Custom Programs

IMD co-creates high-impact customized learning journeys on sustainability with its corporate clients, accelerating sustainable business transformation by building individual and organizational capabilities for the future. Here are three examples.

Maybank: Gearing Up to Lead the ESG Just Transition in Asean

Driven by its “Humanizing Financial Services” mission, Maybank, one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia, partnered with IMD to co-create a sustainability executive education program, “Enabling A Just Transition”, engaging its board, senior leaders and customer relationship managers. The program signals Maybank’s commitment to spur growth and drive change for a better future.

With this transformation, Maybank, the largest publicly listed company on the Malaysian stock exchange, aspires to strengthen its position towards becoming a regional ESG leader by 2025. This ambition aligns well with its focus on achieving sustainable growth by enabling responsible transition to a low-carbon economy, while at the same time, empowering communities and leading by example with good governance practices.

Maybank made significant commitments in 2021 to integrate sustainability throughout the bank:

• mobilizing 50 billion Malaysian Ringgit ($12 billion) in sustainable finance by 2025;
• improving the lives of one million households across ASEAN by 2025;
• achieving a carbon neutral position for its emissions by 2030 and net zero carbon equivalent position by 2050;
• achieving one million hours per annum on sustainability and delivering 1,000 significant UN Sustainable Development Goals related outcomes by 2025.

The learning journey, fully customized to Maybank, was designed to both rethink its role as a financial services institution with value propositions in sustainable finance, as well as understand emerging client needs in key industries affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy. The cohort of 100 senior leaders and 50 customer relationship managers explored key sustainability topics such as leading systems change, the science of climate change, changing regulatory context, sustainable financial products, climate risk management, and partnerships with non-market stakeholders. It featured guest speakers and virtual visits with companies such as Nestlé and pioneers in the sustainability arena, such as John Elkington whose triple bottom line concept underscores how Maybank Group is pursuing a just transition in sustainability.

“The bank is well on its way to becoming a world leader in the area of ESG, just as it is a world-leading institution in Islamic finance,” said Professor Karl Schmedders, co-director of the program. “Maybank is leaving no stone unturned in its sustainable transformation journey.”

During the eight-month journey, participants also worked in teams, supported by IMD business coaches, on 16 projects and learning labs. These explored opportunities and challenges relevant to the bank’s transformation as well as to new sustainable products, services, impact measurement tools, platforms for collaboration and client engagement, and approaches to partnership in seven industry transitions. At the end of the journey, participants presented their findings and proposals to the Maybank Executive Committee at a cross-functional Sustainability Summit.

“I am very impressed by Maybank’s commitment to a just transition,” said Professor Knut Haanaes, co-director of the program. “Through our joint journey, I have learned so much about the value of understanding and improving the society around us.”

Nestlé’s IMD innovation journey

Global senior executives design and pilot new approaches to tackling climate change.

In 2021, Nestlé, the world’s biggest food company, partnered with IMD to help the group achieve its net zero and carbon neutrality objectives.

According to Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé: “Climate change is one of the biggest threats we face as a society. It is also one of the greatest risks to the future of our business, … we know we can make a difference at significant scale. Our journey to net zero has already started. Now, we are accelerating our efforts.“

Nestlé is the first in its cohort of consumer food and beverage firms to explicitly commit to the net zero goal, although most of its competitors have stated emissions reductions goals for 2030 or earlier. But there's a catch: Going “net zero“ doesn't mean a business totally stops emitting greenhouse gases. So, what does it mean?

The company gathered 18 global senior executives to help them find out. Representing a great mix of functions and capabilities cutting across the company, they worked together in four teams to build their leadership skills and contribute to this key priority.

This “innovation journey” was co-designed with Professor of Innovation and Strategy Cyril Bouquet.

“Our collaboration with IMD on this Senior Executive Program was all about learning beyond the classroom; and it was a nine-month development journey. Our leaders were inspired to nurture curiosity to push the boundaries of today, and to leverage ecosystems with their test-and-learn approaches,” said Adeline Looi, Nestlé’s Global Head of Integrated Leadership Development.

“And what better purpose than applying their innovations from this bootcamp to be a force for good,” she added. “We believe that our leaders need to continue to inspire a culture of risk taking, empowerment and agility within their teams. The best ideas are not in the boardroom only, they are in the hearts and minds of every single person, waiting to be unleashed.”

Nestlé’s dedication to tackling climate change was made clear when, in 2018, it announced the company’s commitment to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 – even as its business continues to grow.

The teams were tasked with building a vision of how they can support behavioral change and the company’s sustainable transformation.

To identify changes that could make a difference, they examined the group’s operations and its wide range of products and practices to evaluate their impact on the planet. And, as most of the group’s emissions occur outside the company’s walls, they went on the ground to gather suppliers’ perspectives and find ways to help them to improve their production processes. They also engaged consumers to encourage behaviors towards more sustainable purchasing and consumption.

As Magdi Batato, Head of Operations, mentioned: “To align our goals to the 1.5°C pathway, we must transform our operation, and foster humongous changes in how we do business. It won’t be easy, since we’re trying to effect change in a value chain that we do not control entirely. We must imagine new models and ways of working to lead the transformation journey ahead of us. The task is huge but we are determined to make it happen.“

The four teams presented their projects to Nestlé board members in September and are now in the process of running various pilots in specific markets. The initiatives range from re-entering Nigeria with hybrid soya and milk powder products, to the development of an integrated analytics tool to allow more informed purchase decisions (integrating CO2 emissions), to a collaboration platform helping the cross-fertilization of knowledge and best practice sharing around net zero projects, and helping small agricultural farms (mostly in developing countries) to upgrade practices and lower carbon emissions whilst achieving higher yields.

“The teams investigated innovative approaches to this net zero and carbon neutrality challenge,” said Professor Cyril Bouquet. “It required courage to refuse the status quo, and humility to see the world with fresh eyes. Together with other industry partners, Nestlé executives are in a position to drive change and bring real progress to the world of business and society at large.”