BUSO 758E

Firms are increasingly confronted by issues of sustainability, whether via demand side or social pressures (e.g., through changing consumer preferences or pressure from NGOs), a quest for superior and sustained performance or a need to comply with regulation. Sustainability issues facing firms are multi-faceted and, in most cases, without clear strategic solutions. While it appears that firms must choose between sustainability and short-term profitability, in many cases sustainability related solutions can improve firm profitability.
The goal of this course is to better understand the overarching issues of sustainability, consider them in a series of industry specific examples and highlight market-based solutions to these problems. Within each context, we examine the underlying market failures that lead to suboptimal social and/or environmental outcomes along with commonly employed economic solutions to these problems. This course is designed to give you tools for solving sustainability related problems for both for profit and not for profit companies.