She had a key experience on a business trip somewhere in China. “That’s when I saw this river,” says Lisa Thormann, “the water was black and it didn’t flow, it stood.” There was rubbish on the surface, it smelled unpleasant, pungent, poisonous. Even if the Chinese factory that Lisa Thormann visited on behalf of her employer was not one of the main causes of this environmental scandal, the clothing technician knew that there was a lot going on in the textile industry – not just in China. “I’ve traveled a lot, both privately and professionally, and I’ve seen a lot – often bad things. A lot of things that are more than difficult ecologically and socially,” she reports. And tells of Romanian seamstresses whose wages are not enough for even the most essential medical care, of underpaid workers in Sri Lanka who sit at the machines for more than ten hours a day.
In theory, you know about these grievances – but seeing them with your own eyes is something else. Lisa Thormann: “I really enjoy doing my job, but I’ve noticed that something urgently needs to be changed in the textile industry in particular. I want to bring more sustainability into my work.” The logical consequence for her was to enroll in the MBA course in Sustainable Business Development. “That’s twenty hours more a week for my full-time job, but I want to invest that – because it makes sense,” says the clothing technician.
The MBA course in Sustainable Business Development has been available in this form at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Salzgitter since the last winter semester. “To this end, we have relaunched our MBA program in environmental and quality management, which we have been running for 20 years,” says course coordinator Silvia Mödeker, “because we have noticed that interest in sustainability issues is growing ever stronger, including in business.” They reacted to this and revised the teaching program. New modules such as strategic management, change management and corporate social responsibility are an integral part of the curriculum.
The participants want to make a profound difference in sustainability
While the course participants in the previous MBA program were less in management than responsible for certifications in the area of environmental and quality management, the new MBA is aimed more at the middle management level. “To people who can – and want to – achieve more in terms of sustainability,” says Professor Hendrik Ernst from the Ostfalia University. “We have to move away from the approach: We need a sustainability certificate in the company because it is mandatory. In my opinion, this is a deficit approach in the sense of a key figure fulfillment mentality, a green washing”, he explains. Many companies see things differently in the meantime. Ernst: “If a company wants to be economically successful over a longer period of time, it can only be done sustainably today.”
Ralf Utermöhlen, environmental consultant and lecturer at Ostfalia University, shares this experience. “If the transformation into a sustainable, yet comfortable industrial society is to succeed, you need people who understand how it works,” he says. Utermöhlen is a chemist, but started his own business as a management consultant specializing in environmental issues in the early 1990s. “I was 23 during the Chernobyl reactor disaster. That shaped me. I am green at heart,” he says. “As a chemist you see the world differently because you understand how the transport of substances and the breakdown of substances are related. I didn’t want to get into a professional situation in which I have to do things that I am not responsible for because of my environmentally conscious attitude – that’s why I chose self-employment. “
Meanwhile, more and more entrepreneurs think and act more sustainably. According to a survey published on the Statista.de portal by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in 2018, almost 43 percent of the company bosses surveyed stated that sustainability is an essential part of their corporate philosophy. And around 27 percent of those questioned made the experience that their company acts far beyond the legal requirements with regard to ecological sustainability.
Customers also pay more attention to whether a company develops green concepts
Utermöhlen believes that trends like these will intensify. He sees one reason for this in the Fridays for Future movement. “In addition, a generation has arrived on the CEO floors of large companies for whom sustainability is by no means just ‘nice to have’,” says the management consultant. “Because more and more customers value sustainability, companies are changing their business models – simply because otherwise they won’t be successful in the market.” That is why young people need to understand what sustainability actually requires and what changes in lifestyle it will bring with it.
Lara Bellin is expected to finish her MBA Environmental and Quality Management this fall – so she was still registered for the program in its original version. She is a mechanical engineer and works for VW in Wolfsburg; there she is sub-department head in technical development. “The topic of sustainability will continue to accompany us. Now there is a generation on the job market that demands sustainability,” she says. She decided on the part-time MBA because, as a pure technician, she wanted to know more about economic issues. And because the topic of sustainability is close to her heart: “I don’t want to think: a different department is actually responsible for this. A sustainability strategy has to affect all areas.”
For clothing technician Lisa Thormann, the MBA degree has already had its first effects on her work. “Apart from the fact that I have a better understanding of the economic context, I was able to convince my employer to change the product packaging,” says Thormann. Instead of conventional plastic bags, textiles will in future be packed in bags made of recycled or biodegradable plastic. After all – a first step.
The MBA program Sustainable Business Development offers the Ostfalia University (Salzgitter Campus) as a distance learning course with practical phases. Individual modules can also be booked. These two providers, among others, have also launched MBA programs with a focus on sustainability: Berlin University of Applied Sciences: MBA Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship (full-time, face-to-face study), Leuphana Professional School / University of Lüneburg: MBA Sustainability Management. The course has existed since 2003, whereby e-learning is combined with face-to-face courses.