Tima Bansal
Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability
Why this course
This course discusses the long-term and societal implications of core business topics in the MBA program through an innovative co-teaching design. Dr. Tima Bansal co-teaches a single class in each of the eight core MBA courses. These classes are anchored by a solo class, to introduce the core concepts and to conclude by summarizing the ideas. For example, in teaching net present value (NPV), the finance instructor and Tima Bansal teach a case study that requires students to evaluate the economic considerations of building a mine. The finance colleague helps the students through the NPV analysis, which yields a positive NPV for building the mine. Tima encourages students to consider the costs of remediation, potential carbon prices, aboriginal peoples' concerns, and social movements against coal. The positive NPV becomes negative and the mine is confronting enormous social and environmental risks. By teaching sustainability in all core classes, sustainability is seen as embedded in all business decisions.
Biography
Dr. Tima Bansal is the Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability at the Ivey Business School at Western University (Ontario). She directs Ivey's research centre for Building Sustainable Value, and founded and continues to direct the Network for Business Sustainability (nbs.net).
Dr. Bansal’s research interests focus on the sustainability paradigm vis-à-vis business strategy. She has published over 42 peer-reviewed academic journals and two books on Business and the Natural Environment. She serves as a Deputy Editor for the Academy of Management Journal (2016-2019) handling all qualitative research. Her research has also been cited in the popular press, and, she was invited to speak at the TEDx Western event in 2013. She received her doctorate in 1996 at the University of Oxford. She teaches at all levels of the business program, including undergraduates, MBAs, PhDs, and executives and has received numerous awards.
