Increasing Sustainability Engagement Using Experiential Pedag ...

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Abstract

With the rapidly increasing world population, climate change, and diminishing resources, sustainability issues have been at the forefront of economic concerns. Business education can be oriented to incorporate sustainability into business operations and supply chain management. This paper discusses the use of experiential learning pedagogies in increasing student engagement for teaching socially responsible supply chain management. We argue that experiential methods are more effective in increasing synthesis and retention of complex models that can be applied to practical supply chain problems. We formulate a model where students can practice and evaluate their awareness of social responsibility as it relates to design of goods and services, quality, process strategy, inventory, and supplier relationships. This would be further demonstrated by using analytical methods that include forecasting demand, creating sales strategy scenarios, and tracking inventory to document real-life trade-offs of sustainability practices. Students are asked not only to document their practices but also why they chose those practices.