Program Structure

• Business Fundamentals

  The Business Fundamentals segments are an integral part of the program. They will effectively guarantee that:

  • all students at Mannheim Business School have basic business knowledge
  • there is a stable foundation of academic findings for all Master’s programs
  • all participants comprehend and develop a general understanding of the discipline.

  They moreover provide basic knowledge for later more specialized courses.

   

• Sustainability and Impact Management Master Project

  Working in a team with your fellow students, you will apply the knowledge and methodologies acquired throughout your studies in a hands-on project for one of our partner companies.

• Personal Skills

  Essential program elements such as the Sustainability and Impact Management Master Project require that you work with classmates in heterogeneous teams, just as you would at your workplace. Personal skills courses (e.g. presentation skills, agile methods, etc.) foster the necessary key qualities you need for management positions.

• Workshops

  The program includes regular workshops where participants can take a deep dive into current topics and practical challenges. These events further provide room for networking and exchange of knowledge. Over and above individual learning, we aim to create a community that fosters peer learning.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

• Sustainable Procurement

• Sustainable Logistics & Supply Chain Management

• Sustainable Entrepreneurship

  Over the recent year, the traditional distinction between for profit and non-profit organization has been shifted to allow for a new variety of organizations in between. Specifically, social entrepreneurs have increasingly set out to use market-based business models to solve social or environmental issues and make a positive impact. Further, social intrapreneurs are increasingly contributing to the sustainability transformation of large organizations with some companies even setting up structured programs to support them.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • Gain an understanding of the concept and role of social entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship;
  • Learn about the ways in which entrepreneurship can contribute to various sustainability domains;
  • And critically discuss the political and institutional developments around varying forms of organizations.

• Sustainability Communication

  Sustainability communication can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, stakeholders want to be informed about an organizations‘ impacts. On the other hand, talking too much about one‘s own sustainability achievements may lead to perceptions of greenwashing and trigger stakeholders‘ skepticism. Further, new communication pathways, e.g., via social media offer avenues for two way communication and dialogue which so far, remains underexplored by many organizations.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • gain knowledge about the basic approaches to effective sustainability communication;
  • reflect on potential threats of wrongly designed sustainability communications;
  • and discuss current developments and trends with regard to sustainability communication methods.

• Sustainable Finance

  The European Action Plan for Financing Sustainable Growth, or Sustainable Finance Action Plan, focuses on the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) fields of activity in order to achieve sustainability goals together with the financial sector.

  This is also accompanied by binding legal requirements for companies. The EU taxonomy, for example, represents a uniform classification system for sustainable economic activities and investments for six defined environmental objectives.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • acquire basic knowledge about foundations of sustainable finance;
  • they learn to understand how ESG data can be applied to evaluate the sustainability of investments;
  • and they critically discuss the current and prospective developments in financial markets.

• Change Management & Organizational Dynamics

  Making an organization more sustainable oftentimes means introducing change to the organization which may lead to resistance. Such change processes have to be carefully designed and managed to be effective and managers need to have a clear understanding of stakeholder attitudes and organizational dynamics.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • learn the basic theoretical concepts with regard to organizational change management;
  • engage in discussions about the potential implications of sustainability-related change on organizations and their employees;
  • and gain insights into methods that can be applied to successfully manage such transformations while engaging the organizational members.

• Innovation, Market Dynamics, and Consumer Demand

  Markets are key drivers of sustainability and an increasing consumer demand for sustainable products has led to mainstream retailers including sustainable products into their portfolios. At the same time, in many industries, what consumers report in surveys with regards to their sustainability attitudes differs greatly from what they really do at the checkout (referred to as the consumer paradox). Companies for instance frequently complain about a lack of willingness-to-pay for sustainable products. Understanding market dynamics and consumer demand are thus urgently needed skills to steer towards sustainability.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • gain an understanding of market dynamics and consumer demand for sustainable products and services;
  • learn how companies can use market research methods to analyze these developments;
  • and discuss how companies can activate consumers to engage in more sustainable consumption practices.

• Sustainable Manufacturing & Service Operations Management

• Impact Investing

SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES

• Energy Technologies

• Water Technologies

• Climate Change & Decarbonization

  Climate change means the warming-up of our planet driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases, as well as the shifts in weather patterns that results from this development. In the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, 196 Parties have set the goal to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
  To reach this goal, many companies have developed climate targets, including goals for carbon neutrality or climate neutrality, some of them using offsetting techniques to make up for their own impacts.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • gain an understanding of climate change and ist causes and potential remedies;
  • study the climate goals of organizations and the strategies to achieve them;
  • and critically assess the current status quo with regard to decarbonization.

• Waste, Circular Economy & Life Cycle Assessment

REGULATION, GOVERNANCE & REPORTING

• Non-Financial Performance Evaluation & Reporting

• Economics of Regulations

• Impact Measurement & Valuation

  Following the „what can‘t be measured can‘t be managed“ logic, organizations have increasingly introduced scientific methods of impact measurement to make their sustainability-related impacts transparent and comparable. Some organizations have further started to assign monetary values to these impacts. This practice is referred to as valuation.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • gain insights into the state of the art of method development for impact measurement and valuation;
  • discuss how introducing these methods affects the organizational structures and processes;
  • and engage in a critical discussion about benefits and potential difficulties of impact measurement and valuation.

   

• Corporate Governance

  Environment-Social-Governance – Governance is one of the three key pillars of sustainable business and the key to realizing positive impacts on people and planet. Various organizations have redesigned their governance to not only ensure responsible business practices, but also to incentivize and thereby shape the sustainability transformation.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • learn the basic concepts of responsible corporate governance;
  • discuss how corporate governance can support and enable an organization‘s sustainability transformation;
  • and engage in a discussion about potential future developments in the area of responsible corporate governance.

• Sustainable Taxation

  In the management of sustainability, accounting plays a crucial role to enable decision makers to include sustainability impacts into their decision making. Many organizations are this redesigning their accounting systems to include sustainability-related information. Further, over the last years, the public awareness of tax evasion practices has continuously increased. While these practices may be legal, a strong social norm is emerging that views avoiding tax payments as socially irresponsible. Instead of making large donations, many argue, companies should start by paying their taxes.

  Learning Goals – In this course, participants...

  • learn the basic concepts and theories related to socially responsible accounting and taxation;
  • discuss the role that accounting and taxation play in the area of social responsibility and sustainability;
  • reflect on how the field of accounting and taxation may develop in the upcoming years given the increasing role of sustainability.

   

• Law & Policy

• Global Justice, Ethics & Human Rights