Business and System Change: Engineering Sustainable Transformation in Complex Systems

The version you’re consulting is not final. This course description may change. The final version will be published on 1st June.

5.00 credits

22.5 h + 15.0 h

Teacher(s)

Belleflamme Paul; Shrestha Prabal;

Language

English

Prerequisites

None

Main themes

Throughout the course, students will engage with a broad and integrated set of themes that reflect the complexity, urgency and technical depth of sustainability challenges in business systems:

Systems modeling and feedback analysis: Students will learn to model complex adaptive systems using causal loop diagrams, feedback structures, and resilience principles. Emphasis is placed on identifying leverage points, understanding system delays, and anticipating unintended consequences in business ecosystems.
Circular and functional economies: Exploration of economic models that reduce material throughput and promote resource efficiency. Students will analyze how businesses can shift from product ownership to service-based models, and how circular design principles can be embedded in operations and supply chains.
Impact measurement: Development and application of performance indicators that go beyond traditional financial metrics, including planetary boundaries, well-being indicators, and full value chain impact assessments. Students will use tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and social/environmental impact analysis.
Decentralized Governance and Open Innovation: Examination of alternative organizational structures such as platform cooperatives, blockchain-enabled governance, and open-source production. These models challenge conventional hierarchies and offer new possibilities for transparency, collaboration, and distributed decision-making.
Technical Design of Sustainable Business Processes: Integration of engineering principles into the design of business interventions. Students will prototype and simulate sustainable processes, evaluate trade-offs, and optimize systems for resilience and regeneration using systems dynamics and technical modeling tools.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

Apply systems thinking tools (e.g., causal loop diagrams, feedback analysis, resilience theory) to model complex socio-ecological systems and identify leverage points for sustainable transformation.
Integrate technical and strategic dimensions of sustainability to propose realistic yet ambitious solutions that address root causes of complex challenges.
Analyze and redesign business models using principles of circular and functional economies, with a focus on reducing material throughput and enhancing regenerative value creation.
Evaluate sustainability performance through the development and application of advanced metrics.
Critically assess decentralized and collaborative organizational models, such as platform cooperatives, open-source innovation, and blockchain-enabled governance, in terms of their potential to support systemic sustainability.

These learning outcomes and the evaluation methods are related to the following competences of the LSM competency framework:

1. Corporate Citizenship

1.2. Act ethically and responsibly in professional contexts. Students critically assess the ethical implications of business decisions and explore tensions between profit and purpose in sustainability strategies.
1.3. Contribute to the development of sustainable solutions. Central to the course: students design systemic interventions that address root causes of socio-environmental challenges using regenerative and circular models.

2. Knowledge and Reasoning

2.1. Master and apply knowledge in management disciplines. Students apply strategic frameworks, systems thinking principles, and sustainability models to analyze and redesign business processes.
2.2. Articulate and apply a structured and analytical approach to problem solving. Students use systems modeling, impact assessment tools, and feedback analysis to develop technically sound solutions to complex problems.

3. Teamwork and Leadership

3.1. Work collaboratively in a team. Group projects and workshops foster collaboration, peer learning, and collective problem-solving.
3.2. Exercise enlightened leadership. Students are encouraged to adopt a leadership posture oriented toward systemic change, stakeholder inclusion, and long-term impact.

4. Communication and Interpersonal Skills

4.1. Communicate effectively in a professional context. Students present their work to a multi-stakeholder jury, develop strategic reports, and communicate impact across technical and non-technical audiences.
4.2. Develop interpersonal skills. Through coaching, peer feedback, and stakeholder engagement simulations, students strengthen their ability to interact, negotiate, and collaborate.

Content

This course examines how businesses can act as catalysts for systemic sustainability transformations by leveraging technical innovation, systems modeling, and impact measurement. Designed for students with a strong analytical and engineering background, the course emphasizes the design of interventions that address root causes of socio-environmental challenges through a systems lens.
Students will explore how organizations are embedded within complex adaptive systems and how business decisions interact with ecological, social, and economic dynamics. They will learn to apply systems thinking tools to diagnose system behavior, identify leverage points, and model feedback loops and unintended consequences. The course also introduces resilience theory and adaptive cycles to understand how systems evolve and respond to change.
In the second part, students will investigate how business models can be redesigned to support circularity, functionality, and regeneration. They will analyze the limitations of traditional value capture models and explore alternatives that decouple growth from material throughput. Emphasis is placed on developing and applying new performance indicators—such as planetary boundaries, well-being metrics, and regenerative KPIs—across the full value chain.
The course then turns to organizational innovation, examining decentralized and collaborative models such as platform cooperatives, open-source production, and blockchain-enabled governance. Students will assess how these models challenge conventional business structures and offer new pathways for transparency, participation, and sustainability.
Finally, students will design systemic interventions using engineering-based tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), systems dynamics modeling, and impact assessments. They will work on real cases to develop technically grounded solutions, simulate system responses, and evaluate trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic outcomes.

Teaching methods

Teaching methods include:

Interactive Lectures
Case Study Analysis, role-Play and simulation exercises

Group Project: Collaborative design of a systemic intervention for a real or fictional company, integrating systems modeling, impact assessment, and strategic planning.

Evaluation methods

Continuous evaluation (35%): Short Assessments or Quizzes about key concepts (e.g., systems principles, sustainability paradigms, economic models) and class participation.

Written report by group (65%): Design a systemic intervention for a company or sector, including systems modeling, impact metrics, and strategic recommendations.

Online resources

All resources (video, texts, readings, slides, cases) will be available on Moodle.

Bibliography

The course relies on a set of readings and other pedagogical material available to registered students through the Moodle website of the course.

Faculty or entity

> CLSM

Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme

Sigle

Credits

Prerequisites

Learning outcomes

Master [120] : Business Engineering

INGE2M