Understanding the need for a sustainable business

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Understanding the need for a sustainable business

This course is part of Sustainable Business Strategy for Future Leaders Specialization

Instructor: Haider Ali

Included with

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Understand the mega-trends and drivers influencing the change in consumer preference and business landscapes towards sustainable impact outcomes.
Frame and scope new business challenges, strategically grounded in contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

9 assignments

Taught in English

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Sustainable Business Strategy for Future Leaders Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

This course will help you to discover the features of sustainable business and how you can adopt these for business success.

You will gain a high-level understanding of the critical ‘big picture’ issues facing humanity today and learn how we can address them through innovation development and implementation. You’ll consider implications for businesses arising from UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). You will assess existing business design and innovation approaches to problem solving in a sustainability context. Via text-based resources and task books, you’ll gain comprehensive understanding and benefit from in-depth reference points as you formulate your ideas and plans.

This week introduces the basics of the course structure and suggests ways to make the most of the course content. You will explore what sustainable business is and how it functions.

What's included

9 readings2 assignments3 discussion prompts

9 readings Total 35 minutes

Welcome to the course 4 minutes
Course requirements 6 minutes
Engaging with your tasks 7 minutes
Shifting towards sustainable business 3 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 3 minutes
Defining sustainable business 3 minutes
Shifting towards triple bottom line thinking 5 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 2 minutes
Week 1 summary 2 minutes

2 assignments Total 60 minutes

How much do you know already? 30 minutes
Week 1 assignment 30 minutes

3 discussion prompts Total 20 minutes

Your task: Introduce yourself 10 minutes
Your task: What is sustainable business? 5 minutes
Your task: Triple bottom line companies 5 minutes

This week explores why sustainable business is vital for a desirable future. You will examine why sustainable business is an effective way to contribute towards dealing with collective grand challenges and ‘wicked problems’. You will also see how sustainable business can have an impact at the overall ecosystem level, helping to leave the world a better place than we found it.

What's included

11 readings2 assignments4 discussion prompts

11 readings Total 53 minutes

Welcome to Week 2 3 minutes
Why we need sustainable business 9 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 3 minutes
Why do the figures continue to get worse? 7 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 2 minutes
Sustainable business: invention and innovation 6 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 3 minutes
Innovation ambition matrix 6 minutes
Your task: Deciding on your sustainable business or innovation ambitions (Part 1) 10 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 2 minutes
Week 2 summary 2 minutes

2 assignments Total 60 minutes

Week 2 self-assessment 30 minutes
Week 2 assignment 30 minutes

4 discussion prompts Total 30 minutes

Your task: Significant environmental impacts in your own lifetime 5 minutes
Your task: Reflecting on your own day-to-day impacts 10 minutes
Your task: Differences between invention and innovation 5 minutes
Your task: Deciding on your sustainable business or innovation ambitions (Part 2) 10 minutes

This week, you will identify ways that sustainable business opportunities drive positive change. You will also learn how to implement sustainable business in practice, drawing on inspirational cases and practical guidance on engaging divergent stakeholders. At the same time, you will appreciate the key needs and problems across stakeholder ecosystems and ways that these allow you to frame business opportunity spaces.

What's included

1 video11 readings2 assignments2 discussion prompts

1 video Total 1 minute

Video 1.1 Do you know all 17 SDGs? 1 minute

11 readings Total 62 minutes

Welcome to Week 3 2 minutes
Relating sustainable business to grand challenges 7 minutes
Sustainability issues, targets and goals 10 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 2 minutes
The 17 UN SDGs and your challenge space 2 minutes
Your task: UN SDG opportunity mapping tool 25 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 2 minutes
COVID-19’s impact on the SDGs 4 minutes
Post-COVID-19 change 4 minutes
Thoughts from your course instructor 2 minutes
Week 3 summary 2 minutes

2 assignments Total 60 minutes

Week 3 self-assessment 30 minutes
Week 3 assignment 30 minutes

2 discussion prompts Total 60 minutes

Your task: Do you know all 17 SDGs? 45 minutes
Your task: Reflect on your experiences 15 minutes

This week, you will examine how to engage different stakeholders along a common, sustainable vision and mission.

What's included

9 readings3 assignments1 discussion prompt

9 readings Total 61 minutes

Welcome to Week 4 3 minutes
Existing business design approaches 3 minutes
Moving beyond the desirability–viability–feasibility approach 7 minutes
Breaking away from the dominant logic 2 minutes
Best of both worlds: a combination of approaches 8 minutes
Your task: Stakeholders in your problem space 15 minutes
Linking triple bottom line to new business design 9 minutes
Your task: Identifying stakeholders with the highest influence 10 minutes
Conclusion and next steps 4 minutes

3 assignments Total 65 minutes

Limitations of existing approaches 5 minutes
Week 4 self-assessment 30 minutes
Course graded assignment 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 3 minutes

Your task: Reflect on the course 3 minutes

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Instructor

Haider Ali

The Open University

4 Courses 1,177 learners

Offered by

The Open University

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Frequently asked questions

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.