EMBA
The IMD EMBA program aims to “develop reflective, global leaders, who lead with personal responsibility and integrity, having a positive impact on their businesses and society.” Sustainability is integrated into the curriculum’s core courses, electives, and Discovery Expeditions.
ESG Fundamentals Stream Added to Advanced Management Concepts
In 2022, a new stream on ESG fundamentals was introduced to Advanced Management Concepts (AMC), a five-week online program that is a prerequisite to advance to the mastery stage of the degree program.
Taught by Professor of Sustainable Innovation and Business Transformation Julia Binder, the stream focuses on the fact that the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy requires corporate and financial sectors that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. The stream emphasizes that to deliver the required business model transformation at speed and scale, a change in mindset is needed, where positive environmental and social impacts and returns are not positioned on opposite sides of the spectrum.
“The EMBA presents several opportunities for our participants to incorporate ESG-related themes into their assignments and projects. By introducing the ESG fundamentals stream to AMC we are now providing them with a strong foundation to address pressing social and environmental challenges as part of their studies. Since our assignments and projects are designed for our participants to work directly with their companies, incorporating ESG principles has an immediate real-world impact.”
Vanina Farber, EMBA Dean
Women Leaders Featured in Peru Discovery Expedition
In 2022, EMBAs once again worked with impact investors in Peru to analyze a host of companies focused on using the power of business as a force for good. However, this year a gender focus was added, and the Discovery Expedition featured many women leaders.
This Discovery Expedition to Peru exposed participants to the current political, social, and economic context primarily through interactions with female government representatives, social entrepreneurs, and executives from large firms in sectors representative of the country’s economy and social reality.
The women leaders included Mercedes Araoz, former Vice-President of Peru, Rosario Bazan, Founder and CEO of Danper, and Carolina Cárdenas Sánchez, CEO of ANDIMETAL. The week culminated with EMBA participant teams each presenting due diligence on two social enterprises to a panel of impact investors.
“A major highlight of the Peru Discovery Expedition was being exposed to an exceptional group of women leaders who have excelled in male-dominated industries. A primary motivation for me to do the EMBA program was to develop my leadership abilities. The opportunity to learn from leaders who have had to overcome structural challenges to become successful has reinforced my belief in the importance of allyship in my leadership.”
Romain Chapeau, EMBA April 2023
Experiential Learning Focused on Sustainability
The goal of the Discovery Expedition to Silicon Valley was for participants to better understand what entrepreneurs do and how they think, and to put together all the pieces of the startup puzzle – the “idea-to-wealth” path – by meeting with people who create, execute, grow, and finance new firms. For some of the startups, the idea-to-wealth path also includes the “idea-to-wealth-to-social-impact” path. By dissecting these firms and preparing to pitch their businesses to investors, participants gain a better idea about the sort of information key players in Silicon Valley are looking for from startups seeking to have a positive social or environmental impact.
In 2022, EMBA participants worked with and developed pitches for the following sustainability-focused startups:
- Mithras, an ETH Zurich spin-off company founded in 2018 by a group of multidisciplinary experts. The company develops thermoelectric subsystems to harvest human body heat and turn it into usable electricity for consumer and medical wearable devices.
- SmartHelio, a cleantech startup that optimizes return on investment for both solar rooftop and mini/micro-grid companies and their clients using IoT sensor technology and AI-based data analytics.
- Perovskia, a Swiss cleantech startup commercializing digitally printed perovskite solar cells. It is focused on transforming how solar cells will be adopted in electronic and IoT devices and sensors.
EMBA Case Writing Assignments Feature Sustainability Themes
As part of the EMBA program, participants work with faculty to write a case study. The central learning objective of the case assignment is for participants to analyze and diagnose a real business issue from different perspectives and then create a narrative that encapsulates relevant learning for other leaders.
In 2022, several cases focused on sustainability-related issues:
- Japanese automaker Toyota’s plans to transform itself from a traditional car manufacturer into a mobility company, to adapt to the technological changes of the CASE (connected, autonomous, shared, electric) era.
- Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods holding company, which faced the dilemma of choosing between driving its own sustainability-centric Transformational Strategy and pioneering the definition of industry sustainability standards through its role as co-chair of the Responsible Jewellery Council SDG Taskforce.
- Sodexo, a French food services and facilities management company which was a true pioneer of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) topics such as gender equality and social justice. However, the gap between Sodexo and its competitors has narrowed, and participants worked on a case that addressed the company’s need to revitalize its CSR strategy so that it can once again be industry-leading.