Sustainable Capitalism in the Nordics?

Humanity faces significant challenges. Climate change, poverty, health & wellbeing, access to quality education, decent work, eradication of biodiversity, and growing inequalities are just a few of the interconnected “wicked problems” represented by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demanding urgent action. Against these challenges, the Nordics stand out as a valuable benchmark. Nordic countries and companies are routinely cited as global sustainability leaders, frequently topping sustainability performance indicators like the SDG Index. While the Nordics have their challenges, their standout SDG performances invite deeper exploration.

This course delves into the essence of capitalism, examining its interplay with the concepts of sustainability, democracy, and freedom. We begin with the question, “is capitalism sustainable?” and proceed from there in this discussion-based course. We compare the US and the Nordic contexts, thereby contrasting “American capitalism” with “Nordic capitalism.” As a base text, we utilize the (forthcoming) book Nordic Capitalism: Lessons for Realizing Sustainable Capitalism by the course instructor, Robert Strand.

In our explorations, we aim to understand the cultural norms and institutional factors of the Nordic context and hypothesize how they influence sustainability activities and outcomes at the societal and company levels. As a matter of comparison, we invoke considerations of the Nordic context vis-a-vis the U.S. context while welcoming participants to bring their comparative contexts from whatever parts of the world they may come.

Preliminary assignment: Familiarize yourself with the course's required texts (papers by Milton Friedman & Robert Strand; books by Anu Partanen & Lynn Stout). This does not mean you are expected to have fully read in advance of the course - that would of course only be beneficial but is not expected - but rather it means that you spend time getting a good sense for the issues covered in these texts. Based on all of this and any other research and experiences you may have previously done, offer your immediate hypothesis as to how the Nordic region is realizing comparatively superior SDG outcomes in the form of a short paper

Course leader

Robert Strand - Department of Management, Society and Communication

Target group

This is a graduate level course. CBS Summer University courses at Copenhagen Business School is open to all and welcomes domestic and international students as well as professionals.

Course aim

Summarize the ongoing debates about the purpose of the corporation and the ideas of shareholder value (aka shareholder-primacy) vis-à-vis stakeholder view of the firm

Explain the concepts of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), creating shared value, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and relate them to the ongoing debates about the purpose of the corporation

Summarize fundamental cultural norms and institutional factors that comprise the Nordic business context

Hypothesize how the Nordic region is realizing comparatively superior sustainability outcomes

Be able to offer a characterization of "Nordic Capitalism" vis-a-vis "American Capitalism"

Credits info

7.5 EC
This is an intensive 3-week course. 3-week courses cannot be combined with any other courses.
Find more information on our website.

Fee info

DKK 6000: Tuition fee for Open University students (EU/EEA/Swiss citizenship)
DKK 15000: Tuition fee for non-European students.