MBA Sustainable Business Specialization

The flagship of our MBA program is the specialization in sustainable business which covers five key areas:

• Self Sustainability — develops your inner potential and leadership abilities through Consciousness-Based Education
• Sustainable Human Resources — making work life sustainable through employee health and wellness, improved supervisory practices, and enlightened management systems
• Sustainable Technologies — advanced knowledge and experience with renewable energy, energy efficiency, organic agriculture, sustainable waste systems, and sustainable building methods
• Sustainable Process Improvement — reducing inefficiency and waste through quality management and implementation of “lean” methods
• Sustainable Community Development — leadership and consulting skills for initiating and promoting comprehensive change toward sustainability in cities and communities

Several themes of knowledge and of educational practice distinguish our MBA program from those at other universities:

Success Without Stress

In contrast to Harvard, which takes pride in giving its MBA students “36 hours of work every 24 hours,” our theme for management education is “success without stress.” We believe that a person’s best work comes from a rested, fresh, clear and alert mind, so we give all our students training in the Transcendental Meditation technique. “Work smarter, not harder” is our theme. Our full-time students have a full-time load of study, and even they have to be careful not to take on too many outside responsibilities, but we seek to give our students a balanced workload that permits them to evolve and grow as individuals while they gain the knowledge of business administration.

Finding Your Fulfillment

A deep theme in our program of management education is that each person should develop clarity about their personal strengths and career goals. Steven Covey, in his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, describes this idea as “finding your voice.” Others describe this concept as one’s “natural duty” or “that which you were born to do.” The practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, by releasing stress from one’s nervous system and developing clarity of mind, promotes that deep quiet awareness in which one comes to know what direction to take.

Deep Sustainability

Generic sustainability is seen in the familiar themes of company advertisements and business courses: life-cycle analysis of products, social responsibility, renewable energy, nontoxicity, and nonwaste. We teach all of that in our MBA specialization in Sustainable Business, but we go farther. Deep Sustainability means the ability to think and act spontaneously in accord with all the laws of nature. It is the extraordinary capability of the ordinary human nervous system that, with proper training, a person can develop the unbounded awareness that is the basis of both individual
consciousness and the unified field of natural law that physics has come to discover at the basis of all forms and phenomena in nature. Enlightenment is that quality of human life in which one thinks and acts spontaneously in accord with nature. This is deep sustainability.

Creative Intelligence in Business

The modern way to think strategically about a company is to view the firm as a knowledge-based organization. In this view, the essential strategic resource of the firm is not its factory or equipment but the knowledge on which production and service delivery are based. Patents are the familiar form of knowledge, and the conventional view also includes databases, software, and job manuals. But the deeper view is that the source of sustainable competitive advantage is found primarily in the creative intelligence of the people who work for and with the firm. The MBA program at Maharishi University of Management develops the creative intelligence of our students at its most profound level, the consciousness that is the basis of the thinking mind. From there, all creativity is possible and there are no limits to achievement.

200% of Life

An essential aspect of the MBA program at Maharishi University of Management is the holistic development of person—body, mind, and spirit. Our goal is to live 200% of life, 100% inner fulfillment and spiritual development, and 100% success in the world. This is possible, because our method for developing the creative intelligence of an individual is to experience, through the Transcendental Meditation technique, the source of one’s creative intelligence at the basis of one’s mind, pure consciousness. Consciousness is not only the source of one’s creativity. It is the essential nature of one’s self. It is the state of being. It is pure spirit. As that deep quality of consciousness becomes enlivened, one gains self-realization and the full expression of one’s creative intelligence in one stroke. That is 200% of life.

Green Both Ways

When we develop deep sustainability in a company, the firm experiences a holistic development analogous to that of the individuals. By fully developing its creative intelligence, a company can be “green both ways,” profitable as an enterprise and sustainable in its relation to natural law.

The Details:

Internships
The MBA students who specialize in Sustainable Business at Maharishi University of Management have a special advantage in getting internships during their MBA program. UMLAC operates on the block system, teaching one course at a time. MBA students are encouraged to take 4-week or 8-
week internships any time during the year, and because they are available when students on a traditional calendar are tied to a classroom, the UMLAC students have an advantage in getting these short project-based internships.
Two-Semester or Three-Semester Program
Students with a bachelor’s degree in business may be able to complete the MBA in Sustainable Business in as little as one year. For details, see the admission requirements.
Sustainable Entrepreneurship
As more and more people recognize the importance of sustainability, new opportunities abound, but an entrepreneurial approach is necessary to recognize and implement them. We offer a full range of courses to train students to create new businesses with life-sustaining products and services.
Credit for Internship Work
Students may earn up to 12 units of credit for internships. Learn more about the Sustainable
Business Specialization Internship Opportunities.
Green Business and Natural Capitalism
We embrace the vision that business can be “green both ways” — operating in harmony with
nature, and making money. Each of our entrepreneurial business courses teaches principles and
examples of green business and natural capitalism.

Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative

UMLAC, through its affiliation with Maharishi University of Management, participates in the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative, a United Nations-backed global initiative developed to promote corporate responsibility and sustainability in business education. Our endorsement of PRME expresses our commitment to ongoing progress in curriculum development, research, and community leadership in support of sustainable management systems.

Specialization Courses in Sustainable Business

• Organizational Change for Sustainability (2–4 credits)
• Metrics for Sustainability (2–4 credits)
• Sustainable Technologies (2–4 credits)
• Socially and Environmentally Responsible Management (2–4 credits)
• Modeling Sustainable Technologies (2 credits)
• Employee Health and Wellness (2 credits)
• Socially Responsible Investing (2–4 credits)
• Green Investing (2–4 credits)
• Sustainable Community Development (2–4 credits)
• MGT 5312 MBA Capstone Project (2–4 credits)

Please see the MBA Degree Requirements for a complete list of courses.