Sustainability Strategies (Fall Semester 2025)

General Information

General Information

Registration

Registration via KSL. Password for the course materials on ILIAS will be announced during the first lecture.

The registration will be open from the 1st of August 2025 until the 22nd of September 2025.

Preconditions

Students attending the course must have completed the “Einführungsstudium”, exceptions may be granted upon request.

Teaching Approach and Perfomance Evaluation

General Information

The course will be taught on a weekly basis. An excursion to the BOGA (Botanical Garden of the University of Bern) as well as two guest lectures from practitioners will be taking place during the usual hours.
 

Evaluation

Group project grade: 50%, of which 25% is the grade for presentation (presentation quality, content, question addressing) 25% grade for deliverable (3-page written report)

Written exam grade: 50% (Mini case-study exam, in-person.)

Details regarding the evaluation modalities will be provided in class.

Course Description

How do large and small organizations deal with sustainability challenges? What are the implications for strategies and business models?

This course dives into the concepts of environmental and social organizational sustainability to understand what kinds of strategies organizations apply to deal with sustainability challenges. It starts with mapping the different drivers of organizational sustainability and what this implies for the re/pro-active actions of organizations. It then considers how different sizes of organizations, from startups to multinational corporations address these challenges: How do they differ in their approaches, what similarities can be found? What are the challenges and/or opportunities related to each type of organizational size? The course then moves to discuss the circular business models and the related topic of supply chain sustainability. Finally, it moves towards understanding how to assess/measure sustainability issues and discusses how potential tensions between social, environmental, and financial goals might arise and how they can be resolved.

Particular key questions that are addressed during this course:

• What is organizational (environmental and social) sustainability?
• What are the drivers of organizational sustainability?
• What types of sustainability strategies exist; how do they differ?
• How do larger organizations, SMEs and entrepreneurs pursue sustainability strategies?
• What are the challenges and opportunities for sustainability strategies?

The course will be a mixture of classical lecture with slides and case studies with illustrative examples. The course will leave enough room for critical open discussions.

Performance Evaluation & Teaching Approach

To receive ECTS, both of the three following elements have to be completed:

• Written exam (60%)
• Participation in class (20%)
• Group assignment (30%), consists of the presentation grade (15%) and the deliverable grade (15%)

Attendance of all classes is mandatory.

The course will be a mixture of classical lecture with slides and case studies with illustrative examples. The course will leave enough room for critical open discussions. Two guest lectures (representatives from 1 large and 1 small organization) will complement the knowledge from a practical perspective. In the final sessions, student will hold presentations of their group work.

Goals and Learning Outcomes

Students will have an overview and knowledge of the concepts of organizational sustainability, social and environmental. They will be able to understand what drives environmental and social sustainability pursuit of organizations. They will also have a general understanding of what types of strategies are promising in different sizes of organizations, as well as the differences between larger and smaller organizations. Finally, they will be able to critically reflect on the challenges and tensions organizations face when implementing sustainability strategies, in particular related to economic constraints, but also between environmental and social goals.

They will further learn to apply their knowledge to analyze case-studies and a company of their choice in the group work, drafting strategies these organizations might employ to address social and/or environmental challenges. They will not only learn from the course instructor, but also from the actual cases, from the practitioners that hold guest lectures, but also from their interactions amongst them and from the feedback and discussions related to their group work. Lastly, they will sharpen their presentation and feedback skills when presenting their chosen organization in the group work in front of their peers.

Course Material

Course Materials will be provided for each session on ILIAS.

Course Overview

Location: Room 105, Main Building, Hochschulstrasse 4