Cuba: Leader in Business Innovation

Over at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, which describes itself as "The Pioneer of Sustainable Business Education," the institute is committed to educating about the ways business can promote environmental sustainability. On its web page, BGIs purpose statement reads: "We believe that business—as society’s most influential institution—is a powerful force for social change."

So, when the institute was deciding on the study abroad program it would offer its students to learn more about innovative business practices, the choice was no-brainer: Cuba.

Yesterday, BGI sent out this tweet:

BGIedu Last summer, we sent our students to #Cuba to learn about #sustainable #business. Next summer, #China!!

I admit that I have not been to Cuba, but I have been to the Soviet Union and I don't remember the communist state being a model of business, sustainable or otherwise.

I responded via Twitter (you can, and should(!) follow us at @WAPolicyGreen), that Cuba didn't really strike me as a place one would find innovative business practices. I was assured that I was incorrect in this BGI tweet:

@wapolicygreen There's a lot to learn about business in #Cuba...and we hope we get to go back soon!

They didn't explain what had been learned, but I will admit that Fidel Castro seems to be learning something about business since he admitted in 2010 that the Cuban economic model "doesn't work." With that in mind, here are five lectures on environmental economics available on the island paradise...

1. How to deal with resource scarcity: Lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade.
2. Keeping population manageable through the use of boatlifts.
3. Converting a 1953 Chevy into a hybrid.
4. Limiting fertilizer use for food by cutting calorie intake in half!
5. Lessons from our North Korean brothers in energy conservation.

And, just think of what BGI's students can learn about air pollution in China this year!