S-Lab: Laboratory for Sustainable Business

Readings

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
Framing the challenge
I. Introduction
1	Course overview	Case Locke, Richard M. “The Promise and Perils of Globalization: The Case of Nike.” Chapter 3 in Management: Inventing and Delivering Its Future. Edited by Thomas A. Kochan and Richard Schmalensee. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, pp. 39-70. ISBN: 9780262112826. Required “Nike, Inc. Case Summary.” The NaturalStep, 2003. “Innovate for a Better World.” Nike FY05-06 Corporate Responsibility Report. Beaverton, OR: Nike, Inc., 2006. (Read chapter 4, “Considered Design and the Environment” and skim chapter 3, “Workers in Contract Factories.”) Jana, Reena. “Quality over Green: Nike’s New Air Jordan.” Business Week, January 25, 2008. (Skim) Recommended Locke, Richard, and Monica Romis. “Improving Work Conditions in a Global Supply Chain.” MIT Sloan Management Review 48, no. 2 (2007): 54-62. Roberts, Dexter, and Peter Engardino. “Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops.” Business Week, November 27, 2006, pp. 50-56.
2	The state of the world	Required Gilman, Nils, Doug Randall, and Peter Schwartz. “Impacts of Climate Change” Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States. May 2008." Global Business Network, 2007. Wackernagel, Mathis, et al. “Tracking the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy.” PNAS 99, no. 15 (2002): 9266-9271. Holdren, John. “Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being.” Science 319, no. 1 (2008): 424-434. Recommended Cohen, Joel. “Human Population: The Next Half Century.” Science 302 (2003): 1172-1175. Jenkins, Martin. “Prospects for Biodiversity.” Science 302 (2003): 1175-1177. Pauly, Daniel, et al. “Future of Fisheries.” Science 302 (2003): 1359-1361.
3	Organizational response	Required Barringer, Felicity. “In Many Communities, It’s Not Easy Going Green.” New York Times, February 7, 2008. Repenning, Nelson, and John Sterman. “Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems That Never Happened.” California Management Review 43, no. 4 (2001): 64-88. (PDF) Repenning, Nelson, Paulo Goncalves, and Laura J. Black. “Past the Tipping Point: The Persistence of Firefighting in Product Development.” California Management Review 43, no. 4 (2001): 44-63. (PDF)
Framing a response
I. Get your own house in order
4	Redefining traditional business models	Case Kanter, Rosabeth, and Ricardo Reisen De Pinho. “Banco Real: Banking on Sustainability.” Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-305-100, April 13, 2005. Required Porter, Michael, and Mark Kramer. “Strategy and Society.” Harvard Business Review 12 (2006): 78-92.
5	Walking the talk: sustainability and new product development	Case Lee, Deishin, and Lionel Bony. “Cradle-to-Cradle Design at Herman Miller: Moving Toward Environmental Sustainability.” Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-607-003, May 30, 2007. Required Walker, Brian. “You Are Only As Green As Your Supply Chain.” Harvard Business Review, February 6, 2008. Recommended “Our Journey Toward a Better World.” Zeeland, MI: Herman Miller, Inc. “A Message from Brian Walker, CEO.” Fiscal Year 2005. Zeeland, MI: Herman Miller, Inc., 2006. (PDF) Svoboda, Susan. “Note on Life Cycle Analysis.” Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1995. (PDF) Robert, K. H., et al. “Strategic Sustainable Development: Selection, Design and Synergies of Applied Tools.” Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002): 197-214.
6	Sustainable retail. Can big box stores really go green?	Case Plambeck, Erica, and Lyn Denend. “Walmart’s Sustainability Strategy.” Stanford Graduate School of Business Case. Stanford, CA: Stanford Graduate School of Business. Case: OIT-71, April 17, 2007.
II. Restructure the supply chain
7	Ensuring sustainability along the supply chain	Cases Reinhardt, Forest. “Nestle: Sustainable Agriculture Initiative.” Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-705-018, December 10, 2004. Lee, Hau, et al. “Starbucks Corporation: Building A Sustainable Supply Chain.” Stanford Graduate School of Business Case. Stanford, CA: Stanford Graduate School of Business. Case: GS-54, May 1, 2007.
8	Ensuring the sustainability of shared resources	Required The Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between “Suits and Sandals?” International Institute for Management Development, December 2002. Berkes, F., et al. “Globalization, Roving Bandits, and Marine Resources.” Science 311, no. 5767 (2006): 1557-1558.
9	Social sustainability and labor standards	Case Bartlett, Christopher A., Vincent Dessain, and Anders Sjoman. “IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor, Cases A and B.” Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-906-414; 9-906-415, May 3, 2006. Recommended Locke, Richard M., and Monica Romis. “Improving Work Conditions in a Global Supply Chain.” Sloan Management Review 48, no. 2 (2007): 53-62. Locke, Richard M., Fei Qin, and Alberto Brause. “Does Monitoring Improve Labor Standards? Lessons from Nike.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 61, no. 1 (2007): 3-31.
III. Be aware of what is possible
10	What is legal? What is politically feasible?	Required Elhauge, Einer. “Corporate Managers’ Operational Discretion to Sacrifice Corporate Profits in the Public Interest.” Chapter 2 in Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms. Edited by Bruce Hay, Robert Stavins, and Richard Vietor. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 2005. ISBN: 9781933115030. Hoffman, Andrew. “The Coming Market Shift: Business Strategy and Climate Change.” Chapter 7 in Cut Carbon, Grow Profits: Business Strategies for Managing Climate Change and Sustainability. Edited by Kenny Tang and Ruth Yeoh. London, UK: Middlesex University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781904750154.
11	Pause for reflection: everything’s connected	Required Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162, no. 3859 (1968): 1243-1248. Locke, Richard M. “Building Trust.” Draft Article. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, 2008. (PDF)
IV. Build a new industry (or rebuild an old one)
12	Alternative transportation networks: simulation	Required Struben, Jeroen, and John Sterman. “Transition Challenges for Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Transportation Systems.” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 35, no. 6 (2008): 1070-1097. Romm, Joseph. “The Hype about Hydrogen.” Issues in Science and Technology 20, no. 3 (2004): 74-81. Sperling, Daniel, and Joan Ogden. “The Hope for Hydrogen.” Issues in Science and Technology 20, no. 3 (2004): 82-86. Recommended Lovins, Amory, and Brett Williams. “A Strategy for the Hydrogen Transition.” Paper presented at the 10th Annual U.S. Hydrogen Meeting, National Hydrogen Association. Vienna, Virginia, April 7-9, 1999. (PDF) Fargione, Joseph, et al. “Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt.” Science 319, no. 5867 (2008): 1235-1238. Searchinger, Timothy, et al. “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change.” Science 319, no. 5867 (2008): 1238-1240.
13	Case example of alternative transportation opportunities	Required Saillant, Roger. “What the Grand Cathedrals Tell Us about Sustainable Practice.” International Journal for Sustainable Business 11, no. 7 (2004): 17-20.
14	Energy efficiency as a new market	Case Reavis, Cate, Nick Hofmeister, and Rebecca Henderson. “Gridlogix.” Draft Case. 2008.
15	Green buildings: new markets and services	Required “Investing in the Environment: The Financial Industry’s Approach to Green Building.” Environmental Building News 16, no. 11 (2007). Kats, Gregory. “Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits.” Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, 2003. (PDF) Miller, Norman, Jay Spivey, and Andy Florance. “Does Green Pay Off?” Draft Article, 2010. (PDF)
16	Sustainable infrastructure and international markets	Required Kotkin, Joel. “Opinion: Road Work.” Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2007. Gertner, Jon. “The Future is Drying Up.” New York Times Magazine, October 21, 2007.
17	Organic foods: creation of a new industry	Case Miller, Katherine, and Nancy F. Koehn. “John Mackey and Whole Foods Market.” Harvard Business School Case. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Case: 9-807-111, April 18, 2007.
18	Growth with vision	Required Porter, Michael, and Mark Kramer. “Strategy and Society.” Harvard Business Review, no. 12 (2006): 78-92. Elhauge, Einer. “Sacrificing Corporate Profits.” New York University Law Review 80, no. 3 (2005): 733-869. Hoffman, Andrew. “The Coming Market Shift: Business Strategy and Climate Change.” Chapter 7 in Cut Carbon, Grow Profits: Business Strategies for Managing Climate Change and Sustainability. Edited by Kenny Tang and Ruth Yeoh. London, UK: Middlesex University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781904750154.
V. Change the world
19	Action at the macro level: setting a price for carbon	Required Scharlemann, J. P. W., and W. F. Laurance. “How Green are Biofuels?” Science 319, no. 5859 (2008): 43-44. Gore, Al. “New Thinking on the Climate Crisis.” TED Ideas Worth Spreading, March 2008. Video lecture. Ball, Jeffrey. “Two Carbon-Market Millionaires Take a Hit as U.N. Clamps Down.” Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2008. ———. “U.N. Effort to Curtail Emissions in Turmoil.” Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2008. “Hot Politics.” PBS, April 24, 2007. Video documentary. Meadows, Donella. “The Limits to Growth Revisited.” In The Global Citizen. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991, pp. 29-33. ISBN: 9781559630580.
20	Action at the industry and societal levels: industry collaborations, certification efforts, and partnerships with NGOs	Required Senge, Peter. “Unconventional Allies: Coke and WWF Partner for Sustainable Water.” Chapter 7 in The Necessary Revolution. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 2008. ISBN: 9780385519014. (PDF)
21	Action at the community level	Required Reed, Bill. “The Integrative Design Process: Changing Our Mental Model.” Arlington, MA: LEED, April 20, 2006. ———. “A Living Systems Approach to Design.” Theme Keynote Address for the AIA National Convention, San Antonio, TX, May 2007. Playa Viva. “Playa Viva Community.” Watch all seven videos by Playa Viva.
22	Individual action	Required Meadows, Donella. “Living Lightly and Inconsistently on the Land.” In The Global Citizen. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991, pp. 15-17. ISBN: 9781559630580. ———. “The Limits to Growth Revisited.” In The Global Citizen. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991, pp. 29-33. ISBN: 9781559630580.
VI. Summary
23	Poster session: project presentations
24	Reflections