Lessons in Sustainable Process Paradigm. A case study from Dubai

Sustainable Process Paradigm (SPP) is a way of thinking and operating that incorporates principles of sustainability into objectives, initiatives, and strategies enabling the pursuit of desirable corporate and community outcomes. Rather than envisaging a sustainable future merely as outcome, creditable as that is, SPP builds sustainability into the very fabric of living and working, making the process of implementation and transformation the solution. As a case in point, the authors describe in this article how implementation of PRME has been approached and what is being achieved at IMT Business School Dubai, and, in so doing, how the notion of Sustainable Process Paradigm came about. The results of numerous research and study projects, students' activities, and collaborative events, outlined in the article, led to the formulation of program Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and Operating Principles that may assist practitioners elsewhere in their own implementations. The notions of engaged scholarship and action research are the main methodological choices of this case study. Significant contributions of the article, in addition to introducing SPP itself, are seen in IMT's structure for sustainable development and application of social network theory.