UVA Darden Professor’s Coursera Class Will Change How We Think About Business

In the wake of the global financial crisis, experts and average citizens have called for a new way to do business. A new, free online course seeks to revolutionize our thinking about this subject.

Registration is open for the latest University of Virginia Darden School of Business massive open online course, or MOOC, “New Models of Business in Society.” Darden Professor R. Edward Freeman presents this class to the Coursera community as a way to examine the critical role that business plays in society.

The course will explore the emergence of a new narrative about business within a societal framework. According to Freeman, almost every business creates or destroys value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities and society, in addition to shareholders and other financiers.

“The purpose of this course is to share those ideas with you. There are no prerequisites; there are no assigned readings,” said Freeman, who is the Elis and Signe Olsson professor of business administration and serves as an academic director of the Darden Initiative for Business in Society.

Professor Freeman is an expert in the fields of stakeholder management, business strategy and business ethics, and has written extensively on these subjects. Among his many publications, he wrote the award-winning book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach.

Students from around the world will learn the exciting new models of business that change the way companies create value. The six-week course, scheduled to begin in September, will feature interactive sessions, videos and prominent guest speakers.

These new models of business are built on the foundational ideas of corporate responsibility, philanthropy, shared value and sustainability. The final session will explore the concept of how to become a stakeholder entrepreneur and create a business that makes money and improves the world. Freeman’s ground-breaking and unconventional course will ask students to draw up a business idea at the end of the course.

“If you’re interested in business, interested in making business and the world better, sign up for the course,” said Freeman.

Register now for “New Models of Business in Society.”