OPINION
written by me or my colleague André Nijhof. We use the findings of our research on how transitions can be accelerated across various industries, including energy, food and finance, to inform our teaching. Overall, a key challenge is to provide a core curriculum that gives MBA students the necessary understanding of business operations and equips them with the skills to become effective leaders and managers, while simultaneously considering these needs from a sustainability angle. This has raised some interesting questions, such as “Do we still teach neoclassical growth?” or “What is the ultimate goal of business that we want to teach our students?” Yet, these dilemmas have also opened insightful conversations among faculty members, helping us choose the most appropriate topics for our MBAs. In this way, the challenges we faced in designing this programme only strengthened our resolve to create a transformative experience, equipping the next generation of leaders to navigate complexity and champion a sustainable future. Redefining business education Building this MBA is no mere response to trends, it’s an attempt to redefine what it means to educate future business leaders. This mirrors Nyenrode’s view of sustainability as a fundamental shift in how businesses must operate to thrive in a changing world. By weaving sustainability into the very fabric of our MBA programme, we aim to inspire a new generation of leaders who can think critically, act responsibly and drive systemic change.
We believed our curriculum should cover all four of these perspectives in every subject. For example, our finance course is called Sustainable Finance and is led by Willem Schramade, a sustainable finance expert. Similarly, our Responsible Marketing course seeks to move beyond simply selling to educating consumers on responsible purchases. In this way, sustainability is woven into every aspect of the programme. Balancing the practical & theoretical If your institution is considering creating a programme focused on sustainability, you may come across some of the same challenges we encountered. In teaching, the question is often ‘‘How can we make this topic more practical?” However, in sustainability, we often hear the opposite concern of “How can we make it more theoretical?” Unlike many areas of business education, where the emphasis is on making concepts practical and actionable, the issue here isn’t a lack of real-world application. Our school has many advanced examples and strong ties with companies that are at the forefront of sustainable business practices, such as nutrition, health and beauty multinational DSM-Firmenich and flooring firm Interface. These companies provide our students with invaluable insights into the latest developments. Our course on Sustainable Development and Circularity, for example, brings in around 10 industry speakers. The real challenge is to balance this with a solid theoretical foundation. Sustainability is still a relatively new field, especially in academic terms, that dates back around 30 years at most. We aim to address this by conducting transdisciplinary research that involves businesses directly. Many faculty members bring their research into the classroom, which ensures the programme stays up to date with both theory and practice. For example, in my own class, many of the pre-readings are articles
Nicolas Chevrollier is an associate professor of sustainability transitions and post-growth organisations at Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands. He lectures at BSc, MSc and MBA level and researches how new business models and forms of strategy can lead to higher levels of sustainability
Ambition • ISSUE 2 • 2025 53
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