When we started working on the Not a B-School Syllabus, we asked ourselves, "What crucial business trends are business schools ignoring?" There are many, but one particular trend stuck out in my mind--sustainability. When Butcher posted his definition of Greenspan yesterday, the importance of sustainability as a first-class area of study in business became clear.
Historically, big business as common practice is about the conversion of resources into wealth at speed. Unfortunately, that game is almost over. Oil (the archetype of this kind of resource and this kind of business) is over $100 a barrel and we are, as Butcher pointed out, at last call.
Physical resources are always of finite supply (different rules may apply to intangible resources--but that's another post); the game can't be played as if it were a zero-sum game any longer; we have to divorce ourselves from the scarcity mentality we've adopted; we have to look for ways to play this game for the long-term.
- Bandit
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