Open Programs
IMD has built out a portfolio of sustainability open programs across all modalities: face-to-face, blended with liVe virtual, and fully online. The new programs are tapping into increased demand for sustainability-related programming among executives.
More than 550 executives have completed the programs. Winning Sustainability Strategies tripled its number of participants in 2022 compared with 2020, while the number of participants in Leading Sustainable Business Transformation doubled in 2022 compared with 2021.
Driving Sustainability from the Boardroom
In 2022, IMD launched this new program aimed at equipping board members with the tools to tackle sustainability and ESG issues. The course enables participants to identify and leverage opportunities arising from the growing focus on sustainability and prevent ESG risks from spiraling into crises. Part of IMD’s collaboration with WBCSD, the program is led by Lundin Chair Professor of Sustainability Knut Haanaes and Professor of Finance Salvatore Cantale, with diverse IMD faculty, guest speakers, and activists also sharing their perspectives on this complex topic.
Driving Sustainability from the Boardroom draws heavily on experiential and interaction-based learning, using real-world situations and insights from case studies that shed light on the complexities ESG brings to the roles of board members. The course starts with a 10-day countdown program of online self-preparation in which participants receive short articles, videos, and reflection questions designed to level up their understanding of the topic.
This is followed by two days of immersive learning on campus, involving crisis simulations, interviews by activists, and an exploration of how to harness the upsides of ESG without falling into the trap of greenwashing.
Driving Innovative Finance for Impact
IMD also introduced this new program on innovative finance, an emerging field with important scope to improve development outcomes in fragile settings and beyond, in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Lombard Odier, and the World Economic Forum.
Directed by elea Professor for Social Innovation Vanina Farber, the program aims to equip leaders working in frontier markets with the skills needed to deliver innovative finance for humanitarian impact, including financial expertise, change management, and partnership building across the humanitarian, development, and private sectors. It also helps organizations to develop their capacity to lead innovative finance transactions in the humanitarian and development space and identify possible high-impact value opportunities.
During the first edition of the program, participants worked on seven impactful NFM projects to help these secure funding for implementation. These included:
- The CHF 40 million Goma West Resilient Water Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- The ICRC Climate and Environment Transition Fund, aimed at improving the organization’s carbon footprint and factoring climate and environment risks into its programs
- The ICRC Rapid Disbursing Debt Conversion Mechanism, which seeks to support debt relief efforts and mobilize additional funding for humanitarian impact in fragile settings
- Three water projects in Maiduguri, Montepuez and Benghazi
- A physical rehabilitation project for people with disabilities in Pakistan
The initial 2022 course attracted 44 participants, including ICRC field and HQ staff and representatives from trusted partners such as the Swiss government, the WEF, and the French Development Agency (AFD).
Orchestrating Winning Performance
IMD’s flagship Orchestrating Winning Performance program in Lausanne in June focused on sustainable and inclusive growth. Key sustainability streams and sessions included: “Sustainable and Inclusive Growth amidst the New Geopolitical Realities”, “Business and Society: Corporate Sustainability as the Art of Winning for both Shareholders and Society”, “Digital Sustainability for Profit and Planet”, and “Driving Social Impact through Innovative Financial Tools”. The program was offered fully virtually in September, including a session entitled “Sustainability: Business Risk or Opportunity”.
IMD also hosted the program in November in Singapore. Sessions included: “The Business Case for Sustainability? Managing Risks and Seizing Opportunities”, “Driving Change: How to Champion Sustainable Business Transformations”, “Crash Course on Equity”, and “How Digital Transformation can help you Implement Your Sustainability Strategy”.
Reinventing Luxury Lab
The Reinventing Luxury Lab is an annual strategy program enabling luxury industry professionals to prototype and field-proof the key elements needed to make their brand resilient and enduring. In 2022, the Lab was hosted by the top management of Automobili Lamborghini and focused on future proofing luxury brands in volatile times. Different teams presented their proposals for feedback from top management, including ideas related to the shift towards electrical combustion. This pivot would require the brand to reinvent the experience of driving a super car in a world without the traditional V12 sound. The shift towards more sustainability required the company to redefine its competitive advantage, what it does in-house and outside, and how it would build new capabilities. The 2023 Reinventing Luxury Lab will focus on “What’s Next for Growth”, including accelerating the shift to circular luxury.