Sustainable Business Enterprises

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

business-strategy   |   Advanced   |   9 Hours

This course will explore current challenges and opportunities facing firms in the area of environmental sustainability. It will begin with an introduction to sustainability, with a particular focus on how environmental sustainability is relevant to business. Topics such as unsustainable consumption/consumer behavior, market research sustainable product design, sustainable value chains and communications will be covered. The bottom-up approach in terms of immersion, emersion, and design as applied to sustainable business enterprise will be covered. The course concludes with a summary of insights on global challenges in business, with particular focus on poverty and the environment, and on the unique approach employed here in terms of bottom-up immersion, emersion, design, innovation, and enterprise.

Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to:
•\tUnderstand the importance of sustainability for business
•\tLearn about specific topics consumer behavior, market research, product design, value chains and communications using the sustainability lens in business
•\tDesign solutions and develop enterprise plans for sustainable business initiatives
•\tApply the bottom-up approach for sustainable business initiatives in any context

This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.

What skills will you gain?

emerging markets

sustainability

sustainable business

Product Design

Innovation

sustainable consumption

consumer behaviour

triple bottom line

value chain

Market Research