Accenture Strategy sustainability expert Dr Ana Paula Mundim

Students on the Sussex Global Supply Chain and Logistics Management MSc recently received a guest lecture from global professional services agency Accenture about their work to drive businesses towards a circular economy.

The students marked the end of their first term Operations Management module with a special lecture from guest speaker Dr Ana Paula Mundim, Principal Director, Global Offering Development at Accenture Strategy.

Dr Mundim, who studied a PhD in electronic engineering at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, has been with Accenture for 12 years and plays a leading role in their sustainability work. Accenture Strategy has 100 staff working on sustainability, most of whom are based in London.

The theme of the day was 'preparing for the future', looking at the links between future career development, information technology and sustainability. Students heard how Accenture is helping businesses move towards circular economy business models and the challenges that they face.

Dr Mundim emphasised the need to stay up-to-date with technology, especially software skills, and that we are seeing 'digital disruption' across many sectors. How this disruption will impact business and society is a major source of debate at present.

Dr Mundim said:

“Technology will definitely enable new sustainable business models and products/services. However, business must acknowledge the risks of unintended consequences, such as job displacement and environmental impact. Mitigation plans should be put in place with the implementation strategy.”

Dr Anthony Alexander, module convenor for Operations Management, added:

"The most important thing to get across is to start thinking now about how the world might be ten years from now.  This means learning how to be agile and adaptable, being aware of environmental and social challenges, and the rapid impact of new technology, especially in ICT."

The Operations Management module covers the core aspects of operations and logistics management, and also introduces students to current advances in supply chains and logistics. These include blockchain (a distributed digital ledger), big data, environmental analytics, and different theoretical perspectives, such as stakeholder theory, resource dependency theory and strategic alignment.

Masters student Emily Carey commented:

"A really interesting guest lecture this afternoon given by Ana from Accenture talking about sustainability strategies and supply chain management. The career focus was a great finish to the lecture series.”

Find out more about our Global Supply Chain and Logistics Management MSc