15.913 Strategies for Sustainable Business
Spring 2016
Instructors: Matthew Amengual, Jason Jesurum Jay, Bethany Patten, John Sterman
TAs: Carolyn Mansfield duPont, Rahul Arun Kulkarni, Samuel Chason Perlik, Kathryn A Shaw
Lecture: T, Th 10:00-11:30 (E62-276)
Information:
Today, organizations of all kinds—including high-profile brands, manufacturing firms, energy and resource producers, start-ups, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types—are tackling the massive challenges of sustainability. For some, this shift offers real opportunities to improve operations, reinvent products and services, and build new coalitions across sectors. Others are engaged in very real struggles in which the solutions are far from obvious. All grapple with difficult questions affecting strategy, operations, markets, and the core values of their organizations. What does “sustainability” mean? Is sustainability a threat or opportunity? How can we reconcile free-market capitalism with the need for more sustainable business practices? How can we translate these real-world challenges into future business opportunities? How can individuals, organizations, and society learn and change at the pace needed to create a sustainable world? Strategies for Sustainable Business explores the strategies of businesses and organizations through cases, in-class simulations, and speakers. The class is followed by the Sustainable Business Lab (S-Lab, 15.915) in which students work with a business or organization on sustainability strategies.
You can contact the TA's with the email s-labtas@mit.edu.
NOTE: We maintain a separate Stellar site for 15.915 where we keep detailed documents about the project component of the class.
Announcements
Impacts of nonstate, market-driven governance on Chilean forests
http://www.pnas.org/content/113/11/2910.abstract.html?etocAnnounced on 16 March 2016 8:02 a.m. by Gloria Clark Alonzo
Reminders for Assignment 3 & 15.915 workplan
Hi all,As a reminder, Assignment 3 is due at 11:59pm on Friday. As you work with your team on the assignment, please keep the following guidelines in mind:
- Support your analysis by citing a range of sources, both
internal (e.g., company sustainability reports, financial
documents) and external (e.g., media, academic analysis,
etc.)
- Explicitly draw on your class notes and apply class frameworks
and concepts in your analysis
For those of you taking S-Lab in H2, the workplan for 15.915 is also due on Friday at 11:59pm, and can be submitted through the 15.915 Stellar site. You only need to submit one assignment per team; just be sure all of your names are on it.
Assignment 2 comments are up on Stellar, and you should be able to see your grades shortly.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Cheers,
The teaching team
Announced on 09 March 2016 10:53 a.m. by Carolyn Mansfield duPont
Clarifications for Assignment 3
Hi all,We wanted to share a few clarifications on Assignment 3 as we've gotten a number of questions:
- The assignment is due Friday, March 11 at midnight.
- You should work in teams of 4 (or 3 if necessary). We encourage
you to work with your S-Lab team if you're taking 15.915;
otherwise, you should have already found or been assigned a team by
Katy. If you don't have a team, please contact the
TA's.
- You will be comparing two companies in the same industry. You
SHOULD NOT use the company that you wrote about for Assignment
1.
- You also SHOULD NOT use your S-Lab company, though you might want
to write about companies in the same industry to gain a better
understanding of the context that they're operating in.
If you have further questions, please let us know.
Best,
Carolyn & the TAs
Announced on 03 March 2016 3:21 p.m. by Carolyn Mansfield duPont
Fish mogul is alleged to have cheated quotas
Fish mogul is alleged to have cheated quotasAnnounced on 03 March 2016 1:59 p.m. by Gloria Clark Alonzo
The Scold, by Nick Paumgarten
The Scold, by Nick PaumgartenMr. Money Mustache's retirement (sort of) plan.
Announced on 02 March 2016 10:20 a.m. by Gloria Clark Alonzo
