Professor of Financial Services Innovation
If your business has sustainability goals – but no concrete roadmap to make them a reality, you’re not alone. So how do businesses take the leap from well-meaning strategy to effective implementation?
Businesses know they need to become more sustainable – not least because from 2025, European businesses will have to report on their sustainability initiatives and impacts.
But how many companies are ready? How many will be able to identify the activities that will have most impact? To set appropriate KPIs? And to transform good intentions into solid, company-wide implementation plans?
Professor Bjorn Cumps directs Vlerick Business School’s newly launched European Executive MBA programme. In common with all other executive MBAs, it covers core management domains. However, unlike other executive MBAs, it teaches all of them through the prism of sustainability.
Bjorn says: “Society is rightly asking companies what they are doing to become more sustainable. Businesses have the potential to become engines of sustainability because they touch so many aspects of society.
“The purpose of Vlerick’s European Executive MBA is to give business leaders the skills, insights, tools and mindset to be able to create sustainability strategy – and implement it throughout their organisations.”
Instead of simply offering a course on ESG, this newest of Vlerick’s executive MBA programmes looks at all business management from a sustainability point of view. The programme covers sustainable finance, sustainable innovation and venturing, sustainable supply chains – and much more.
Patricia Engels is a senior HR professional – and a participant in the programme. She has been passionate about sustainability issues for much of her career – particularly in areas like the gender pay gap, DEI and engaging and retaining talent.
She says: “The sustainability focus appealed very much to me. I wanted to enhance my own skillsets – but I also want to be able to actively implement sustainable practices.”
The innovative 15-month programme is structured to take participants through core management domains – and to provide hands-on experience of best practice across Europe.
Through a blend of online learning and immersive trips, participants go from theory to implementation, with the support of expert faculty and industry leaders.
Maartje Meijer – a musician and project manager at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam said: “In Paris we learned about sustainable finance. We spent time with a large investment firm that explained the value of businesses being sustainable. They know that sustainable companies have greater value and will generate better returns in the longer term.”
Bjorn adds: “It’s important that we empower our European Executive MBA participants to take the theory and put it into practice. When we’re in European cities like Dublin and Copenhagen, we go from learning principles, to seeing them in action in the same day. Then participants put all this knowledge into action by addressing a core challenge for a business – and presenting it back to them, and getting immediate feedback.
“The programme is designed to accelerate learning through direct application. It’s action learning – and it’s powerful.
“Wider society is looking to businesses to make fundamental changes, and through this programme, we’re empowering professionals to become the sustainability-minded leaders our world needs.”
Vlerick has also recently launched a Sustainability Centre that carries out research into sustainability for the benefit of businesses. A number of organisations have already signed up as members, and benefit from regular events – and opportunities to suggest topics for research.
The centre has also provided valuable input into the European Executive MBA, providing insight into the challenges facing businesses as they look to implement sustainability strategy throughout their organisations.
“Sustainability isn’t a one-off project,” says Bjorn. “It needs to be a mindset. It’s not simply something that a consultant can come into your organisation and achieve. It’s something that all your teams have to embrace. It needs to become engrained in everyone’s day-to-day roles.
“But this of course makes it challenging to achieve. We have designed the programme to give professionals from many backgrounds the ability to implement sustainability systematically through their organisations.”
Patricia agrees: “The programme introduces you to best practice. It allows you to meet companies who are excelling. You talk to entrepreneurs and experts. You build an understanding and skillset that allows you to bridge the gap between strategy and execution in a really practical way.
“If you are looking at your organisation’s sustainability approach now, and figuring out how to make it a reality, the European Executive MBA will give you the skills to succeed.”
In this video, participants explain how the MBA’s focus on sustainability has deepened their commitment to responsible business practices and how they plan to use this knowledge to drive meaningful change.
Customer Relationship Manager – European, Executive and Online MBA