Barry A. Colbert, Wilfrid Laurier University

Profile photo of Barry A. Colbert, expert at Wilfrid Laurier University

Associate Professor Director, The Cooperators Centre for Business and Sustainability Waterloo, Ontario bcolbert@wlu.ca Office: (519) 884-0710 ext. 2654

Bio/Research

Hons BA (Economics and English Literature), MBA, PhD (Strategic Management and Sustainability).

Barry Colbert is associate professor of Policy and Strategic Management in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, and is the director of The ...


Click to Expand >>

Bio/Research

Hons BA (Economics and English Literature), MBA, PhD (Strategic Management and Sustainability).

Barry Colbert is associate professor of Policy and Strategic Management in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, and is the director of The Co-operators Centre for Business and Sustainability.

Professor Colbert leads MBA and BBA classes exploring sustainable strategic management, in which social and environmental issues are taken as the strategic domain for value creation. He also teaches a future-focused course in business ethics, which considers the ethical role of business in contributing to resilient, flourishing societies, and has led the Doctoral seminar on Organization Theory at the Lazaridis School. He has served as adjunct faculty and taught at the Copenhagen Business School, Kedge Business School (Marseille), Audencia (Nantes), Dalhousie (Halifax), McMaster (Hamilton) and the Ontario College of Art and Design (Toronto). Prof. Colbert also serves as Board Chair of Sustainable Waterloo Region, a collaborative non-profit organization focused on advancing the environmental sustainability of organizations across Waterloo Region.

His writing has been published in the Academy of Management Review, Management Learning, Business & Society, Business Strategy and the Environment, and the Journal of Cleaner Production, along with several book chapters, including “The Business Case for CSR” in the Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility and “A Complexity Perspective of SHRM” in The Sage Handbook of Complexity and Management. He is co-author, with Elizabeth Kurucz and David Wheeler, of the book Reconstructing Value: Leadership Skills for a Sustainable World (2013) from the University of Toronto Press.

Prof. Colbert's research is centred on societal learning for sustainability, and the means by which organizations align a vision for sustainability, corporate and business strategy, and organizational capabilities. Current research is focused on the scaling of multi-sector collaboration toward provoking sustainability transitions, and the role for pragmatic humanism in helping to shape policy and business practice. Current projects include the study of the role of intermediaries in sustainability transitions, and on advancing education and practice for sustainability.


Click to Shrink <<

Links