Vs. development
Complexity of inter and intra-generational equity
Strong sustainability Vs. weak sustainability
Concept of externalities and stakeholders
Marginal Abatement costs Vs. Marginal social costs
Friedman Vs. Freeman Vs. Shared value creation models
Why is it time to leave GDP behind

What is Corporate Sustainability?

How is it different from Sustainable Development?
Relevance of Corporate Sustainability in a globalized economy
Drivers of corporate Sustainability

Policy approaches to sustainability management

Precautionary principle
Command and control
Market based approaches

Readings
1. Introduction to Sustainability: Humanity and the Environment
2. Time to leave GDP behind (2014). Volume 505, Nature.
Session 3, 4

Sustainability management tools and systems concepts

Environmental Impact Assessment (www.iaia.org)
Social Impact Assessment (http://trasi.foundationcenter.org;
http://mckinseyonsociety.com/social-impact-assessment)
Circular Economy & industrial ecology (http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circulareconomy)
Life Cycle Assessment (The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Springer)
Environmental Managements Systems - ISO 14001
(http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso14000.htm)
Designing for Sustainability (http://www.d4s-de.org)
Extended Product Responsibility
(http://www.greenpeace.org/international/PageFiles/24472/epr.pdf)
Global Reporting Initiative (https://www.globalreporting.org)
Carbon disclosure project (www.cdp.net)

Session 5

Ecosystem services & corporate performance

Risks & opportunities arising from ecosystems change
Corporate ecosystem services review
Emerging markets for ecosystem services
Net Present Value of forests and CAMPA

Readings
1. Central Empowered Committee (2006). Calculation of net present value (NPV) payable on use of
forest land of different types for non-forest purposes
2. http://envfor.nic.in/content/report-revision-rates-npv-applicable-different-classcategoryforests-comments-invited
2

Sessions 6

Operations & Supply Chain Sustainability

Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation?
Integrating sustainability into supply chain management: Environmental Profit & Loss Accounts

Readings
1. Decoupling 2: technologies, opportunities and policy options
2. Remaking the industrial economy. McKinsey quarterly, 2014
3. Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahlad and M.R.Rangawamy (2009). Why sustainability is now the key
driver of innovation? Harvard Business Review
Sessions 7

Marketing and Corporate Sustainability

Responsible marketing
Sustainability as a driver of customer preferences and buying behavior
Market failure, green marketing opportunities, global Sustainable Public Procurement initiatives,
eco labels, green marketing myopia, sustainability for market penetration, expansion etc

Readings
1. Jacquelyn A. Ottman, Edwin R. Stafford, and Cathy L. Hartman (2006). Avoiding Green Marketing
Myopia. Environment. Volume 48, Number 5.
Session 8

Finance and Sustainability

Does it pay to be sustainable?
Principles for Responsible Investing
Socially Responsible Investing
DJSI / ESG India 50
Carbon Disclosure Project
Equator Principles
IFC sustainability due diligence frameworks
The value driver model

Readings
1. Does it pay to be green? A systematic overview
2. The value driver model: a tool for communicating the business value of sustainability
3. Dow Jones Sustainability Index. http://www.sustainability-index.com
Session 9

HRM, Organizational change and Leadership for Sustainability

Sustainability Leadership: Making Change Happen
Extending corporate sustainability to the human resource management and organizational
behavior domains

Readings
1. Egon Zehnder International (2009). Sustainability Leadership Making Change Happen: Part I The
Executive.
2. Frederick P.Morgeson et.al (2013). Extending corporate social responsibility research to the
human resource management and organizational behavior domains: a look to the future.
Personal Psychology (66).
Sessions 10

Strategic CSR
Companies Act, 2013 CSR and Class Actions

Session 11, 12

Strategy and Sustainability: Emerging Trends

Social consent to operate
How sustainability is driving strategy?
Cost reduction, risk avoidance, revenue generation, intangible value addition dimensions
The green onion. A corporate environmental strategy framework.
3

Shared value creation model implications for 21st century business

Readings
1. Porter, M and Kramer, M (2011). The big idea: creating shared value. Harvard Business Review,
89 (1,2).
2. The green onion. A corporate environmental strategy framework.
Session 13

Connecting the dots

Building national competitiveness through sustainability

Pedagogy
Each session will have 3 components:
1. Introduction and business relevance of the days topic by the instructor
2. Group project presentation
3. Discussion

: 45 minutes
: 20 minutes
: 20 minutes

Course Evaluation
1. Individual research on sustainability:

15%

Choose a sustainability topic/issue of your choice. Critically analyze the issue through research and submit a state of the
art article which will be no longer than 4 pages + references. You should have read at least 10 journal articles and
references should be cited. Submission will be due within 30 days of commencement of the course.

2. Attendance:

10%

In addition to 10%, absence from class beyond 2 sessions (with permission or otherwise), will attract 3 negative marks
per session. Missing 5 sessions or more will attract F grade. Leave of absence should be notified to the course
instructor. Requests for attending a class with another section will not be entertained.
3. Group project and presentation:

25% (15% for write-up + 10% for presentation)

From session 2 onwards, students in groups (5 students/group/roll number wise) will research and present on a preassigned topic. In addition, each group will conduct a thorough research on the topic and submit a 4 page write-up on
the state of the art. At least 10 research articles/reports should be read and citations need to be provided along with the
write-up. This requires that the groups shall interact with me at least 7 days before their presentation to finalize the
contents. Final presentation and write-up should be shared with me and other students at least 24 hours before the
class.
4. Quizzes:

10%

5. End-term:

40%

Group Presentations
Each group will make a presentation for 20 minutes. Very thoroughly researched presentations that go beyond the
readings provided in the course kit is what is expected. Please note that half-hearted efforts will not do. It is up to the
groups to demonstrate their scholarship and collective wisdom to make the presentations lively, relevant and count.
Group 1: Relevance of Ecological footprint (at individual, firm, and societal levels) to business decision making
Group 2: Life Cycle Assessment as a strategic tool
Group 3: Deriving strategic advantage through Industrial Ecology & circular economy
Group 4: Corporate ecosystem services review: Addressing business risk arising from ecosystem change
Group 5: Strategic advantages of Green supply chains
Group 6: Does Sustainability influence customer preferences and buying behavior?
Group 7: Sustainability as a strategic financial decision making tool
Group 8: The challenge of embedding sustainability in organizations: The role of HRM and leadership
Group 9: Driving competitive advantage through CSR
Group 10: Emergence of Green economy as a concept and its relevance to corporate strategy
Group 11: Relevance of sustainability to strategy: emerging trends
Group 12: Building regional/National competitiveness through sustainability

Grading
The course will follow the grading norm as suggested in the student manual.

Important instructions:
1. No repeat quizzes will be conducted.
2. The course instructor will have Zero tolerance towards plagiarism. All written submissions and group projects/ppts
shall pass through anti-plagiarism software. Plagiarism will attract F grade.
3. The course instructor will have Zero tolerance towards use of laptops, mobile phones, sleeping in the class,
reading some other courses material, proxy attendance etc.
4. No student will be allowed into the class after attendance is taken.