Embedding ESG into the Core MBA Curriculum

Executive Summary

Martin Marchiori-Wong and other business school students who are completing the Leaders in Sustainability certificate will demonstrate leadership in social impact and sustainability by reviewing and then recommending which new course materials should be introduced into the core curriculum for business school students at UCLA Anderson to support their learning about social impact and sustainability. Martin and his collaborators’ leadership project will ensure that all future business school students at UCLA Anderson can develop the understanding and competencies to deliver positive social change themselves and contribute to UCLA Anderson’s social mission as alumni.

Importance

The UCLA Anderson School of Management has an academic center and a professional student club that are dedicated to promoting social impact and sustainability-related academic and professional experiences to business school students. However, business school students may not enroll in the Center for Impact’s specialization in social impact or its other courses, nor attend any of the Center for Impact and Net Impact professional club’s events, and so may never acquire the essential learnings about social impact and sustainability that UCLA Anderson wishes for its graduates and with which any effective and inspiring leader would benefit.

Martin Marchiori-Wong and other business school students who are completing the Leaders in Sustainability certificate will demonstrate leadership in social impact and sustainability by reviewing and then recommending which new course materials should be introduced into the core curriculum for business school students at UCLA Anderson to support their learning about social impact and sustainability. Martin and his collaborators’ leadership project will ensure that all future business school students at UCLA Anderson can develop the understanding and competencies to deliver positive social change themselves and contribute to UCLA Anderson’s social mission as alumni.

Impact and Reach

The intended goal of my Leaders in Sustainability project is to introduce a holistic focus on social impact and sustainability to the core curriculum at UCLA Anderson. The short-term outputs of my work will be the comprehensive review of potential social impact and sustainability-focused case studies that could be introduced to the core curriculum and the outcomes of my work would be the successful adoption of at least one new social impact and sustainability-focused case study for each course in the core curriculum.

Collaborations

My collaborators for my Leaders in Sustainability project will include other business school students who are completing the program certificate, other business school students who are involved with the Net Impact professional club, the leadership and staff at the Center for Impact, and the leadership and professors at UCLA Anderson. Other business school students who also completing the Leaders in Sustainability certificate or involved with the Net Impact professional club will be important partners for my Leaders in Sustainability project as they will support me in reviewing the existing core curriculum for UCLA Anderson business school students and potential new course materials such as case studies that could be introduced in the future. I and other business school students will need to collaborate effectively with the leadership, staff, and professors at the Center for Impact and UCLA Anderson, too, since our project recommendations will need to be ones that they ultimately approve and implement.

My Role

My role on my Leaders in Sustainability project will be an all-encompassing one through which I will determine the scope of the project, coordinate work done by others in support of the project, and collate our collective efforts into recommendations that we present to relevant decision-makers. I am excited about my role on this transformational leadership project as any success will shape the social impact and sustainability learnings that future business school students at UCLA Anderson apply in the future.

Next Steps

I anticipate that my Leaders in Sustainability project will be completed during the spring quarter from April-June 2024. The successful completion of my project may require some financial support from the Center for Impact or UCLA Anderson for me to purchase case studies published by other business schools and academic institutions that I can then review and recommend as new course materials for the core curriculum.