Business leaders and environmental challenges: An examination of Masters of Business Administration coursework

In the early 1990s global business leaders, scientists and policy makers acknowledged to an unprecedented degree the relationship between environmental problems and business practice. A better understanding of the relationship between business practice and environmental health is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth. Business schools are key cites for the education and training of the worlds future business leaders. This study addressed the degree to which nine critical issues emerging from research and policy literature on the interaction between business and the environment are incorporated in the curricula of business schools. These issues are: entrepreneurship and business innovation, the profit motive, bio-diversity, the use of natural resources, consumer behavior, pollution, government regulation, market approaches to environmental protection, and environmental restoration.; In a 2003 survey of 100 schools the World Resource Institute and Aspen Institute identified 26 schools that, according to their criteria, have begun to address environmental issues meaningfully. Of these schools, eight were chosen for data collection. Thirteen faculty members from these eight MBA programs were interviewed about the courses they taught. The data were recorded and transcribed. The transcribed data were used to conduct content analysis and develop a thick description of how respondents think about the issues studied.; Courses were ranked in accordance with the degree to which they incorporated the critical issues raised by the literature. The ranking were: a High Level of Incorporation, a Medium Level of Incorporation and a Low level of Incorporation. A High Level of Incorporation denotes that the responses given by a participant suggested he or she incorporated a critical issue as a major pedagogical component for a course. A Medium Level of Incorporation denotes that the responses given by a participant suggested he or she examined a critical issue in some depth, but that the issue was not a major pedagogical component for the course. A Low Level of Incorporation denotes that the responses given by a participant suggested he or she addressed a critical issue in little detail and only as a peripheral issue in relation to the overall course content.; The results of this study suggest that the critical issues emerging from research and policy literature arising from the study of the interaction between business and the environment are not a significant component of the MBA courses examined. This study also found that the critical issues most often taught were: entrepreneurship and business innovation, the profit motive, and pollution. And the critical issues least often taught were: bio-diversity, consumer behavior, and environmental restoration. There seemed to be little relationship between institutional characteristics and the incorporation of the critical issues.