WHU Sustainability Management Center
Who we are
The establishment of a dedicated Sustainability Management Center at WHU stresses the urgency of ESG challenges faced in business and in society. WHU strives to be a thought leader on sustainability, and the school‘s research currently ranks #1 in Germany and #11 among business schools worldwide in terms of SDG intensity. The Center serves as a platform to share the school’s sustainability-related insights and activities with the broader WHU community and beyond. As such, the Center helps translate insights into management practice, while also matching stakeholders to help advance sustainability-related research and teaching at WHU - always with a focus on how businesses and people can and must be the engine for transformation towards a sustainable future. Establishing dialogue and forging connections through the Center also creates a basis for deeper research as well as more relevant and applicable teaching in areas such as sustainable business models and operations, supply chain management, social entrepreneurship, marketing and accounting.
How we operate
At WHU, we believe in the power of networks. The Sustainability Management Center helps stakeholders inside and outside of WHU to navigate our network on sustainability topics by keeping track of actors and activities, forging relationships, identifying trends and commonalities and facilitating the exchange of insights, resources, and opportunities for collaboration. The Center works with a broad and diverse range of stakeholders, including large corporate partners, SMEs and startups, and also aims to foster relationships with the public sector, NGOs and individual thought leaders and change agents. Both current business leaders as well as future managers and entrepreneurs benefit from the Center’s offerings. Ultimately, the Center delivers impact by connecting stakeholders – both with cutting-edge insights and with each other – to take action together.
What we do
The work of the WHU Sustainability Management Center is based on a broad understanding of sustainability, encompassing key challenges related to environmental sustainability as well as inclusive and equitable growth and transparent governance. Some key subject areas for the Center include:
- Circular and regenerative economy business models
- Carbon-neutrality and climate solutions
- Sustainability in transport and logistics
- Sustainable marketing and consumption
- ESG accounting and controlling
- Impact investment
- Social entrepreneurship
- Sustainability in SMEs
- Sustainability in sports business
Our activities and offers
1. News
The WHU community, including faculty, staff, students and alumni, works on a broad and diverse range of sustainability-related endeavors. The WHU Sustainability Management Center helps to make these efforts more visible. Here are some recent news items from our community:
2. Events and community building
The WHU Sustainability Management Center collaborates and coordinates with various student- and alumni-led initiatives and events that all have one thing in common: The desire to lead responsibly and advance sustainable business practices.
3. Insights
WHU’s researchers pride themselves in conducting studies and projects that are both academically rigorous and practically relevant. The following examples of recent research have been summarized for a broader public.
For more sustainability-related insights, visit WHU Knowledge on Sustainability.
4. Research
WHU research is regularly published in leading academic journals and practitioner publications. Most recent examples include:
5. Guest lectures and case assignments
Developing novel business models, Professor Dries Faems
As part of this course, all Bachelor students develop and pitch a business model for a sustainability-related startup that makes commercial sense while also benefiting the planet.
Brand Positioning and Sustainability - Insights from Henkel Consumer Adhesives, Asst. Professor Anna-Karina Schmitz
During the Master course “Marketing Strategy and Decision Making”, Philippe Guégan, Global Head of Marketing Strategy and Head of Sustainability atHenkel Adhesives presented a practitioner’s perspective on the intersection of brand and sustainability. The talk covered the climate impact of products, health and safety as well as the role of adhesive in extending the useful life of products.
Creating social value, Professor Nadine Kammerlander
In the Bachelor program, Stefanie Hauer, Partner and Member of the Board of NatureRe Capital AG presented on the twin climate and biodiversity crises. For students, this brought home the message that climate is about how we live - but biodiversity is about whether we live.
6. Executive Education
WHU's General Management Plus Program enables participants to create social impact and develop as a leader while enhancing their general management skills. Facilitated by BOOKBRIDGE, a social enterprise founded by WHU alumnus Carsten Rübsaamen, program teams establish a fully independent social enterprise in local community in a developing country.
Our team and affiliated professors
Our partners
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Support us
The WHU Sustainability Management Center continuously seeks funding and support to broaden and deepen its activities, particularly in the areas of community mapping and monitoring as well as matchmaking, but also to make the WHU community and campus more sustainable. Specific cases for support include:
- Sponsorship of a doctoral student to work on strategically expanding the Center’s activities
- Sponsorship of a staff member dedicated to maintaining and improving the Center’s mapping and monitoring activities
- Sponsorship of community building and networking events
- Financial support to sustainability-related research, including that of PhD students, e.g. for research-related travel and other expenses
- Funding for specific infrastructure measures on the WHU campuses, such as additional solar panels, charging stations, bike racks or water fountains
- Support in implementing climate measures to compensate for CO2e emissions that we are currently not able to avoid
By investing in the Center, partners will get connected to world-class research, talent, and collaborative opportunities that drive sustainability innovation, thereby gaining access to practical insights and tools to integrate sustainability into their business models and operations. The Center’s focus on shared value creation for companies, society, and the environment makes it an attractive investment for those committed to building a sustainable future.
If you want to get involved, contact us.