Strategic Sustainability
Individual Reflection Paper
This assignment is intended to stimulate your thinking about the conceptual and pragmatic
aspects of the assigned readings and discussions, and their implications for your sustainability
actions and orientation. There is one written reflections assignment covering the text, Making
Sustainability Work by Epstein and Buhovac. You are to address the major concept(s) for each
chapter and introduction.
For each chapter and introduction, you are to take major sustainability concepts, explain them,
reflect on the concept(s) and then apply to your business organization or personal
sustainability plan (PSP). The paper should be 12-15 pages in length, not including the title and
reference pages; 1” margins and line spacing of 1.5. Follow APA style for citing sources and
references, including the text.
Your papers should not be simply a paraphrasing of the assigned readings. Instead, your
reflection should be your thoughts and opinions on the readings, the extent to which they
conflict with or corroborate other reading you have done or experiences you have had, the
extent to which they have some utility for you (e.g., conceptual development, application
potential), and so forth.
While you are required to explicitly focus on the assigned text reading, you are free to draw on
other readings — from other courses, your job, personal reading – as you feel appropriate. The
assignment is meant to stimulate your thinking of both the conceptual and pragmatic/applied
aspects of the assigned course readings. However, contain your reflections within the scope of
the readings covered.
Week 1 – Sustainability Concepts
The topics for this lesson include: environmental, economic and social sustainability in a general context prior to delving into the business context. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ researching the topic of Sustainability in a general context allowing students to formulate opinions on how the concept applies to business.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Define sustainability in a general context including the relationships between environmental, economic and social areas,
Provide examples of sustainable business actions and describe how actions in one area, impact other areas.
The topics for this lesson include: environmental, economic and social sustainability in a business context prior to delving into individual areas of sustainability. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ knowledge of sustainability frameworks for implementation in a triple bottom line context helping students to formulate opinions on how the concepts may be applied to business.
Week 2 – Sustainability Concepts II
The topics for this lesson include: environmental, economic and social sustainability in a business context prior to delving into individual areas of sustainability. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ knowledge of sustainability frameworks for implementation in a triple bottom line context helping students to formulate opinions on how the concepts may be applied to business.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Comprehend and articulate the connection between economic, environmental and social sustainability and corporate policy and practices, including relationships between specific economic/social issues (e.g., poverty, wage structure) and corporate policy and practices.
Explain and utilize the Corporate Sustainability Model framework to measure and manage sustainability performance.
Week 3 – Leadership for Sustainability
The topics for this lesson include: Board C-Suite commitment, global leadership, mission and vision, working with government regulators and non-regulatory agencies. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ knowledge of sustainability frameworks for implementation in a triple bottom line context helping students to formulate opinions on how the concepts may be applied to business.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Articulate qualities of a sustainable leader and establish how those qualities promote and inhibit sustainability; give specific examples of the same.
Comprehends the role of leadership in developing and implementing sustainability strategy.
Identify the challenges global organizations in implementing sustainability.
Explain how government regulators and non-regulatory agencies affect sustainability decision.
Identify how sustainability benefits impact your organization and how you’re the organization integrates these benefits into its processes.
Week 4 – Organizing for Sustainability
The topics for this lesson include: sustainability challenges, stakeholder engagement, information flow, outsourcing, and philanthropy. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ understanding of sustainability organization, its relationship to and functional capacity for driving benefits to the triple bottom line.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Understand / articulate corporate sustainability policy/practices in governance, financial, environmental, and social/cultural arenas utilizing
Apply/overcome the challenges, engagement of stakeholders, NGO, through a modified global organizational structure.
Week 5 – Corporate Practices I – Costs
The topics for this lesson include: Costing, capital cost and risk associated with sustainability policy and practice. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ understanding of sustainability’s relationship to cost of capital, costing, and integration of sustainability risks allowing students to formulate opinions on how the concepts may be applied to business.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Describe / articulate corporate sustainability policy/practices in governance, financial, environmental, and social/cultural arenas utilizing cost of capital, and risk assessment while predicting outcomes.
Develop a comprehensive sustainability audit for corporate sustainability initiatives.
Week 6 – Corporate Practices II – Measurement
The topics for this lesson include: Performance measurement, and evaluation systems, incentives, shareholder value. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ understanding of sustainability’s role in measuring performance, evaluation and reward and allowing students to formulate opinions on how the concepts may be applied to business.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Understand / articulate corporate sustainability policy/practices in governance, financial, environmental, and social/cultural arenas utilizing measurement of sustainability outcomes and their relationship to incentives and shareholder value.
Utilize strategic management systems (as dashboards, shareholder value analysis, and performance measurement systems) to measure sustainability performance.
Week 7 – Corporate Practices III – Measurement
The topics for this lesson include: Value, methods for measurement. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ understanding of the foundations for measuring social, environmental and economic impacts.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Comprehend / articulate the value of sustainability measurement and methods.
Articulate the concept of value and apply it to sustainability.
Classify risks by category to measure risk.
Week 9 – Improving Through Sustainability
The topics for this lesson include: organizational learning, improved performance, reducing social, economic and environmental risk/cost while improving brand, supply chain and reporting. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ understanding of the application of enhanced corporate process, products (innovation) and sustainability projects.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Understand / articulate the methods and implementation for improvement through the process of sustainability measurement and evaluation.
Identify methods to improve corporate processes, products and projects including redesign, rethinking markets, and integrating sustainability into the supply chain.
Week 10 – External Reporting and Verification
The topics for this lesson include: standards in sustainability reporting, external disclosure, and audits. Based on this, the goal is to facilitate students’ understanding and utilization of external reporting and verification.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Understand / articulate the methods and value of internal and external reporting, audits.
Distinguish between the standards for sustainability reporting.
Identify the more comprehensive areas for external reporting.
Discuss independent verification of external reporting.
