The ongoing economic crisis as well as global environmental problems are creating an uncertain future for young Europeans. The core of these problems lies in patterns of behaviour which neglect the aspect of sustainability at the expense of short-term profit. In order to tackle these problems there is a need to promote business models which take into account ethical and social considerations. This in turn makes it necessary to train and educate a young generation who is willing and competent enough to shape a sustainable economy by working for alternative businesses or by starting alternative businesses themselves. We would therefore like to complement traditional business teaching, which still very much revolves around the idea of profit maximization, with practical approaches to alternative business models. Using the example of the food sector, the project will open room for the observation, discussion and appraisal of such models. Moreover, we aim at equipping our students with some of the entrepreneurial skills needed to practically plan and implement a European sustainable business. Last but not least, we would like to develop an awareness for the need to change consumer as well as entrepreneurial patterns of behaviour in order to foster sustainability. About 140 full-time business students aged 16 to 19 and 24 teachers will be directly involved in the project activities taking place at the four partner schools in Germany, Turkey, Finland and Latvia. Using a CLIL approach, we will create a setting where the students will engage in business activities with the aim of opening a supermarket chain for fair food products and the creation of their own brand. These activities will include a PESTLE analysis (i.e. taking into account political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental implications) of the market for organic/fair food products, consumer surveys, the creation of a company philosophy and brand elements (name, logo, slogan etc.), the establishment of criteria for the production and sales of “fair” food, the scoring of potential suppliers of organic raw material according to those criteria, costings, the development of a pack design and a QR code. There will also be a small-scale production of real organic-food products under the students’ own brand. Throughout the project period, these business-related tasks will be prepared and accompanied by visits, workshops and meetings with experts so that students will build up more and more knowledge about the European sector for organic food and its differences from the conventional food sector. Students will also stage events to present the results of their work, inform their school communities about it and disseminate knowledge about “fair”/organic food initiatives. Moreover, we plan to integrate reflective activities which will allow students to think about and discuss developments in the food sector such as the contradiction between the consumers’ wish for fair products and their reluctance to spend a lot of money on food. A lot of the activities we plan will be IT-based and they will involve the use of the students' second language, English. The outcomes of the participants’ business-related activities will include reports and PREZI presentations containing the results of market research, rating forms for potential suppliers of organic raw materials, lists of ingredients, costs and descriptions of the students' manufactured brand-name products. Prototypes of these commodities – four products made of regional organic ingredients – will be manufactured by students and presented at a “supermarket opening” event. Further events will be organized, e.g. a food tasting and information event at each partner school and a panel discussion with experts about sustainability in the food sector, alternative business models and consumer citizenship. Visits to markets, supermarkets, farms, food processing plants as well as workshops with experts from universities and businesses will lead to the production of reports, blog entries and online journals. We will also use a company website to document our project. Our cooperation will increase the particpants’ awareness of the need for sustainable thinking and it will build up their skills in acting sustainably in business as well as in private life. In the medium term the project may lead to fair-food policies being adopted by the partner schools. Through dissemination, it will also have an impact on citizens in our cities and regions and hopefully help spread sustainable business and consumption practices further.
The project was carried out in the aftermath of a severe economic crisis which brought to light fundamental problems of the prevalent economic model. It led to a widespread feeling that our economy is inherently fragile and potentially harmful because it favours patterns of behaviour which neglect sustainability at the expense of short-term profit. In order to secure a future for young people and to protect our planet it will be necessary to promote business models which take into account ethical and social considerations. This means that traditional business teaching, which still very much revolves around the idea of profit maximization, needs to be complemented by teaching about how to combine business and sustainability. The project tried to raise the participants' awareness of the need to shape a sustainable economy taking into account entrepreneurial as well as consumer patterns of behaviour. It also aimed at providing young Europeans with business competencies which they will find useful when working for alternative businesses or for starting alternative businesses in the future. Using the example of the food sector, the project setup opened room for the observation, discussion and appraisal of alternative business models and gave students the opportunity to gain entrepreneurial skills by planning and implementing a sustainable European company. The project involved about 140 full-time business students aged 16 to 19 and 24 teachers from four partner schools in Germany, Turkey, Finland and Italy. The coordinating school, Berufskolleg Viersen in Viersen, Germany, is a vocational college boasting extensive experience as a coordinator of international projects. Sisli Anadolu High School is a high-profile secondary school in the centre of Istanbul, Turkey, whose cooperation with the Ministry of Education, NGOs and private companies has helped its staff gain profound knowledge about sustainability. ISIS 'Oscar Romero' in Albino, Italy, is a secondary school with an integrated Vocational Commercial School. It has a longstanding experience of European projects and has lately focused on projects about biodiversity and organic food. Etelä-Tapiolan Lukio, a renowned upper secondary school in Espoo, Finland, offers an International Baccalaureate (IB) programme and has specialised in social sciences and economics. It has a special interest in entrepreneurship with courses devoted to enterprise, guest speakers on the subject and participation in the annual 'Young Entrepreneurship Programme'. Using a CLIL (content and language integrated learning) approach, the project participants created a setting in which students took over the role of European business people planning and organising the opening of a supermarket chain for fair food products and the creation of their own brand of innovative food products. The focus of the first year of the project was on building up expert knowledge about the concept of sustainability and the alternative food sector in the four partner countries. Project activities included desk research in the form of STEEPLE analyses (i.e. taking into account social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal and ethical implications) as well as field research, for instance surveys about consumer needs and behaviour with regard to sustainable kinds of food. The students thus explored and compared the markets for organic and fairly traded food in the four countries. They also established criteria for the production and sales of 'fair' food and rated potential suppliers of organic raw material in their home countries according to those criteria. The focus of the second year of the project was on the small-scale production and marketing of real organic food products under the students’ own brand name. Each school manufactured food items from regional organic raw materials. This work package included trying out various production processes and documenting them, calculating costs, taking feedback from potential consumers, developing pack designs, QR codes and advertising materials. The innovative products were presented at a 'supermarket opening event'. Throughout the project period, these business-related tasks were prepared and accompanied by visits, workshops and meetings with experts so that students gained more and more knowledge about the European sector for organic food and its differences from the conventional food sector. The project resulted in a host of concrete results such as business reports, presentations about market research, actual food products including packaging and product descriptions as well as publicity materials. Moreover, it had an impact on the participants' awareness of issues concerning the production and marketing of food. The impact of this project is going to be seen at the participating schools even in the future because the students planned measures to implement the promotion of sustainable food at their schools.