The Blue Economy

Rosenberg, Mike; de Harenne, Jean-Baptiste

Product #:SM-1693-E

Supplier:IESE Publishing

Discipline:General Management

Setting:Alemania; Francia, 2019

Details:Case (PDF) • 17 pages • 2020-03-18

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Blue Economy is a concept developed by Gunter Pauli over the last 30 years and is also the title of his book which offer a way of re-imagining capitalism and industrial society. The case study is an account of a family office in Europe and the decision to invest or not in three of Pauli's revolutionary business ideas. Pauli draws on a network of 3,000 scientists to find ideas that might change the game in a wide variety of industries including wind energy, paper and cardboard, food production, and bio-plastics. The marry the technology with sustainable business models that have social and environmental sustainability built into the approach. When Pauli and his team believe an idea has merit, they bring the idea to a level of operational viability and then seek investment from private capital to fund the different startups that will deploy it. The case study tells the story of Pauli's interactions with a wealthy German industrialist whose 24 Granddaughter wants him to invest in Pauli's ideas. The case is written from the point of view of the former investment banker who manages the family office.

Learning Objectives

The primary purpose of The Blue Economy case study is to expose students to the Gunter Pauli's principles which include ideas such as bio-mimicry and putting customers and communities first. The case study also allows for a constructive debate about the viability of those principles which challenge many of the fundamentals of many MBA programs. In the case study, for example, Pauli refuses to give detailed financial projections and insists that he will only accept the familys money if they are interested in the long term. Finally, the case also allows a discussion of the rising importance of environmental and social sustainability in the decision-making processes of privately held capital.