Sustainable Business Development and Innovation: Introduction (MSB305)

No firm or organization operates in isolation. Rather the contrary is true. Via a multitude of complex relations to other agents and organizations, they are embedded in diverse sets of networks and socio-economic systems. This embeddedness thereby greatly matters for their business success and transition to more sustainable operations. For instance, it influences their access to critical inputs, such as human and financial capital as well as knowledge. Their embeddedness in local socio-economic systems takes center stage in this. In the end, most job hirings are local, the majority of production inputs are provided by nearby suppliers, and marketing, as well as distribution channels, are strongly shaped by access to transportation infrastructure and the activities of (local) branding initiatives as well as trade associations.

The course presents students with the scientific underpinnings of the beyond-the-individual-firm perspective that are at the heart of modern approaches to sustainable business development. Drawing on core concepts and insights from the fields of Regional Science and Economic Geography, as well as Complex System Theories, students will learn about and discuss the roles that locations, networks, and system embeddedness play in their developments and for their transformation toward more sustainable business practices. The course thereby forms the basis for the subsequent courses: SBDI: The firm perspective and SBDI: The policy perspective.

Course description for study year 2023-2024