We can no longer ignore humans’ negative impact on the planet. While some parts of the world still can close their eyes to shared and global sustainability challenges, the negative consequences of human activity in other parts of the world have increasingly detrimental effects on the planet and people’s lives. For example, in recent years, global warming is leading to heavy rainfall at unusual times of the year. As a result, in India, some farmers have lost their entire cotton harvest. We also begin to see and understand the negative impacts of global plastic use and waste on nature, animals, and the things we eat.
Change towards sustainability needs to happen at many levels of our societies. Global business activities are one of the major causes of the current situation. However, businesses also holds great potential to take the lead in creating more sustainable organizations and practices. In this course, we explore the role that businesses can play in actively transforming their operations and society as a whole towards sustainability and prosperity for all.
This course was created by some of the leading researchers on business model theory and social entrepreneurship in Europe in collaboration with both small and large companies across various sectors investing in sustainable business model innovation. This course provides an overview of sustainable business model theory and innovation and discusses business models as essential tools in transforming to more sustainable businesses. Throughout the course, we will use the theory of sustainable business models and sustainable business model innovation as a foundation to investigate how companies can implement more sustainable business practices. We will provide you with a rich opportunity to examine their efforts and consider strategies for your organization. We would greatly appreciate if you would also enlighten us with business examples from your countries to discover new ways of dealing with sustainability together.
By the end of the course, you will have an understanding of some challenges and opportunities companies face in their work towards creating more sustainable business models. You will be able to explain, discuss, and critically use the sustainable business model theory and tools to manage innovation towards more sustainable practices.
We have developed this course in close collaboration with an amazing group of people who have contributed with their knowledge and practical experiences, and we have learned so much. We are very excited to continue this journey with you and hope you will find the course insightful, useful, and inspiring. Let’s get started!
Status: Corporate Sustainability
Corporate Sustainability
Status: Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder Engagement
Beginner·Course·21 hours
Featured reviews
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 28, 2023
A very good course on Business Models. Lots of case studies and reference materials.
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 9, 2023
Great course, lots of real life example, opportunities for interaction. Thank you so much for designing such a great course.
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 15, 2024
Simple, practical with pertinent business cases ensures seamless understanding of the topics. Brilliant.
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 26, 2023
The materials are quite up-to-date, with a nice flow, and really interesting guest speakers. Thank you and treasure the learning!
All reviews
Showing: 19 of 19
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B
Bastian
5.0
·Reviewed May 4, 2023
It is for the first time, I am doing a course in Sustainability, and it was the best course I have ever done from Coursera. The videos were so interactive and engaging including the voiceover, that I felt like face-to-face listening to professors. I will recommend this course to my L&D team @GLEEDS India. Thanks Coursera, for sharing so much knowledge affordable for everyone. Thanks to All professors for imparting so much knowledge. Sajeev Sebastian, Senior Designer BE, GLEEDS India.
L
Lajla
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 2, 2023
Great course as this was a real eye opener on how lateral thinking is absolutely needed in order to get out of our linear economy model and shift to a circular economy. We need to change our core thinking otherwise it will only remain "patching the linear economy" , nothing more.
M
Mauricio
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 26, 2024
Good introductory course. Very good examples, although relatively limited in scope (applicable to Nordic countries, certain industries). Would be interesting to see examples from other parts of the world and other industries to make it more broadly applicable
В
Виктория
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 17, 2023
For my country this course gives a perspective on the future because it seems that at the moment nobody thinks about sustainable business models. I hope I'm mistaken. So thank you for such marvellous course. It was pleasure to watch and learn!
R
Rita
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 6, 2022
Very good! Should update some of the businesses f.ex. Too Good ToGo, and also include servicebusinesses, not only products for producing and selling. And maybe give us not english as first language some extras (Smile) Very good digital portal!
C
Catalina
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 23, 2024
Very clear, interesting and complete approach of BM for sustainability. The speakers are well informed, the courses are well structured and the cases studied diverse to give a large view of the implications. I recommend!
L
Lily
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 26, 2023
The materials are quite up-to-date, with a nice flow, and really interesting guest speakers. Thank you and treasure the learning!
B
Birgit
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 29, 2022
Es war ein sehr guter Kurs, der viel Spaß beim Lernen gemacht hat und besonders praxisorientiert aufgebaut ist. Herzlichen Dank!
K
Kazy
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 9, 2023
Great course, lots of real life example, opportunities for interaction. Thank you so much for designing such a great course.
S
Sujatha
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 16, 2024
Simple, practical with pertinent business cases ensures seamless understanding of the topics. Brilliant.
C
Chandra
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 29, 2023
A very good course on Business Models. Lots of case studies and reference materials.
M
MAO
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 11, 2024
This course explained sustainable business models in detail and several perspective
J
Jean
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 20, 2022
Excelente curso, de los mejores que he tomado en Coursera
A
Aradhana
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 14, 2022
Extremely knowledgeable and resourceful. 100% recommend.
A
Adnan
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 23, 2023
Excellent Course Content!
R
Rizwan
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 7, 2024
it is a great course
J
John
4.0
·Reviewed Dec 20, 2022
Very good course material and very interesting
K
Karra
1.0
·Reviewed Aug 25, 2024
Have to wait days for the course to show up as completed because the final assignment requires student reviews.
