M.B.A.’s With Three Bottom Lines: People, Planet and Profit

January 8th, 2006 

An excerpt ftom  "M.B.A.’s With Three Bottom Lines: People, Planet and Profit," by Abby Ellin:

"…Joey Shepp, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz,
received a master’s from New College last spring. He chose New College
for its smaller classes and ”an education that was more on the cutting
edge,” he says. ”None of the bigger schools had incorporated that
level of sustainability in their curriculum.” A self-described
visionary artist, entrepreneur, technologist and, yes, tree hugger, he
is now Internet marketing director of Green Festival, which organizes
marketplaces for eco-friendly entrepreneurs, and helped found a company
that designs Web sites for sustainable businesses and another that
grades corporations for their social responsibility…"

PDF:  new_york_times_green_mba_2006-01-08

M.B.A.’s With Three Bottom Lines: People, Planet and Profit

By ABBY ELLIN (NYT) 769 words
Published: January 8, 2006

IN business schools, ”green” thinking means more than concern for the
environment. Social responsibility (no sweatshops, no Enrons) and
economic viability (this is business) are also part of the definition
making its way into the mainstream. Many traditional M.B.A. programs
have begun to recognize a triple bottom line — of people, planet and
profit — and at a few institutions, the marriage of commerce and
social responsibility is the guiding principle.

New College of California has gone so far as to trademark the phrase
Green M.B.A. The college opened in San Francisco in the 1970’s as an
educational haven for social activists; in 2003, it began offering an
M.B.A. in sustainable business. The Bainbridge Graduate Institute in
Washington State and the Presidio School of Management at Presidio
World College in San Francisco also focus their entire curriculums on
sustainable business — what Gifford Pinchot, Bainbridge’s chairman,
defines as ”good business practices in the present that leave the
world better off for future generations.”

Along with traditional courses like accounting and inventory
management, students learn about toxic waste, marketing eco-friendly
businesses, emissions regulations and the effect of environmental
actions on profits. Presidio, an accredited decade-old college directed
at midcareer diploma completion, began its program in 2002 and has
conferred 20 M.B.A.’s so far. New College has granted 35. Bainbridge,
which also opened in 2002 and is seeking accreditation, has 15
graduates.

One of them is now environmental product steward for Hewlett-Packard’s
inkjet printer line. Most, however, have started their own companies.

Joey Shepp, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz,
received a master’s from New College last spring. He chose New College
for its smaller classes and ”an education that was more on the cutting
edge,” he says. ”None of the bigger schools had incorporated that
level of sustainability in their curriculum.” A self-described
visionary artist, entrepreneur, technologist and, yes, tree hugger, he
is now Internet marketing director of Green Festival, which organizes
marketplaces for eco-friendly entrepreneurs, and helped found a company
that designs Web sites for sustainable businesses and another that
grades corporations for their social responsibility.

Those in the field say that the focus of these M.B.A. programs is the
wave of the future, although their narrow scope is not without its
limitations.

”They’re providing fundamentals, but they may not be as deep as your
traditional M.B.A.,” says Mark Milstein, a business research director
at the World Resources Institute in Washington and a lecturer at the
graduate business school at Cornell. ”They’re innovative programs with
interesting faculty,” he says. ”But they’re not part of a larger
institution, so students are getting a very limited offer.”

While traditional M.B.A. programs may not satisfy an activist, they are
increasingly shrewd about social responsibility: Case Western Reserve,
Northwestern, Stanford, the University of Michigan and George
Washington University all have concentrations in sustainable
enterprise. Yale School of Management has offered a joint degree — an
M.B.A. and Master of Environmental Management — in conjunction with
the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for more than 25
years.

A survey of 91 business schools released in October by the World
Resources Institute and the Aspen Institute found that 54 percent
require a course in ethics, corporate social responsibility,
sustainability or business and society, up from 34 percent in 2001.

”More and more students are interested in socially responsible
business,” says Matt Cheney, chief executive at Renewable Ventures,
which finances and operates solar power plants. ”They want to make a
difference, and there is a confidence that business can produce results
quickly and significantly.”

Mr. Cheney, whose M.B.A. comes from Stanford, thinks big business is ready.

”Given the high prices of oil and the growing frustration with global
warming, people are concerned but they aren’t necessarily taking
action,” he explains. ”Businesses and individuals take action when
there are solutions, when companies can do something good for the
environment and help the bottom line, when individuals can work for a
company selling a product from a sustainable source. An M.B.A. that
provides students with the tools to help find those solutions will
always be in demand.”