IMD business school for management and leadership courses
Learning
Our Degree and Executive Education programs integrate sustainability themes and capabilities.
We are the trusted learning partner of choice for ambitious individuals and organizations worldwide and offer a hands-on, experiential learning approach to learning. Recognizing the changing demands on our graduates to be future-ready, we integrate sustainability throughout the MBA degree curriculum. The program, designed in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), is based on a skills mapping that identifies MBA graduates’ capabilities to tackle corporate sustainability challenges upon graduation. The 2024 MBA cohort included 101 participants from 44 nationalities, with 38 women and 99 international students. In 2024, IMD soared 31 places in the Corporate Knights ranking of the most sustainable MBA programs.
We offer 24 electives as part of our MBA, with four focused on sustainability. An additional three electives have sustainability elements.
In 2024, the MBA Business & Society course took a broader approach to sustainability and societal impact, introducing a focus on systemic poverty alongside climate change. New sessions were added on topics such as impact measurement, greenhouse gas emissions, and human rights in business.
The MBA class of 2024 participated in practical sustainability workshops, exploring topics such as climate change, biosphere integrity, and ESG versus sustainability. During this time, they were encouraged to reflect on their personal and professional roles in addressing climate change and social responsibility. Spending time outdoors in the mountains, they were able to observe the tangible effects of climate change. They also visited Nestlé’s Research Centre, which provided an invaluable peek into the future of sustainability and innovation at Nestlé.
Each year, MBA participants are allocated a startup to mentor, providing practical applications of the lessons they learn during their MBA. In 2024, the MBA cohort partnered with 18 startups, including eight with a strong emphasis on sustainability and three integrating sustainability into their operations.
For the 2024 International Consulting Projects, the cohort worked full-time on 20 projects for client companies to solve the most pressing and challenging issues they face; including advancements in sustainable construction materials, efforts to promote financial inclusion, and the integration of sustainability into global sporting events.
The cohort also embarked on a discovery expedition to Dubai, which showcased how businesses are leading the way in sustainability, diversification, and technology.
The IMD Executive MBA (EMBA) program consists of a foundation stage and a mastery stage. Sustainability is integrated into the curriculum’s core courses, electives, and the discovery expeditions to emerging markets. EMBA participants are exposed to sustainability-related themes throughout the program. In Advanced Management Concepts (AMC) they explore ESG fundamentals from the dual lens of multinational corporations and financial institutions.
EMBA participants learn about sustainability-related themes through experiential learning in the ‘mastery stage’ of their EMBA. They gain first-hand experience in areas such as social innovation, sustainable development, and bottom-of-the-pyramid business models, through global immersions to emerging markets, including Dubai, Kenya, and Peru. In 2024, a new global immersion to Japan was introduced which is focused on corporate resilience.
EMBA participants learn about sustainability-related themes through experiential learning in the ‘mastery stage’ of their EMBA. They gain first-hand experience in areas such as social innovation, sustainable development, and bottom-of-the-pyramid business models, through global immersions to emerging markets, including Dubai, Kenya, and Peru. In 2024, a new global immersion to Japan was introduced which is focused on corporate resilience.
We have developed a broad portfolio of open-enrolment programs. We offer several sustainability-focused open programs, including our blended flagship sustainability program Leading Sustainable Business Transformation, our Winning Sustainability Strategies program, and Driving Sustainability from the Boardroom. We have also incorporated sustainability-themed modules in our portfolio of general management programs, such as our Advanced Management program and the Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives and Future Leaders.
Other programs that incorporate sustainability and inclusivity as part of their agendas include: The Inclusive Leadership program, the Driving Innovative Finance for Impact (DIFI) program, the Orchestrating Winning Performance program, and the Reinventing Luxury Lab program.
In addition to our current program offering, we introduced several new open programs in 2024 to meet the changing needs of executives seeking to drive sustainable and inclusive business transformation.
We launched our Sustainability Accelerators, a suite of executive programs designed to expand capabilities in critical facets of sustainable transformation. In 2024, 93 participants from 28 different nationalities took part in an IMD Sustainability Accelerator program.
We also launched the Women on Boards Program and the Executive Certificate in Sustainable Business course.
IMD’s custom Executive Education programs are designed in collaboration with organizations to address their unique challenges and objectives. We design learning journeys on sustainability with our corporate clients, meeting the learning objectives in their sustainable business transformations.
In 2024, IMD worked with companies across a wide range of industries, including banking, healthcare, and industrial manufacturing.
“Environmental impacts are already emerging as a vital part of the guidance the financial sector is expected to offer businesses, so bringing a platform to the UAE where we can exchange this knowledge at the highest levels of our corporate community is an important and practical step forward in bringing the UAE’s sustainability ambitions to reality.”
Research
At IMD, our research on the evolution of sustainable and inclusive business is rigorous, relevant, and actionable. This reflects IMD’s close links with firms and their leaders. We aim to share best practices and inspire new business models with societal impact. We produce research relevant to practitioners who are leading sustainable business transformation to create future-ready firms. We frequently interact with senior executives to engage them in our research and ensure that our insights are applied and fit for purpose.
IMD’s eight Centers and five Initiatives produce cutting-edge research and actionable insights on key sustainability matters to enable sustainable business transformation. In this report, we have detailed some of the work the Centers produced in 2024 that is accelerating our impact.
The Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business combines research, innovation, and learning to drive sustainable business transformation. In 2024, we accelerated our commitment to academic research and thought leadership, particularly in areas such as circular business models, managing and measuring sustainability success, business and biodiversity, sustainability strategy, and stakeholder engagement. In April 2024, How to market sustainable products by IMD’s Frédéric Dalsace and Goutam Challagalla, was published by Harvard Business Review.
Together with Capgemini Invent, we also launched an extensive research initiative to delve into the complexities of how businesses are transforming in the name of sustainability. The Center also published a report entitled Nature’s ROI, designed to help companies approach biodiversity strategically.
The Center for Social Innovation develops and shares research and pedagogical content that helps business and civil society leaders navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social innovation. The Center produced a report on Humanitarian Impact Finance in 2024. The Unleashing Civic Wealth Creation Through Community Entrepreneurship project, spearheaded by IMD and the Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, has been selected as a recipient of a significant research grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The third cohort of the open program Driving Innovative Finance for Impact was launched in 2024 and the Center also hosted the 20th Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference this year.
The IMD World Competitiveness Center has pioneered research on how nations and enterprises compete to lay the foundations for future prosperity. It publishes several indexes, including the Hinrich-IMD Sustainable Trade Index and IMD Smart City Index. The findings of the Sustainable Trade Index 2024 can be found here and the results of the 2024 IMD Smart City Index can be found here. In 2024, IMD was honored with a CHF 5m donation from alumnus Douglas Geertz to support research on enhancing economic prosperity in developing countries and maximizing the impact of international development aid.
The Global Family Business Center is a trusted source of research and education for family businesses around the world. In 2024, the Center published numerous books, book chapters, academic publications, practitioner articles, and a case study relating to sustainability and philanthropy in family business. The Debiopharm Chair of Family Philanthropy exists to increase the social and financial impact of family giving as well as to develop best practices in family philanthropy.
The Global Board Center’s mission is to help boards make the best decisions. The Center welcomed Simon Tièche as a research fellow, he is driving a research project in collaboration with Harvard, to understand how different competitive pressures and market conditions influence board decisions when it comes to sustainability. The Center also published the second edition of Didier Cossin’s book High Performance Boards: A Practical Guide to Improving and Energizing Your Governance, with several new chapters focusing on sustainability.
The TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation provides academic research and thought leadership insights on the potential of digital transformation and AI to inspire a more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive world. Director of the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation Michael Wade was invited to speak with the Japanese Prime Minister on Japan’s sustainable digital transformation policy.
The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative helps organizations translate good intentions into real and sustainable behavioral change through its research and thought leadership. The initiative’s research was published in FT50 and other peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences and workshops. In addition, in a cooperative project with an industry partner, we explored equity as the ‘silent e’ in DE&I research and practice.
The Workplace Well-being Initiative sits at the frontier of research into employee mental health and well-being. The Initiative’s research focus is on stress and overwhelm, (including digital well-being, workaholism, and burnout) and mental health stigma (focusing on leadership disclosure for building employee psychological safety). In 2024, the Workplace Well-being Initiative started a new line of research on the effectiveness of microbreaks at work for empowering employee well-being and performance.
Publications and thought leadership
FT50 articles published
“Other” (non-FT50) academic articles
Conference papers
I by IMD outputs
Practitioner articles (including 8 original media articles)
Original cases
Outreach and partnerships
IMD partners with academic institutions, organizations, and not-for-profits to advance sustainable transformation. We recognize that cross-sector outreach and partnerships help maximize our impact on society. Our commitment to strengthening collaboration is evident in several new partnerships and the deepening of existing relationships.
In 2024, we launched various new partnerships and outreach initiatives and continued to strengthen our existing partnerships.
Our partnerships
IMD is a co-founding partner of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) Foundation. The initiative believes that external goals must be coupled with inner leadership capability development to help translate SDGs from visions into actions. IDG brings together researchers and leaders from government, business, and civil society to evolve this framework and craft initiatives for leadership development that are consistent with it.
IMD is an academic partner of The Female Quotient. The Female Quotient has established the world’s largest community of women in business and offers curated experiences through leadership and solutions to achieve gender equality. We participated in the Female Quotient’s panel discussion Equality in Harmony: Uniting Women Through the Power of Music at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
IMD is an academic partner of the Boardroom, a pan-European club for women executives who aspire to be board members. They offer tailor-made programs to accelerate the advancement of women in leadership positions and corporate boards. In 2024, IMD and the Boardroom hosted a session focused on the organizational actions needed to break the glass ceiling at The World Economic Forum in Davos.
IMD is a partner to EqualVoice, an academic network committed to producing scientific analyses on topics relating to equality and diversity. EqualVoice strives to produce informed and challenging white papers that provide analytical depth and serve as a valuable resource for policy development and social change.
IMD is a partner to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a global, CEO-led organization of over 230 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. The strategic partnership aims to equip business leaders with the skills to accelerate the pace of sustainable business transformation.
Deepening our engagement with our partners
We hosted an event alongside our partner B Lab at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos for Swiss Boards for Agenda 2030 (SBA2030). SBA2030 is an alliance of Swiss CEOs and board members who are committing their companies to a high level of board accountability to drive sustainability and business resilience. The sessions focused on the practical steps boards can take to support a positive impact strategy.
TOGETHER, an initiative formed by IMD alumni, is dedicated to fostering a strong network of leaders committed to creating a sustainable future. In 2024, TOGETHER hosted 10 online events, attracting over 1,000 participants worldwide, and organized the second edition of their in-person event at IMD, with 80 participants in attendance.
IMD is a founding partner of Business Schools for Climate Leadership (BS4CL), a research and thought leadership partnership between eight leading European business schools. BS4CL hosted a Climate Leadership Forum in 2024. BS4CL supports two online PhD courses: Financial Economics of Climate and Sustainability and Organizing the Climate Transition, launched in 2024.
Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) is a UN-supported initiative that aims to raise the profile of sustainability in business schools to ensure that future leaders have the skills to balance economic, environmental, and social goals. IMD is a member of the Champions Group of the PRME, a select group of schools working together to integrate the UN SDGs into teaching, research, and outreach
The Enterprise for Society Center (E4S) is a joint venture of the University of Lausanne (through HEC Lausanne), IMD, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Its mission is to spearhead the transition towards a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive economy. In 2024, we welcomed the fourth cohort of the E4S Master of Science in Sustainable Management and Technology and 34 students successfully graduated.