BUSINESS 450: THE GREENING OF BUSINESS
SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Business, Management Department
Fall Semester 2005
Wednesday
1:10 – 3:55 PM
Classroom: Bus 108
INSTRUCTORS
Bruce Paton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Management
e-mail: bpaton (at) sfsu.edu Phone: (415) 338-7012
Office: Business 340
Office Hours: M 12:30 - 2:30, Tu 10:00 -12:00
Please note: The best way to reach me outside of class and office hours is through e-mail. I will
be difficult to reach by phone, but I usually check email several times a day.
Murray Silverman, Ph.D., Professor of Management
e-mail: msilver (at) sfsu.edu Phone: (415) 338-7489
Office: Business 346
Office Hours: Tu,Th 10:00-11:00, Tu 2:00-3:30
OVERVIEW
Our natural environment is in danger. We are faced with global problems like the significant
climatic changes, depletion of the ozone layer, destruction of our rainforests and the continuing
loss of species. At local and regional levels, there is serious degradation of our water, soil and air.
Businesses have played a major role in contributing to these environmental problems.
Fortunately, corporate managers and board members are giving increasing consideration to their
environmental and social impacts.
Businesses can play a major role in attempting to create a sustainable planet earth. This course
considers major questions about business’s role, such as:
How does business affect the natural environment?
What forces are pushing business to be more environmentally responsive?
What can business do to respond to environmental problems?
Why should they take action and how far can they go?
What are environmentally proactive businesses doing to respond to their environmental impacts
and what can we learn from them?
READINGS
All readings for this course will be available on Blackboard: http://online.sfsu.edu/
COURSE PURPOSE
This is a class for business and non-business students interested in the impact of business
organizations on the natural environment, the forces pushing business to respond to their impacts,
and the types of approaches businesses are taking and can take to respond effectively to
environmental issues. This course is designed so that students from various disciplines (science,
humanities, social sciences, business, education, etc.) can learn from each other without having
had courses in business and management.
This course fulfills the Segment III requirement in the cluster Preservation of a Livable
Environment cluster (Category B: Social Sciences). Consistent with the Preservation of a Livable
Environment cluster, this course includes an examination of past, present and future human
impacts on the world environment from an interdisciplinary perspective, and assists students in
applying this knowledge in the evaluation of proposed solutions.
Students taking this course, whether they wish to work inside a business or outside as an
environmental advocate, will be better prepared to assist organizations in incorporating
environmental considerations into their decision making.
TEACHING METHODS
This class will view environmental issues primarily from the perspective of the business decisionmaker. The case approach will be used extensively. Typically, a case will describe an
environmental situation facing an organization. Case analysis relies on a participative class
discussion process. In addition to cases, there will be assigned readings and a team project.
Since many companies are issuing environmental reports on the World Wide Web, we will use
the internet as the basis for research and team presentations.
Our role in this course is to facilitate class discussions relating to readings, cases and other
assignments. Although we will present lectures, a significant part of the learning in this course
will occur through our in-class discussions. Genuine learning in this course is reflected by your
ability to articulate your ideas and positions relating to the topics or issues being discussed. For
this reason, the quality of your class participation is a significant part of your grade.
EVALUATION
One's grade in this course has the following components:
Contribution to Classmates’ Learning (33.3%): This class is designed as a process of collective
learning and exploration. You will be evaluated on your contributions to this learning process.
Contributions include participating in class discussions and small group exercises, making
presentations in class, sharing relevant news items, and helping on team projects.
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An important part of contributing to any endeavor is showing up prepared. Please show up ready
to discuss assigned readings and cases. Missing more than two classes will significantly
influence your final grade. Please talk with us or send us an email if you miss a class.
Your contribution to classmates’ learning will be measured by preparedness, consistency of
quality contributions, active participation in class exercises, willingness to challenge ideas of
peers and willingness to state ideas or positions that may be challenged. We will solicit feedback
from classmates concerning your contributions.
Case Analysis Written Requirement (33.3%): Write-ups of six to eight cases or articles, as
assigned, two pages double-spaced for each. Case write-ups will be handed in on the day the case
is discussed in class. A specific question will be provided prior to each case write-up.
Team Projects (33.3%): Team project, formal team presentation, and various team activities.
TEAM PROJECT
Teams of three to four students will be responsible for a team project. Students will be assigned
to a team, which will pick a company and assess its environmental performance based on
secondary and primary research, utilizing the tools and concepts learned in the course. Secondary
research will rely heavily on the use of electronic resources. Only companies that publish annual
environmental reports will be considered. Secondary research might include articles in business
or environmental periodicals, Toxics Release Inventory data, etc. Primary research might include
contact with the company itself and environmental groups local to the company’s facilities. The
results of the team's research will be presented in a formal, professional Power Point presentation.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism occurs any time someone represents the work of others as their own. Plagiarism is
unacceptable and will result in a 0 for the assignment involved. Any evidence of plagiarism in
this course will be referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs for investigation and if appropriate,
disciplinary action. This course will require you to rely on the work of others’, but you must
give appropriate acknowledgement to those responsible for the work you draw upon. If you have
any questions about whether you are providing adequate acknowledgement of others’ work,
please ask us.
DROPPING OR WITHDRAWING FROM THE COURSE
We hope you will stay in this course. But if for any reason you need to leave the course, you
will be much better off if you drop it than if you try to withdraw. You can drop by GatorReg
during the first four weeks, through Wednesday, September 21 without obtaining signatures or
approvals from anyone. Dropping is far better than withdrawing. Drops do not appear on your
transcript and do not count toward the new limit of three attempts at each core business course,
nor will a drop prohibit you from withdrawing from a later section of this course. University
policy is that withdrawals are permitted only for serious and compelling reasons. In addition,
College of Business policy prohibits students from withdrawing from the same course (e.g. Bus
450) more than once for any reason.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
We hope this course makes a lasting contribution to your career success. One to five years after
completing this course successfully you should retain skills in at least six areas*.
1. Foundational knowledge and skills. Understand key ideas and perspectives, and apply basic
skills.
A. Understand and be able to apply key concepts, including sustainability, and connections
between business practices and the environment.
B. Exercise skill in communications including:
 engaging in constructive dialogue,
 identifying, understanding, and responding to diverse viewpoints,
 presenting analyses and arguments in written and spoken communications, and
 communicating persuasively in writing and in oral presentations.
2. Application. Be able to apply knowledge and skills.
A. Design comprehensive business responses to environmental issues, and
B. Evaluate the effectiveness of business efforts to address environmental issues, and formulate
corrective actions to improve their implementation.
3. Integration. Connect concepts with your own experiences and responsibilities.
A. Understand and articulate your own views on business as an agent of change in protecting the
environment.
B. Understand how issues of business and the environment relate to your own life and work.
4. Human Dimension. Relate concepts to yourself and others.
A. Understand how business efforts to address environmental issues have affected peoples’ lives.
B. Think of yourself as a business person who can make a difference through your work in
business.
5. Caring. Connect ideas with your own values and interests.
A. Care about the role you play as a business man or woman in meeting environmental needs in
the global community.
6. Learning how to learn. Be able to assemble new ideas and construct new knowledge.
A. Learn how to find information about business’s role in addressing environmental issues.
B. Learn how to make sense of complex issues surrounding business and the environment.
* These six categories are explained in Creating Significant Learning Experiences by L.D. Fink,
2003, Jossey Bass, San Francisco.
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BUSINESS 450
TOPICS AND READINGS
I. Environmental Challenges and Opportunities
Objective:
1. Provide common context - concern for and impact of environmental problems.
2. Raise basic eco-literacy.
3. Introduce stakeholder concept.
4. Convey sense of urgency and scale of problems.
8/24
Topic: Course Introduction
Syllabus and Course Requirements
Exercise: Catamount Timber Company
Video segment: Ray Anderson – CEO Interface Carpets
8/31
Topic: Current Status of the Natural Environment
Read: Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Opportunities and Challenges for
Business and Industry
Read: The Bottleneck, Chapter 2 in The Future of Life, by E.O. Wilson
Exercise: Spaceship Voyage
Exercise: Ecological Footprint
Assignment: Environmental Reports on the Web and the Global Reporting
Initiative (Handout) (due 9/7)
II. External Drivers
Objective:
1. Introduce external forces driving business (opportunities and threats)
2. Provide common context about government, social, and market forces driving business
attention to the environment
3. Convey significance of the pressures on corporate performance
4. Introduce basic vocabulary concerning regulation and external pressures
9/7
Topic: Environmental Reporting
Read: Improving Sustainability Disclosure: the Global Reporting Initiative
Guidelines, from Ants, Galileo and Gandhi
Read: Beyond Reporting: Creating Business Value and Accountability
CASE: Kinko’s Environmental Report (handout)
Introduction of Semester Project
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9/14
Topic: Public Policy and the Environment
Read: EPA and the Evolution of Federal Regulation
Read: Managing Environmental Quality – Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Mini-lecture on Public Policy and Environment
Mini-lecture on Voluntary Initiatives
CASE: Changing Drivers
CASE: AWC
9/21
Topic: Market and Community Pressures
Read: CALPERS Greenwave Green Fact Sheet
Read: Exxon Climate Change Shareholder Resolution
Mini-lecture: Socially Responsible Investment Strategies
CASE: Marine Stewardship Council
Video Segment: Trade Secrets
Homework Assignment: Eco-audit Part A (due 10/5)
III. Responses within the Company
Objectives:
1. Introduce basic tools and concepts that are useful for addressing environmental
problems.
2. Introduce progression from pollution prevention to product stewardship to clean
technology.
3. Present journey as process of learning and discovery.
4. Understand how to institutionalize environmental values in companies.
9/28
Topic: Waste Reduction & Pollution Prevention
Read: Hart and Millstein, “Creating Sustainable Value
Read: Pollution Prevention: Concepts and Principles
Read: Assigned mini-cases on Pollution Prevention
CASE: Dow Chemical
10/5
Topic: Environmental Management Systems
Read: Introduction to ISO 14000
Case: Benziger Family Winery
Video segment: Wine Industry Code of Sustainable Practice
Mini-lecture: Institutionalizing Environmental Concern
Exercise: Report on Eco-audit A assignment
10/12
Topic: Clean Technologies and Green Buildings
Read: Arthur D. Little Innovation High Ground Report
Read: Design for Workplace Productivity, Chapter 4 in Cool Companies
Read: Green Building Backgrounders
Video segment: River Rouge Plant from McDonough video
Case: U.S. Plastic Lumber
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IV. Responses in the Supply chain/Value chain
Objectives:
1. Explore firms’ responsibilities outside their 4 walls
2. Explore rights and responsibilities of firms
3. Introduce concept of stewardship
10/19
Topic: Life Cycle Analysis
Read: Note on Life-Cycle Analysis
Read: Cradle to Cradle Chapter 1
Case: The Procter and Gamble Company: Disposable/Reusable Diapers
Exercise: Life cycle analysis
Exercise: iPod = iWaste
Video Segment: The High Tech Trashing of Asia
Homework Assignment: Eco-audit Part B (due 10/26)
10/26
Topic: Rethinking Business Models
Read: A Roadmap for Natural Capitalism
Read: A Primer on Sustainability
Video Segment: Biomimicry
Mini-lecture: COSY framework
Exercise: Natural Step (4 system conditions)
Case: IKEA: Nothing is Impossible, in The Natural Step for Business
Exercise: Report on Eco-audit B assignment
V. Globalization and the Environment
Objectives:
1. Explore pros and cons of globalization for the environment
2. Explore creative and destructive roles for business in globalization
11/2
Topic: Globalization and the Environment
Read: The River Runs Black, Chapter 1
Read: The Toxic Fallout of China’s Growth
Exercise: Pollution Problems in China
CASE: Nike and the University of Oregon
IV. From Tactics to Strategy
Objectives:
1. Distinguish between bottom line and top-line opportunities
2. Explore opportunities and challenges for moving forward
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11/9
Topic: Green Businesses: Meeting Existing Needs
Read: Capitalism at the Crossroads, Chapter 4
Read: Consumers with a Conscience
CASE: Kimpton Hotels
CASE: Designtex
Video segment: Designtex from McDonough video
11/16
Topic: Green Businesses: Serving Unmet Needs
Read: Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World
Read: The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Video Segment: Favio Rosa in “The New Heroes”
Video Segment: Mohammed Yunis in “The New Heroes”
CASE: CEMEX - Innovation in Housing for the Poor
11/23
Topic: Green Ventures
Read: Green Ventures
Read: Green Venture Fund web pages
CASE: New Belgium Brewing
Exercise: Sustainable Venture Network
11/30 and
12/7
PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
Objective:
1. Integrate course concepts
2. Develop team presentation skills
3. Share and compare findings across teams
Team Project Presentations (Formal presentation of research results related to
the environmental performance of a specific company).
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