McDonough Professor Teaches Course on Water Policy
Mark Giordano led a group of MBA Evening Program students from the McDonough School of Business in an Intensive Learning Course (ILE) that explored the private sector’s relationship with water policy.
“When a lot of people talk about what to do about the global water crisis, they often talk about government action and bigger processes,” Giordano said. “But it’s actually businesses and individuals that are making the fundamental choices that affect water.”
Giordano’s course aimed to educate business students about the complexities of one of the world’s most important resources over the summer– one of seven ILE’s taught to MBA students this summer and the first course MBA course anywhere focused on the business of water.
“When you’re working with water, you have to think about relations with the other people using water, the social significance of water, both for ethical as well as business reasons” Giordano said.
The course involved 37 hours of contact time over a two-week period where Georgetown’s Associate Professor employed his students’ existing business-school skills to illustrate certain points about the nature of water as a scarce resource.
“There’s a direct need for smart MBAs — especially globally focused MBAs — that know something about infrastructure,” Sri Sekar, an MBA Evening Program student in the course, said. “It’s particularly important to me because I intend on going into the infrastructure finance space after I graduate. And, honestly, all of that revolves around power and water.”
The course and its material illustrates just one example of how understanding the broader business context of an issue leads to better policies and practices in the business world.
“There are a lot of misunderstandings about water, so sometimes bad decisions are made not because companies were trying to do something bad but because they didn’t realize the impact,” Giordano said. “There is still a lot that businesses can do to be part of a solution and at the same time more competitive.”
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Max Pulcini
Max Pulcini is a Philadelphia-based writer and reporter. He has an affinity for Philly sports teams, Super Smash Bros. and cured meats and cheeses. Max has written for Philadelphia-based publications such as Spirit News, Philadelphia City Paper, and Billy Penn, as well as national news outlets like The Daily Beast.
