BUSDEV 724 : Designing for Sustainability

Business and Economics

2025 Quarter Four (1258) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Addresses challenges in designing for sustainability, including lifetime and disposal costs, environmental and social impacts, compliance issues, and tensions between corporate responsibility and profit generation. Explores contemporary topics like eco-innovation, circular economy, and social enterprise.

Course Overview

BUSDEV 724 Designing for Sustainability is part of the Product Management specialisation within the Master of Business Management programme.

Contemporary business innovation processes require a design thinking approach to adapt and respond to rapidly changing societal and ecological conditions. Growing consumer and institutional demand for eco-innovations has further encouraged businesses to embed sustainability into their strategies. This course explores how frameworks such as Cradle-to-Cradle® and the Circular Economy provide powerful design thinking–based strategies to address these challenges.

Across the modules, students examine sustainability as a central driver of innovation. They learn how design thinking can be applied to sustainability, explore how planetary boundaries define the limits within which businesses must innovate, and compare eco-efficiency (doing more with less) with eco-effectiveness (creating positive impact by design). The course also introduces the principles of Cradle-to-Cradle design and its globally recognised certification process as practical tools for embedding sustainability into products and strategies.

From this foundation, the course expands into circular economy strategies and business models, highlighting how circularity influences products, processes, and organisational transformation. Real-world cases—including the New Zealand-based ventures SaveBOARD, Greenbox and Ecostore—illustrate both the opportunities of circular innovation and the systemic barriers of infrastructure, procurement, and policy.

The course concludes with an exploration of ecosystem design, where students map the dynamics of sustainable business ecosystems and reflect on how collaboration, interdependence, and intentional design can drive circularity, resilience, and systemic transformation.

By the end of the course, students will be able to critically evaluate sustainability-oriented design principles, develop circular business strategies, and apply an ecosystem perspective to align and economically viable business strategy with societal and environmental impact.

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: People and Place
Capability 2: Sustainability
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking
Capability 6: Communication
Capability 8: Ethics and Professionalism

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Design and evaluate circular innovations that enhance sustainability across product and business model levels (Capability 2, 3 and 5)
  2. Reflect on personal values and responsibilities in shaping sustainable business decisions. (Capability 1.1, 2 and 8)
  3. Synthesize theory and real-world evidence to assess sustainable value creation (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
  4. Demonstrate systems thinking in identifying barriers and enablers to circular transition (Capability 2, 4 and 5)
  5. Communicate sustainability insights effectively and professionally to diverse audiences (Capability 6.1 and 8)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignment 1: Cradle-to-cradle product design – Reflective essay 15% Individual Coursework
Assignment 2A: From product to sustainable business model design – Professional video pitch 38.25% Individual Coursework
Assignment 2B: From product to sustainable business model design – Reflective short essay 6.75% Individual Coursework
Assignment 3: Sustainable ecosystem design - Report 40% Individual Coursework
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5
Assignment 1: Cradle-to-cradle product design – Reflective essay
Assignment 2A: From product to sustainable business model design – Professional video pitch
Assignment 2B: From product to sustainable business model design – Reflective short essay
Assignment 3: Sustainable ecosystem design - Report

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

Delivery Mode

Online

Attendance on campus is not required for any component of the course. 

Where possible, all study material will be available when the course begins. This course runs to the University's quarter timetable and all the associated completion dates and deadlines will apply.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Feedback from students indicated a good level of interest and engagement, as well as a general appreciation of the contents and structure of the course. Hence, feedback has been considered in relation to maintaining content and related assignments in the pedagogical cycle. 

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 09/09/2025 01:39 p.m.