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2020/2021  KAN-CCMVI2086U  Green Ventures

English Title
Green Ventures

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 80
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Finbarr Bradley - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
For academic questions related to the course, please contact instructor Finbarr Bradley at fbr.msc@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • CSR and sustainability
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Management
Teaching methods
  • Online teaching
Last updated on 27/04/2021

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Be able to create real value, having studied the stories of successful green/sustainable ventures from around the world.
  • Integrate natural, financial, cultural and social resources to develop an entrepreneurial venture that improves the well-being of others, the local community, society and planet.
  • Demonstrate how to set-up an innovative venture leading to a self-reliant community nurtured by a regenerative local economy.
  • Identify the positive role that one’s identity, culture, local community and sense of place play in getting successful ventures off the ground.
  • Be capable, while striving to live a flourishing life oneself, of offering authentic producs and services that contribute to the welfare of both humans and non-humans.
Course prerequisites
None
Examination
Green Ventures:
Exam ECTS 7.5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Project
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer, Ordinary exam: Home Assignment: 22 June-30 July 2021. Please note that exam will start on the first teaching day and will run in parallel with the course.
Retake exam: 72-hour home assignment: 27 – 30 September 2021 – for all ISUP courses simultaneously
3rd attempt (2nd retake) exam: 72-hour home assignment: 22 – 25 November 2021 – for all ISUP courses simultaneously

Exam schedules available on https:/​/​www.cbs.dk/​uddannelse/​international-summer-university-programme-isup/​courses-and-exams
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Retake exam: 72-hour home project assignment, max. 10 pages, new exam question
Exam form for 3rd attempt (2nd retake): 72-hour home project assignment, max. 10 pages, new exam question
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach
A paradigm shift is urgently needed in the purpose and values of enterprises and individuals to counter problems such as biodiversity loss, global warming, climate change, deforestation, and income inequality. Relying solely on technical fixes, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and various market-driven approaches will not ensure a thriving society and planet.
 
This course helps students to understand how real value, that is integrated money and non-money values, is created and shared through the development of purpose-driven green or sustainable ventures. They explore the relationships between resources (eg, natural, financial, cultural, social) and the creation and sharing of value. Concepts such as regeneration, materialism, eco-design, circular economy and more, are covered.
 
Opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop meaningful solutions to reduce waste, foster ethical consumerism, reduce materialism and limit biodiversity loss are discussed. Emphasis is on examining inspiring and creative ventures in sectors such as food, arts, crafts, travel / tourism and renewable energy.
 
The critical role that a sense of self, belonging, rootedness and identity play, especially in community-owned and place-based ventures, is also explored. How individual entrepreneurs can flourish when they find meaning and purpose in their lives through developing authentic ventures that improve the well-being of themselves and the planet, is also discussed.
 
Students learn in classes that are as highly interactive through a combination of lectures, text, readings and case studies.
 
The home assignment / mini project consists of an essay (max. 15 pages) based on a self-reflective research topic that covers the main theme and issues that run through all classes (due by 23 July).
 
Preliminary assignment: Read Chapter 1 of our text ('Digging Deeper'), examine the website of the US company Patagonia, look at various Youtube videos of the company and prepare answers to 3 questions that focus on the Real Value created by the company and its success at achieving its overall mission and purpose, its business model and approach to sustainability.

Class 1: • Purpose-Driven Ventures & Real Value   
Summary: Overview of the course and introduction to concepts such as enterprise mission, purpose, real value creation, stakeholders and green entrepreneurship.                     
Text: Chapter 1
Case: Patagonia (Discussion - Preliminary Assignment)
 
Class 2: • Long-Term Oriented Ventures
Summary: Focus on enterprises that take a multi-generational perspective and examination of the role of risk-consciousness, resource-allocation, reputation and rejuvenation in creating long-lasting value for stakeholders.                   
Text: Chapter 2
Case: Method
 
Class 3: Self-Imposed Venture Limits 
Summary: Look at green ventures that recognize the need for self-limits, whether of people, environment, inequality or growth in exploring concepts such as eco-design, eco-efficiency, circular economy, industrial ecology , zero waste, and so forth.          
Text: Chapter 5
Case: Richard Henkel
 
Class 4: Green Venture Leadership
Summary: Look at the work of highly unorthodox leaders who set up ventures to find deep meaning in their own lives while contributing to the quality of life of others.              
Text: Chapter 7
Case: Sonnentor
 
Class 5: Community-Driven & Cooperative Ventures
Summary: Explore ventures with unconventional ownership approaches designed to foster self-help and create enduring relationships that nurture an environment of trust within communities.
Text: Chapter 3
Case: Regionalwert
 
Class 6: Place-Based Ventures
Summary: Examine competitive advantages and stewardship of ventures with a deep sense of place in a world where people increasingly care about where a product (or service) comes from, who made it and how it was made. 
Text: Chapter 4
Case: Inis Meáin
 
Feedback activity: A short paper (max. 2 pages) outlining progress to-date on his / her research report which is due at the end of the course
 
Class 7: Authentic Rooted Ventures [Food / Drink]
Summary: Explore products and services branded as green and authentic, rooted in unique or distinctive places, especially in food and drink sectors.              
Reading / Case: Bornholm
 
Class 8: • Transformative Ventures [Tourism / Travel]
Summary: Explore ventures, especially in tourism and travel sectors, that offer products and services where transformative experiences, shared meaning and innovative learning communities play a central role in the sustainable value creation process.
Case: Seaside Organics
 
Class 9: Green Innovation
Summary: Analysis of the entrepreneurial process, especially the crucial role played by learning, the arts, and looking at ways that green entrepreneurship differs from conventional entrepreneurship in both theory and practice.
Text: Chapter 6
Case: illycaffè
 
Class 10: Culture-Led Nordic Green Ventures
Summary: Highlight the role of culture in innovative Nordic ventures, focusing on those operating in the circular economy, bio-economy, cleantech, renewable energy and municipalities.             
Reading / Case: Green Growth in Nordic Regions
 
Class 11: The Future: Regenerative Ventures
Summary: Illuminate principles of living systems that regenerate themselves and the implications of this thinking for green ventures of the future.            
Reading / Case: Field Guide / Capital Institute
 
 
 
 
Description of the teaching methods
This year all courses are taught digitally over the Internet. Instructors will apply direct/live teaching through a link (like Skype, Team, Zoom). In some courses, pre-recorded material will also be used.
Feedback during the teaching period
The home assignment/mini project consists of an individual essay based on a self-reflective research topic that covers the main theme and issues that run through the lectures, readings and case studies. Feedback is given based on a short paper (max. 2 pages) submitted by the student after Class 6 outlining progress to-date on the research topic.
Student workload
Preliminary assignment 20 hours
Classroom attendance 33 hours
Preparation 126 hours
Feedback activity 7 hours
Examination 20 hours
Further Information
Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump- start 'the learning process.
 
Course timetable is available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams
 
We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams in March 2021.
Expected literature

Mandatory readings:

 

***Dietmar Sternad, James J. Kennelly & Finbarr Bradley, 'Digging Deeper: How Purpose-Driven Enterprises Create Real Value', Greenleaf Publishing / Routledge (UK), 2017 [ISBN 978-1-78353-539-2].
 
***Note: Students do not need to buy this book as all chapters covered will be put up in pdf. form on Canvas.

 

Additional relevant readings:

 

Canals L. Jordi, 'Rethinking the firm's mission and purpose', European Management Review, 7, 2010, pp. 195-204.
 
Michael E. Porter & Mark R. Kramer, 'Creating Shared Value', Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2011, pp. 62-77.
 
Anne Lise Kjaer, 'Emotional Consumption', Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies/Institute for Futures Studies, fo022006, pp.13-17.

 

UNEP, 'The Industrial Symbiosis in Kalundborg', Denmark, mimeo, no date.
 
Peter Volz, 'The Regionalwert AG - An Integrative Financing Concept for Sustainable Regional Transformation', Die Agronauten, 29 Mar 2011.

 

Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins & Paul Hawken, 'A Roadmap for Natural Capitalism', Harvard Management Review, May-June 1999, pp. 145-158.

 

Interview [with Amory Lovins], 'What Executives Don't Get About Sustainability', MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2009, pp. 35-40.

 

Bjarke Wiegand, 'Sustainability Increases Your Market Value', Focus Denmark, Autumn 2015.

 

David A. Lubin & Daniel C. Esty, 'The Sustainability Imperative', Harvard Business Review, May 2010, pp. 42-50.

 

Alex Markevich, 'The Evolution of Sustainability', MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2009, pp. 13-14.

 
Marjorie Kelly, 'Owning our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution' [Excerpt], Berrett-Koehler, 2012.
 
Paul Shrivastava & James J. Kennelly, 'Sustainability and Place-Based Enterprise', Organization & Environment, 26 (1), 2013, pp. 83-101.
 
Laura B. DeLind, 'Place, work, and civic agriculture: Common field for cultivation', Agriculture and Human Values, 19 (3), 2002, pp. 217-224.

 

Justin Fox & John Mackey, 'What is is Only I Can Do?', Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2011, 89 (1/2), pp. 119-123.

 

B. Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore, 'Welcome to the Experience Economy', Harvard Business Review, Jul-Aug 1998, pp. 97-105.

 

'The Rise of Transformative Travel: Shifting Towards Meaning, Purpose, and Personal Fulfillment', Skift Report, 2018.

 

Robert G. Eccles, Kathleen Miller Perkins & George Serafeim, 'How to Become a Sustainable Company', MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer 2012, pp. 43-50.

 

Ram Nidumolu, CK Prahalad & MR Rangaswami, 'Why Sustainability is Now the Key Driver of Innovation', Harvard Business Review, Sep 2009, pp. 56-64.
 
Neilli Mikkola, Linda Randall & Annika Hagberg (eds.), 'Green growth in Nordic regions: 50 ways to make it happen', Nordregio / Norden, Stockholm, Sweden, 2016. 
 
John Fullerton, 'Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Pattern Will Shape Our New Economy', Capital Institute, Apr 2015.
 
Duncan Austin, 'Greenwish: The Wishful Thinking Undermining the Ambition of Sustainable Business', Jul 2019.

 
Last updated on 27/04/2021