{"id":46975,"date":"2025-07-18T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T18:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2025\/07\/18\/sustainability-management-a-promising-addition-to-a-business-administration-degree\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T07:22:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:22:57","slug":"sustainability-management-a-promising-addition-to-a-business-administration-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2025\/07\/18\/sustainability-management-a-promising-addition-to-a-business-administration-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability Management\u2014A Promising Addition to a Business Administration Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

How can one combine the unique challenges of sustainability with the popular business administration program?<\/p>\n

One person who knows this all too well is Prof. Dr. Julian Conrads. For the past three years, he has been teaching business administration with a focus on sustainability management at the Technical University of Central Hesse (THM). His lecture at the Steinm\u00fchle, given at the invitation of Bernd H\u00fclsbeck\u2014a subject teacher and head of the social sciences department at our school\u2014contributed to career guidance and once again fostered exchange with the university. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Focus: Textile Manufacturing, People, and the Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n

This issue affects everyone, and to have a say in it, all you have to do is look down at yourself: What am I actually wearing? Textile manufacturing around the world is a hot-button issue\u2014one that\u2019s generally well known but often ignored. \u201cSurely expensive brand-name manufacturers don\u2019t tolerate poor working conditions,\u201d many reassure themselves, attributing the environmental impact of the textile industry solely to low-cost producers. \u2014 That\u2019s often the case and may be true, but it isn\u2019t necessarily so, as Prof. Conrads knows. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Utilization of all conceivable resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh: Conrads went there in person to see for himself the conditions under which the items we wear are produced and how, for example, backpacks are sewn together. The focus is on the three pillars of sustainability: ecology, economy, and social responsibility. Aware that synthetic materials are petroleum-based and that dyeing\u2014along with cotton cultivation\u2014places an enormous strain on water resources, we can immediately announce another startling fact: With 1.2 billion metric tons of CO2 per year and 6\u20138 percent of global emissions, the textile industry has a greater impact on our climate than air travel and shipping combined. <\/p>\n

In fact, these are all figures you should be aware of. And here are a few more examples: The textile industry consumes 20 percent of the world\u2019s water supply. For every kilogram of clothing produced, about one kilogram of chemicals is used. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Look at Working Conditions<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, alongside these sobering facts, it is also true that the textile industry is a major global employer. It is estimated that 70 million people\u2014particularly in developing and emerging economies\u2014earn their livelihoods from it. Yet even these figures must be viewed in context, given the often inadequate wages paid to workers\u2014who are mostly women and frequently lack basic rights. It is not only the natural environment that suffers from the production of textiles due to air, water, and soil pollution; human resources\u2014specifically, the labor of workers\u2014are also exploited. <\/p>\n

Compliance with core labor standards is part of social responsibility. This includes the elimination of forced labor, fair wages, and reasonable working hours. Independent third-party firms conduct audits to ensure that certain standards are met or maintained. Another important criterion in this context is the elimination of child labor. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Business Statements Send a Message<\/strong><\/p>\n

To ensure that employees\u2014most of whom are women\u2014are aware of their rights, training sessions are offered in the areas of occupational safety and labor law. Complaint hotlines are available if on-site conditions do not appear to comply with the law. To send a clear message, companies issue a business statement in which they commit to adopting a sustainable approach. This also addresses supply chains, the diversity of suppliers, and the highly complex substances to be processed. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is sustainable business economically viable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social responsibility and sustainable business practices entail costs for companies. \u201cCan this even be economically worthwhile anymore?\u201d the speaker asked the group, consisting of 11th-grade students from Steinm\u00fchle High School. They had the right answer ready. To ensure this is the case, companies rely on marketing and on building a reputation that resonates with consumers. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Possible Career Paths <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Business Administration (BWL) program in Sustainability Management, leading to a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree, can lead to careers in corporate management, work with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), a career in politics, or starting a business. Prof. Conrads: \u201cIt\u2019s an addition to business administration. We\u2019re trying to make sustainability a normal part of business administration.\u201d <\/p>\n

Angela Heinemann<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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How can one combine the unique challenges of sustainability with the popular business administration program? One person who knows this all too well is Prof. Dr. Julian Conrads. For the past three years, he has been teaching business administration with a focus on sustainability management at the Technical University of Central Hesse (THM). His lecture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":46980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,85,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecology-and-sustainability","category-news","category-politics-business-responsibility"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51817,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46975\/revisions\/51817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}