The Sustainability Frontier · Strategy

Find the few sustainability issues that actually matter — and turn them into advantage.

A field-tested framework for cutting through the noise, deciding where to act, and making sustainability a source of competitive strength — not a compliance cost.

3 questions

to triage any issue on your desk

1 framework

that works in any industry

10+ years

refined with executive leaders

“

You've done for sustainability strategy what Porter did for competitive strategy.

Harvard Business Review editor · in conversation

Why it works

Sustainability isn’t the problem. Knowing where to focus is.

How sustainability issues move: from the Fringe, through the Strategic Frontier, to Settled standards

Cut through the noise

A simple triage test separates the handful of issues that are truly strategic from the many that aren’t.

From cost to advantage

Reframe sustainability as a strategic lever, not a line item — and find where doing the right thing and winning overlap.

See around corners

Spot issues moving from the fringe to mainstream before they become a cost — or a rival’s advantage.

Strategy on the Sustainability Frontier book cover

The Book

Strategy on the Sustainability Frontier

The strategy book for the sustainability era — the field guide to the framework, with real cases and the triage test you can apply Monday morning.

$49.95 on Amazon

Inside the course

Two frameworks. One complete strategy system.

22 self-paced video sessions, taught by Dr. Unruh.

Part I · 6 sessions

The Sustainability Frontier

How sustainability issues move from the fringe, through the regulatory era, into the market era — and how to read where any issue on your desk sits on that path.

Part II · 16 sessions

The Five C’s of Sustainability Strategy

1

Clarify

Purpose, values, capabilities — and the external issues and impacts that matter to your business.

2

Commit

The strategic role of public commitments — and how they function as a management tool.

3

Collaborate

Why collaboration keeps growing, the forms it takes, and mutual collaborative commitments.

4

Create

Types of sustainability innovation — and business-model innovation that delivers it.

5

Capture

Investor expectations, the sustainability value space, and tactics for capturing the value you create.

The Frontier Strategy Process: Clarify, Commit, Capture — supported by Collaborate and Create

The Course

Take the online course

The complete, self-paced program — 22 video sessions that take you through both frameworks. See the full curriculum, endorsements, and enrollment details.

$295 · one-time

Backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get both programs

Pair the Frontier with The Biosphere Rules

Strategy and circular-economy execution together — both online courses for $395 instead of $490.

From executive leaders

What graduates say

“Before, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of issues; afterward, it felt like I’d found a flashlight in the dark.”

Shivani Kamal · EMBA graduate, technology & security

“I now see sustainability not as a compliance or CSR activity, but as a core component of business strategy.”

Manoj Sundar Rajendran · EMBA graduate

“Gregory Unruh’s ideas helped me articulate something I had intuitively felt for years.”

Justus Steenbeek · EMBA graduate

Dr. Gregory Unruh

Your Instructor

Dr. Gregory Unruh

Dr. Unruh holds an endowed professorship at George Mason University and has published dozens of articles in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and California Management Review. He serves as Sustainability Guest Editor for MIT Sloan Management Review — and has spent a decade refining this framework with executive leaders.

For institutions

Bring the Frontier framework to your organization

Keynote lectures, executive education, and adoptable course modules for business schools, industry associations, and companies.

Not ready for the course?

Start with the published research.

The thinking behind this program is publicly documented. Read it in the world's leading management outlets — then come back when you're ready to apply it.