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Insight Collection

Nordic Sustainability

August 2025 • Haas School of Business

Sustainable Capitalism in the Nordics


We face big challenges in this world. Climate change, poverty, health & wellbeing, access to quality education, decent work, eradication of biodiversity, and growing inequalities are just a few of the interconnected sustainability challenges represented by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [The students who take this] immersion and discussion-based course [explore] sustainability in the Nordics. The immersion experience involves morning and afternoon sessions held at the Copenhagen Business School and site visits with relevant Nordic organizations and individuals. Inquiry focuses on the very concept of capitalism itself, and the relationship between capitalism and sustainability and democracy. The class considers the ideas of “American shareholder capitalism” vis-à-vis “Nordic stakeholder capitalism” to compare American and Nordic policies and cultures, and their effects on sustainability practices and performances and what lessons we can prosperously draw for the U.S.

-Robert Strand, Professor
University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley Haas MBA Student Insights
Beyond Sustainability—Future Proofing: What Nordic Companies Teach Us About Leading Through Imperfection
Angus Lam

True sustainability is future proofing: change the unchangeable.

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Beyond the Bottom Line: Reimagining Capitalism Through Nordic Lenses
Travis Bautista

Exploring how Nordic capitalist principles offer a pathway to a more equitable and sustainable business future.

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Moving Toward the Midpoint? — Implications from the Nordics for American Capitalism
Anthony Zhang

Rethinking purpose, profit, and value.

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Scaling Social Impact: Lessons from the Nordic Model of Capitalism
Neil Shah

Why scaling social innovation requires an ecosystem – and how the Nordic countries have proven it works.

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Shared Ownership and Prosocial Values: Feedback Loops in the Nordics
John Lund-Delaossa

Nordic norms in sharing power and ownership create positive feedback loops.

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California Management Review
Global Sustainability Frontrunners: Lessons from the Nordics
Robert Strand

Nations like Denmark, Finland, and Sweden and companies such as Novo Nordisk and Ørsted achieve top sustainability rankings through their distinctive approach to stakeholder cooperation.

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Berkeley Haas Case Series
Ørsted: Co-Creating a People Positive Framework for the Renewable Energy Transition
Dara O'Rourke and Robert Strand

While the world needs to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 to meet climate goals, community opposition has become a top cause of project delays and cancellations.

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Maersk: Driving Culture Change at a Century-Old Company to Achieve Measurable Results
Jennifer Chatman

Newcomer Ulf Hahnemann sought to overhaul the 112-year old shipping company Maersk, shifting its culture, Net Promoter Score, and financials.

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Sustainability Through Open Innovation: Carlsberg and the Green Fiber Bottle
Henry Chesbrough

Danish brewer Carlsberg developed the Green Fiber Bottle, a beer bottle made of wood pulp, in collaboration with a startup, a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME), and a Danish University.

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