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The H&M case is set immediately after the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. The case explores questions of who is to blame and how it should be addressed. There is no guarantee that H&M garment manufacturing had not been subcontracted to one of the factories…
Intel Corporation is a leading manufacturer of components found in nearly all electronics.Intel became aware that its supply chain for tantalum, tun, tungsten, and gold was fueling one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II.
Judy Wiles, president and owner of First Impressions, Inc., needs new ideas to market her temporary-food-service employment agency to lucrative private accounts in suburban Detroit.
Single-use packaging waste is invading all corners of the world. Wholesale change is urgently needed to create packaging that does not wreak havoc on our planet.
Venture capitalists Bill Campbell and Kipp Baratoff have a decision to make. They can either invest their hard-earned capital in one of two existing energy efficiency (EE) companies or create their own company that tackles…
In 2008, Hannah Jones, Nike’s new VP of Corporate Responsibility, wanted the company to be a leader in creating sustainable footwear, and subsequently developed a strategy for working with the product units to do so.
Sustainability case and module collection link within the Harvard Business Publishing website.
Do you have an idea that will drive business sustainability impact? Consider applying for Impact Project funding! Impact Projects are your opportunity to take your learning into your own hands. We offer financial support to help bring your ideas to life. Impact Projects have the additional benefit of helping to build your capacity and network and further your career goals. Past projects have included hands-on field experiences, prototyping for social enterprise start-ups, credentialed learning and certifications, as well as participation at sustainability conferences.
In addition to sourcing your own projects, you’ll also have an opportunity to work with organizations through projects sourced directly by the Erb Institute faculty and staff. We work closely with businesses and non-profit partners within our network to drive sustainability initiatives forward and scope projects where partners can leverage the knowledge and passion of Erb students and make progress towards their business and sustainability goals. You will have the opportunity to join specialized project teams in order to tackle pressing business challenges and provide recommendations to improve sustainability outcomes. Projects vary in length and students typically receive a stipend for their work. Past partner-led Impact Projects have been sourced from companies such as Amazon, Lime, Panera, and Carhartt.
As an Erb student, we’ll encourage you to take control of your own learning, think outside of the box, and create a project that will help you grow as a student and as a steward of the environment. On the largest scale, we’ve had students work with former Peace Corps partners to launch impact-driven projects.
While many Impact Projects are large in scale, we also offer this funding as an opportunity for you to take your learning outside of the University of Michigan campus. Utilize Impact Project funding to attend sustainability conferences, compete in case competitions, earn certifications, and present at symposiums.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, social, environmental and racial justice are a core part of our work at the Erb Institute. When you scope an Impact Project, we’ll encourage you to seek out projects that advance work at the nexus of business, sustainability, and justice.
This module provides a detailed discussion of the climate risks faced by corporations and financial institutions. Students will learn how climate data and climate models can be used to measure physical risks, that is the expected loss or damage of physical assets, such as residential and commercial properties, plants and equipment, caused by extreme weather events, for example, floods, windstorms, draughts and wildfires. The exposure of businesses to transition risks resulting from policy and legal changes as governments and societies adjust to lower carbon economies, will also be explored.
The traditional financial reporting model is deficient in two fundamental respects: (i) we set the cost of natural capital used by the business to zero; and (ii) we either under-emphasize or ignore accounting for externalities, both positive and negative, imposed by the business on other stakeholders.
The objective of this class is exploring one major aspect of natural capital and its attendant risks—related to climate. The focus is mostly on how companies, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, measure, disclose, govern and hence manage (or sometimes mis-manage) climate risk exposures.
The Paris Agreement of 2015 was meant to mobilize a global response to the threat of climate change, amid growing concerns by scientific experts, as documented in a series of IPCC reports. Since the Paris agreement was signed, hundreds of firms have made net zero emissions promises. Regulators and the investment community has been pushing firms to evaluate their climate risk exposure and the impact thereof on the firm’s business model and value drivers.
This is the workbook that accompanies my book Sustainability Simplified, releasing late October 2024.
It teaches the Spodek Method experientially. The Spodek Method is a leadership technique that leads people through intrinsic motivation, not extrinsic. It avoids convincing, cajoling, coercing, and otherwise relying on extrinsic motivation, which may get compliance but tends to reinforce beliefs driving the behavior we want to change.
It leads to changing culture.
Argus Farm Stop is a year-round farmers market store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The owners launched the business with a mission to improve support for local farmers and offer the community better access to locally-produced food.
Alexander Cooper is gearing up to lead an expansion strategy for the scrappy and super successful car sharing service, Uber. While the company has not been without its controversy, it is making headway in far off places like India…
Intel Corporation is a leading manufacturer of components found in nearly all electronics.Intel became aware that its supply chain for tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold was fueling one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II…
Carbon180’s co-founders are at a crossroads in reassessing their organization’s future strategy and vision to drive a new carbon-conscious economy. Because Noah Deich and Giana Amador believe ‘big challenges require big thinking,’ they have taken a multisector approach towards climate change solutions, working in business, policy, and research. This has resulted in some wins while at the same time challenging the resources of their small organization. Also, their funders recommend tighter focus. Carbon180 must weigh competing strategies to catalyze social change and make key decisions on whether a narrow or broad approach will best achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions.