Corporate Sustainability: A New Bocconi MOOC

A FIVE WEEK COURSE ON THE COURSERA PLATFORM, PRODUCED BY A MULTIDISCIPLINARY GROUP OF 27 EXPERTS COORDINATED BY MAURIZIO ZOLLO, TO GUIDE THE COMPANY IN THE TRANSITION TOWARDS THE CREATION OF STAKEHOLDER VALUE. WITH CORPORATE CASES AND SCIENTIFICALLY TESTED MEDITATION EXERCISES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MANAGEMENT MINDSET ORIENTED TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

It is now possible, on the Bocconi page of the Coursera platform, to enrol in the massive open online course (MOOC) in Corporate Sustainability: Understanding and Seizing the Strategic Opportunity, coordinated by Maurizio Zollo. The course, which lasts five weeks, will start on Wednesday 28 March and is delivered in the cohort mode, which provides a new edition every month.
 
"The course explores the transition of business models towards sustainability", says Zollo, Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Bocconi, "and is built in an interdisciplinary way, with 27 professors from five Bocconi departments taking part, to fully understand all the dimensions of sustainability, from its economic, social and institutional background, to its declinations in a company, from strategy to control systems, from human resources management to marketing". In addition to the 27 academics, there are guests from five companies, who played major roles in transformation cases, for a production and coordination effort that has few equals in this sector.
 
The MOOC is divided into three parts, which detail what sustainability is, why it can be a driver of competitiveness and how to manage the transition. “The word 'opportunity' in the title”, Zollo points out, “wants to clarify that sustainability is not yet another managerial fad, but a way of being that, in response to systemic crises that have hit the economy and society, allows to develop the ability to create value in the long term for investors, customers, employees, strategic partners, and for the communities in which the company operates”.
 
Since recent experiments conducted in collaboration with scholars of the San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, have demonstrated the effectiveness of meditation in developing a long-term capacity for analysis as well as a sensitivity to the creation of shared value, an optional part of the course consists of meditation exercises carried out in collaboration with the Center for Evolutionary Learning. "I decided to include this section after observing how meditation can also modify the neural density of the brain in areas particularly dedicated to developing analytical and action skills for long-term collective well-being, making it more resistant to the temptation of satisfying short-term appetites," says Zollo.
 
"MOOCs, for Bocconi, represent a program for the development and diffusion of research excellence", says Leonardo Caporarello, director of Bocconi University Innovation in Learning and Teaching (BUILT), Bocconi's laboratory for innovative teaching, "and for creating new teaching experiences, following paths different from the classical courses".

by Fabio Todesco