Full-Time MBA From Copenhagen Business School Drives World-Class Sustainable Thinking

Success in the sustainability-focused strategies of business today demands the right mindset. And Denmark is where business leaders are finding it.

Copenhagen Business School (CBS) stands tall among global business education institutions not only for its top-flight programs, but also for its guiding light leadership in sustainability. Its Full-Time MBA program in particular, recognizes that future business leaders must understand the broader impact of decisions on the environment, society, and long-term corporate success. The curriculum has been crafted to address sustainability challenges in business and opportunities to prepare participants to lead responsibly.

Andreas Rasche, Associate Dean of the CBS MBA program, elaborates, “A standout feature of the MBA program is our unwavering focus on sustainability. It’s something that’s deeply rooted in the Nordic tradition of educating individuals who are passionate about business and compassionate towards our planet and society.

“And today, the field is really moving into the mainstream, into the core of organizations. If you really look at environmental, social, and corporate governance problems, you’ll notice the extent to which they surround us. And many of them are growing in severity. We want to equip the next generation of business leaders to make a difference.”

Woven Into The Fabric

A general management MBA with an ethos strongly influenced by sustainability and responsible leadership, the CBS MBA offers participants the opportunity to go a step further with the Governance & Sustainability Concentration, in which corporate governance, compliance management, circular economy, sustainable supply chains and sustainable finance are explored in-depth through the examination of real-life cases, visits to leading companies, and hearing experts speak about sustainability in action.

Strategic focus on sustainability, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and green innovation across disciplines that matter to business leaders including finance, supply chain management and digitalization is made possible by allowing faculty to tweak their courses in line with their specific expertise. A finance professor, for instance, would be encouraged to share relevant specialist knowledge such as the procurement of sustainable funding. That flexibility ensures participants have access to real-world insights that will assist them in navigating the on-the-ground challenges they are likely to encounter in corporate sustainability leadership.

For one of the program’s recent graduates (an international participant from the US), this approach was pivotal, “I specifically chose the Copenhagen MBA because sustainability is interwoven into most of the MBA courses, to different extents. The opportunity to remain in Denmark for a full-time position also excited me, because the Danish visa scheme is particularly accommodating for non-EU citizens. This was a bonus that I found most other EU MBA programs lacked.”

Christopher Tyler, Analyst at Ramboll Management Consulting, Full-Time MBA Class of 2023

Learn more about how the CBS MBA strengthened Chris’s driving passion and defined his professional ambition here.

Nordic Nine

Reinforcing the CBS MBA’s sustainability-focused curriculum is a carefully crafted set of skills the school nurtures in its MBA participants. The school’s Nordic Nine capabilities are intended to inspire participants to contribute to solving societal challenges with compassion for themselves, others and the planet, and by doing so, become more impactful leaders.

The Nordic Nine has become a trademark for CBS learning; they show potential participants examples of what they can expect to gain from the program, and employers what to expect when hiring a CBS graduate.

“The significant added value of the ‘Nordic Nine’ approach lies in transparency. As a participant or potential partner, you know precisely what to expect. These capabilities define what a CBS graduate should know, do, and be able to perform.”

Andreas Rasche, Associate Dean, MBA Program, Copenhagen Business School

Leaders In The Field

In addition to teaching sustainability, CBS is also pushing the discipline’s boundaries of understanding. Key research areas at the school include supply chain management and sustainable finance, particularly within ESG. And as Andreas explains, leadership is another, “I always emphasize to our participants that leadership is the crux of the extensive knowledge we provide on ESG. The right values, beliefs and assumptions about leading others and decision-making are what unlocks the ability to make a real impact.”

National Interest

Given the extent to which sustainability is engrained in the Danish national mindset, it’s little surprise that a business school in Copenhagen is a global leader in executive sustainability education, or that Denmark is an excellent destination for anyone who is sustainability-minded and career-driven. Bolstered by Denmark’s drive to achieve net zero by 2050, the country’s fast-growing cleantech sector offers exceptional business opportunities. Denmark is also home to six of the world’s top ten wind turbine manufacturers.

Other big Danish industries with a focus on sustainability include sustainable fuels and green aviation. The Danish maritime industry is one of the largest in the world and currently undergoing of a rapid green transition. Moreover, because in part of the county’s impressive green credentials, several of the world’s large tech companies—Apple, Google, and Facebook to name a few—have established hyperscale data centers in Denmark.

“Situated in Denmark, a global leader in sustainability, we benefit from an environment where authentic sustainability claims can be made without resorting to greenwashing. This authenticity allows us to connect students with sustainable companies, which enables them to undertake projects and internships in this domain. We also bring in guest lecturers from companies renowned for their leadership in sustainability. That provides our participants with a genuine, immersive experience in the field.”

Andreas Rasche, Associate Dean, MBA Program, Copenhagen Business School

Employment Steppingstone

CBS’s full-time, one-year MBA program culminates with the Strategy Project, which is an academic project based on either an internship placement or a company case, during which participants apply their newly gained MBA toolkit to real-world challenges in renowned companies like Ørsted, Danske Bank, Deloitte, Maersk, and Dissing+Weitling. For one recent graduate, it completed her understanding of commercial sustainability, “I wanted to go all-in, and the internship gave me the opportunity to combine social and environmental impact in a way that fit nicely with the Governance and Sustainability concentration. For me, that really rounded off my practical understanding of ESG.”

Catherine Merlo, Sustainability Strategy Consultant Dissing+Weitling

More Sustainable Tomorrow

Sustainability is increasingly important for any organization, so for the next generation of leaders, it’s crucial to understand the topic holistically from a managerial perspective. From the very start of the program, CBS MBA participants dive right in, and as their MBA journey unfolds, they develop a 360-degree skillset tailored for success.

Find out more about Copenhagen Business School on our dedicated school profile.

Copenhagen Business School (CBS) was established in 1917. Today, with 20,000 students and 1,500 employees, CBS is one of the largest business schools in Europe and among the 1% of business schools worldwide to hold the triple-crown of accreditations.