MBA students impacting lives in developing countries – MBA+ Challenge Video Contest

11 February 2013 by Leave a comment

gbsn_MBA_Plus_challenge_logoAs we have seen in some of the recent blog posts on Primetime, contests present a growing number of opportunities for students to highlight their work and ideas in the area of sustainability on a global scale. The Global Business School Network (GBSN) has a yearly contest called the MBA+ Challenge Video Contest that especially focuses on how business students can impact lives in the developing world.

I recently had the chance to speak with the team at GBSN about this contest and what they are hoping to accomplish and highlight through it.

1.     Tell us a little bit about GBSN

GBSN addresses the severe shortage of skilled managers in the developing world. Here at the Global Business School Network, we believe that business education is essential to improving economic and social development in the developing world. We build local management education capacity through our international network of over 50 top business schools spanning 5 continents.

Our annual conference in Tunisia this coming June will also mark our 10th anniversary. At the conference, “Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship,” we will focus our attention on the role of business education in addressing the widespread challenges in employability and entrepreneurship for young people in the developing world.  More information is available at www.gbsnonline.org/2013.

 2.     What is the MBA+ Challenge Video Contest?

In order to capture and celebrate business students’ contributions in the developing world, GBSN holds our annual MBA+ Challenge Video Contest.  The challenge is to create a powerful video demonstrating how business students are utilizing their skills and education to impact lives in the developing world. For the first time we’ve opened the contest up to ALL business, management and entrepreneurship students and recent graduates (in the past 5 years) from around the globe – hence the “+”.

3.     What are the details of the contest?

The video should be no longer than 3 minutes, and can be produced and submitted by teams or individuals. First prize wins an all expense paid trip, for one team member, to GBSN’s Annual Conference in Tunis, Tunisia, June 10-12, 2013, where he or she will present the winning video. The winning teams will also be highlighted in the GBSN’s newsletter, website and Annual Conference program.

The producers of the top five videos, as determined by online voting, will each get the chance to have a mentoring session by Skype with an international leader in business or development. The contest will be open for submissions March 1st through the 31st. The online voting polls will be from April 1-14th. After the 5 finalists are chosen by votes, a panel of judges will then select the first, 2nd and 3rd place winners. This will be announced April 30th.

4.     What kind of videos are you hoping for? What were some of the highlights from past contests?

We want to see creativity, but more importantly, we want to see an impactful story.  Last year’s winner was a group from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Their video was inspired by the group’s participation in the “$300 House project.” A team of professors and students traveled to Fond des Blancs, Haiti to help the poverty stricken town improve living conditions. The team visited with families to better understand the problem, and came up with an architectural plan to build 100 houses over the span of five years.

Check out the rest of winning team member Jacqueline Stein’s blog post on nextbillion.net, where she shares her story of the project that inspired the winning video.

Link of winning video: http://youtu.be/rVKF8lOCRYo

Link to past winning videos: http://www.gbsnonline.org/?page=videos_mbachallenge

5.     What impact are you hoping that this will have?

We are hoping this contest will spotlight business students’ impact in developing countries. We also want to show other students, faculty and parts of the business education realm the positive impact that business education can make in addressing social and economic challenges. Our mission is to improve business education in the developing world in order to foster excellent leaders and managers. This contest is one way of demonstrating the mark that business students are making on the world.

Filed under 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe and CIS, Global, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Student, Western Europe Tagged with , , , , , ,

Energy and Sustainability in Business Schools – Business School response (part 2)

30 January 2013 by Leave a comment

clean_energyEnergy and Climate Change are two very important issues for the business sector. Companies of all shapes and sizes are working both independently and together to reach various carbon reduction goals set by themselves or by the international community (see Part 1).

Business schools are also increasingly active with more and more schools reporting on their energy and carbon reduction activities. In the next couple of parts of this series we will look at some of these schools and what they are doing.

Reducing Energy Use on Campus

In 2012, Cotsakos College of Business  was named a finalist in the 2012 Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards competition, which recognizes the most innovative climate leaders in the US. The university has embarked on several energy saving initiatives. In October 2010, the university opened what was then the largest solar energy facility on any university campus in the US. The initiative is projected to save an estimated $4.3 million in energy costs over the next 15 years, while also reducing the university’s carbon footprint.In the Netherlands, Rotterdam School of Management’s ‘Campus under Construction’ project, which is being implemented until 2028, focuses on modernizing the campus to make it more energy efficient. The university administration has been collaborating closely with both the city of Rotterdam and sustainability faculty concerning city planning and environmentally sustainable considerations. In 2013 a 15‐story building for international student housing, the Erasmus Plaza; a vibrant green esplanade; pedestrian‐avenue with underground parking; and the energy-neutral Erasmus Pavilion will be completed. Ashridge Business School in the UK switched in 2011 to a 100% renewable electricity supply contract.

Measuring the Carbon Footprint

One of the main efforts on campuses around energy is measuring and reducing their carbon footprint. Winchester Business School has a commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per square meter by 30% below the 2006 levels by 2015. In 2011, the university set a target for carbon reduction of 43% by 2012. A growing number of schools are looking not just to reduce but to become carbon neutral. Pacific Lutheran University has a goal of carbon neutrality by 2020. In 2010 the university dropped its total energy costs by 10% by changing out light fixtures, adding motion sensors for lighting, and installing better insulation and window seals. Bentley University has made a commitment to become carbon neutral by the year 2030. The office of sustainability provides a website with information on Bentley’s current carbon footprint and an overview of their plans to reach this goal through energy system upgrades, green building and electronics recycling among other things. They have also constructed a 3,000 square foot solar thermal wall as part of the Athletic Center which traps heat from the sun. When the heating, ventilation and air conditioning is turned on, the air is pulled through the solar walls and is heated in the process requiring less energy to warm the air in a room.

Educating the campus about efforts

A large part of reducing energy use on campus is raising awareness of the issues with students and staff. In India, the Institute of Productivity and Management Green Initiative works to make its campus greener. They created ‘Save Energy’ guidelines which include conservation of water and electricity, which are widely distributed amongst staff and students. In Slovenia, the Faculty of Economics Eco Team encourages employees and students to get engaged by organizing and implementing a wide range of energy reduction activities. In Korea, Kyung Hee University ‘s Green Team also conducts a range of awareness raising activities and projects around Energy management and lighting efficiency across campus.

Taking part in International and National Initiatives

Another way that schools are raising awareness about these issues on campus is by participating in international energy related events. The University of Dubai takes part in Earth Hour every year on March 22nd. Students, faculty, and staff at UD signed up to participate in the world earth hour and participated by switching off the lights for one hour. Schulich School of Business also celebrate Earth Hour with their event ‘Earth Hour Every Hour’ in collaboration with IRIS, and the Ecologically Conscious Organization aims to provide environmental knowledge, and to inspire the creation of a future where waste and energy reduction are daily considerations. In France, Clean Tuesdays began as an association in 2008 to promote the development of Cleantech throughout France. On the first Tuesday of every month, an event or mini-conference is organized in a different location in France bringing together participants to share their expertise, their activities and their best practices in the field. Grenoble Ecole de Management is affiliated with this project and has hosted several Clean Tuesday events on campus.

Getting students engaged

Several schools, such as EADA in Spain, have student clubs focused on energy issues. At EADA, the Green Society is a voluntary student club for individuals who have an interest in Climate Change. Throughout the year the club organizes interactive seminars on the topics of Carbon Politics, New Sources of Energy, Creating a Low-Carbon Economy, and more. Grenoble Ecole de Management has a student engineer specialized in Quality, Security & Environmental analysis who is currently carrying out a comprehensive study of the School carbon footprint. The University of Victoria in Canada has instituted voluntary carbon-offset programs for students travelling as part of their exchange program.

- This is part of a series of blogs in 2013 focused on business schools and energy - 

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Canada, France, India, Korea, Netherlands, North America, Slovenia, Spain, UK, United Arab Emirates, United States

A Toolkit for embedding Anti-Corruption guidelines into MBA curriculum

12 November 2012 by 1 Comment

Anti-Corruption Working Group Meeting in Rio 2012

The PRME Working Group on Anti-Corruption in Curriculum Change has developed an innovative new resource for integrating anti-corruption values into the core curricula of leading business schools. Launched at the 3rd Global Forum, the Anti-corruption guidelines for curriculum change, or Anti-Corruption “Toolkit,” is part of a four-year project dedicated to providing a teaching framework that prepares students for the ethical, moral, and practical challenges that they will face in the marketplace.

According to the project coordinators, Matthias Kleinhempel and Gabriel Cecchini of IAE Business School’s Center for Governance and Transparency in Argentina, “The toolkit provides guidance and step by step approaches on successful guidelines, methods, techniques, mechanisms and processes for effective changes in responsible management curricula. By drawing lessons and experiences from several sources around the world, the Toolkit describes various methodologies and strategies. The toolkit is easy to use, it is constantly being updated and can be adapted to local use.”

What will you find in the toolkit?

The toolkit utilizes a mix of core concept readings, detailed case discussions, primary sources and documents, and scenarios devised for class discussion. Each of the ten study modules includes a long list of resources that allow faculty of different countries to design a course that is appropriately suited to the necessities of his/her students. The modules include;

 (1)   Core Concepts: The recognition and framing of ethical dilemmas and social responsibility and their importance in strategic decision making.

(2)   Economics, Market Failure and Professional Dilemmas:Economics and market failure in its various forms and how it is manifested in corruption.

(3)   Legislation, Control by Law, Agency and Fiduciary Duty: Many questions of agency leading to corruption arise from improper gifts, side deals and conflicts of interest.

(4)   Why Corruption, Behavioral Science: This module addresses the question: What does Behavioral Science teach us about how to design a performance incentive system that encourages integrity as well as productivity?

(5)   Gifts, Side Deals and Conflicts of Interest: Legislation and cases to understand gifts, side deals, and conflicts of interest and thelying and obfuscation that is often used to conceal them.

(6)   International Standards and Supply Chain Issues: Frameworks and analytic methods for discussing the problems that companies face in the need to respect moral standards across borders, local customs (e.g., giving and receiving gifts) and bribery.

(7)   Managing Anti-Corruption Issues: Designing, implementing, and overseeing corporate ethics and compliance systems in response to local and global compliance regimes.

(8)   Functional Department and Collective Action Roles in Combating Corruption: The functional departments examined include human resources, marketing, accounting and finance.

(9)   Truth and Disclosure, Whistle blowing and Loyalty: These topics raise issues of timing and context as towhat point and under what circumstances an agent or employee is permitted to blow the whistle on corruption.

(10)   The Developing Global Anti corruption Compliance Regime: Topics include (a)global public policy principles and how are they promoted/enforced and (b) links between corruption and forms of state failure such as deprivation of human rights and environmental degradation.

How can others use this resource?

The basic idea of the Toolkit is to present a buffet of ideas and resources on how to take education on anti-corruption to the next level. It presents up-to-date content in a comprehensive way and supports its delivery in the classroom. Faculty can choose those elements deemed most useful in revising their curriculum or creating a new stand-alone course. The corresponding chapters outline their importance, define learning goals and questions, provide a listing of relevant literature, cases and dilemmas address.

Who is currently implementing this project?

More than ten schools are currently involved in the pilot phase of the Toolkit. Taking place in the second half of 2012 and first half of 2013, this process will enable adaptation of lesson for local use and improve core elements. The participating pilot schools include HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration (Germany), University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur (Switzerland), Bangalore University (India), IAE Business School (Argentina), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), AESE Business School (Portugal), Lagos Business School (Nigeria), Silesian University of Technology (Poland), Faculty of Business Management – Open University (Tanzania), and Audencia Nantes School of Management (France).

How can others get involved?

Once the pilot phase concludes in the first half of 2013 and the feedback from pilot schools has been received and processed, the Toolkit will be openly available to all interested institutions around the world through an online platform. In early 2013 we will post some further blogs with some of the lessons learnt from this process.

The toolkit will also be presented by Ron Berenbeim of NYU Stern and a member of the PRME working group at the upcoming International Anti-Corruption Conference.

You can access the toolkit online.

Filed under 3-Method, 6-Dialogue, Argentina, Asia, Denmark, Eastern Europe and CIS, France, Germany, Global, India, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Tanzania, Western Europe Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Integrating Poverty into Management Education: 10 questions with Milenko Gudic about the PRME Working Group on Poverty (Part 2 of 2)

14 September 2012 by 3 Comments

Al Rosenbloom and Milenko Gudić, Working Group coordinators, meeting to design the 2010 CEEMAN/PRME Survey on Poverty. The idea of developing socially responsible management students who might address the issue of poverty originated from a discussion with Al in 2006

The PRME Working Group on Poverty as a Challenge to Management Education (Anti-Poverty Working Group), launched in 2008, advocates for the integration of poverty-related discussion into all levels of management education worldwide. It is grounded in the belief that poverty is a legitimate topic for discussion and research in business schools and that business can and should be a catalyst for innovative, profitable and responsible approaches to poverty reduction.

According to the PRME Anti-Poverty Working Group, “Business schools, as the main providers of educational services, need to exchange views and ideas, collaborate and develop new ways and means to sustainable development and the development of responsible leadership for a better world. In this context, fighting poverty is not only one of the major Millennium Development Goals, but also a big challenge for management education.”

I recently had the chance to speak with Milenko Gudic, IMTA Managing Director at CEEMAN and the co-facilitator of the Working Group, about their current and future activities. (To read Part 1 of this interview click here.)

6.     You have developed a collection of best practices. What are your plans for this?

The Collection of Best Practices and Inspirational Solutions that we presented as one of the Working Group’s deliverables for the 3rd PRME Global Forum and Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum is only an embryo of the future online platform for sharing experience on how to integrate poverty-related issues into management teaching. The collection encompasses 13 different inputs related to educational content and processes, including new cases, articles, books, up-to-date course designs, programme development materials, and partnership arrangements with other learning partners. Through the open access platform, faculty and business schools from around the world will have the opportunity to learn from and also contribute to this output. We are happy that there is an increasing interest for both learning and contributing. The latter is particularly encouraging.

7.     What are some examples from the collection of solutions?

In conceptualizing and designing our survey, we followed to some extent the approach from the UNDP Growing Inclusive Market Initiative (GIM). This project developed more than 100 cases on specific solutions that business developed to address the main constraints they face in low-income markets. Each of them offers interesting learning lessons, while all of them remind us once again that business schools are lagging behind businesses in responding to market needs and opportunities.

Our Collection of Best Practices and Inspirational Solutions provides equally interesting and inspirational solutions on how to integrate poverty-related issues into management education. One of these solutions, GLOBE (Global Loan Opportunities for Budding Entrepreneurs), by Linda Sama from St. John’s University, received the 2012 Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award from the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division and McGraw Hill in recognition of the development and implementation of a social entrepreneurship course. GLOBE is a student-managed microloan programme that provides loans, sourced through donations, to entrepreneurs in the world’s most impoverished communities with the goal of helping those living in poverty elevate themselves to a higher standard of living.

8.     Is there a growing interest in this area?

In presenting the survey/report results to undergraduate students, participants at different MBA, MSc and doctoral programmes, and faculty members at Bocconi University and SDA in Milan, Italy, and ISM-University of Management and Economics in Vilnius, Lithuania, I witnessed tremendous interest in this area, from both the the schools, student, and faculty champions. I have found it very encouraging.

Recently, the 2012 Academy of Management, held this August in Boston, enlisted the session on the Informal Economy, Poverty and Responsible Management Education as one of the All Academy Theme events. The discussion there was filled with passion about what business schools could and should do in fighting poverty.

Turning this passion into action is what the Working Group, with support from PRME and CEEMAN, has been trying to facilitate and will continue to do so in the future. That is our mission and passion, too. It is really a great privilege and pleasure to collaborate with and learn from so many outstanding professionals and wonderful personalities.

9.     What changes do you think business schools can make to play their part in fighting poverty?

Business schools in general need to redefine the “business of business education”. By establishing a regular and meaningful external dialogue, they will better understand the challenges and the resulting educational expectations and needs of their major stakeholders, particularly businesses and students.

Related to this is also the need to establish and maintain a continuous internal dialogue among faculty and institutional leadership, particularly around the issues that go beyond individual disciplines. This is important for the creation of new intellectual, research, educational and institutional agenda that schools worldwide need.

The most effective way to deal with all this is through faculty development. This is an absolute priority and precondition for any other change. The experience of the CEEMAN’s International Management Teachers Academy (IMTA), a faculty development programme aimed at creating a new generation of management educators for the new generation of business leaders, confirms that it works. By educating 450 management faculty, IMTA has made an impact on 135 institutions in 37 countries around the world. The new disciplinary track on how to teach the issues related to business in society will include also the issue of poverty.

10.  What’s next for the Working Group and how can others get involved?

Following our vision statement and the general frame of work that we agreed upon when the group was established, and building on the work done so far, our current priorities include:

  • Further building the case for businesses and management development institutions to include poverty-related issues into their respective strategies and programmes. Promoting the Collection of Best Practices and Inspirational Solution and contributing to its further growth and development into an online platform for experience sharing among management educators around the globe.
  • Producing new deliverables for the 2013 PRME Summit, which CEEMAN will host in September 2013 in Bled, Slovenia.

To facilitate achieving these priorities, the Working Group will organize an international conference/workshop on Fighting Poverty thorough Management Education in conjunction with the PRME 2013 Summit, which will provide for sharing and reviewing the work in progress. The event will be open for all those who are interested in the topic of integrating poverty-related issues into management education, including from PRME movement and beyond.

Equally open will be the upcoming call for contribution to the two books that the Working Group is now beginning, which will be published in cooperation with PRME, CEEMAN and Greenleaf Publishing. One of them will be on the question of WHY poverty-related issues in management education, and the other on the question HOW.

For more information about the working group and to participate please contact Milenko Gudic at milenko.gudic@iedc.si or prmesecretariat@unprme.org. 

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe and CIS, Global, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Western Europe Tagged with , , , , ,

Integrating Poverty into Management Education: 10 questions with Milenko Gudic about the PRME Working Group on Poverty (Part 1 of 2)

10 September 2012 by 5 Comments

Designing the CEEMAN/PRME Global Survey for Rio, July 2011, Bled, Slovenia

The PRME Working Group on Poverty as a Challenge to Management Education (Anti Poverty Working Group), launched in 2008, advocates for the integration of poverty-related discussion into all levels of management education worldwide. It is grounded in the belief that poverty is a legitimate topic for discussion and research in business schools and that business can and should be a catalyst for innovation, profitable and responsible approaches to poverty reduction.

According to the PRME Anti-Poverty Working Group, “Business schools, as the main providers of educational services, need to exchange views and ideas, collaborate and develop new ways and means to sustainable development and the development of responsible leadership for a better world. In this context, fighting poverty is not only one of the major Millennium Development Goals, but also a big challenge for management education”.

I recently had the chance to speak with Milenko Gudic, IMTA Managing Director at CEEMAN and co-facilitator of the Working Group, about their current and future activities.

1. Why was the working group created and who is involved?

The suggestion to  establish the Anti-Poverty Working Group came from the PRME Secretariat after the 1st Global Forum for Responsible Management Education in 2008, where the results of the CEEMAN-sponsored global Survey on Management Education: Corporate Social Responsibility and Poverty were presented. The survey, which received 164 responses from faculty and administrators from business schools in 33 countries, demonstrated that it was possible to mobilise management educators around the world to address the question of what business schools, the institutions that create business leaders, could do to help achieve one of the main Millennium Development Goals, poverty alleviation.

Because this project and CEEMAN‘s value platform resonated with the mission of PRME, the Working Group was launched and, in 2010, CEEMAN became a PRME Steering Committee member. CEEMAN now represents a network of more than 200 management development institutions from 51 countries around the globe and continues to support the Working Group, which as grown to include nearly 100 members from 75 institutions in 37 countries representing all the continents.

2. Why did you decide to start the survey?

The 2012 survey is the third in a series. While the 2008 survey showed that 72% of respondents believed that global poverty was a legitimate topic to be included in the management education curriculum, the 2010 CEEMAN/PRME Survey on Poverty as a Challenge to Management Education, which gathered 377 responses from 51 countries, sought to capture innovation and creativity in integrating poverty-related issues into management education. Asked about how they teach about poverty, the respondents said that they preferred action learning rather than theory, and the use of consulting projects and student study trips in order to engage their students. Respondents also indicated that the integration of poverty-related issues into management education requires a broader agreement among school’s faculty and administration, which was not identified as common place.

These results informed the focus of the third survey on challenges, opportunities and solutions. Expected interest in the results by both the management education and business communities resulted in additional support from the International Association of Quality Assessment and EQUAL (the European Quality Link), a network sponsored by PRME Steering Committee member EFMD.

Further encouragement for the solution-focus of this survey/report was the invitation extended by the PRME Secretariat and UN Global Compact Office to present the results on the occasion of the 3rd Global Forum and the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum.

3. What role does management education play in fighting poverty?

Not as strong as it could and should be. Fighting poverty is just one part of a bigger story. In general, business schools need to take a more proactive role in educating responsible leaders for sustainable development and a better world. This is their social responsibility, though it is not yet so widely recognised and/or accepted.

CEEMAN’s Survey on Business Schools’ Response to Global Crisis, carried out in 2009, indicated that business schools perceived the current global crisis not only as financial, but rather as an economic, social, and ethical and moral crisis. When asked about their own responsibility for the crisis, the schools were very reluctant to admit any. The reason being, as the schools stated, that their students and participants came to them with already formed values and attitudes, which business schools cannot change. Even a glance at business schools’ missions and marketing messages would lead to finding the statement a bit hypocritical.

4. What are some of the most interesting results from the Fighting Poverty through Management Education Reports?

The key message from the whole series of surveys is that, in spite of a number of challenges, there are also huge opportunities and already numerous solutions. In this respect, it is important to notice that the presence of one or two faculty champions, strong leadership from the dean and congruence with the business school’s mission are among the key factors that make a difference. It is the same as with any other attempt to make change happen.

Equally, if not even more importantly (at least for me personally), were the findings related to faculty and administrators’ perceptions of market expectations and preferences regarding the inclusion of the poverty-related issues in management education. Instead of accepting the assumption that businesses, and therefore students, are not interested in the topic, the results may instead be interpreted as a sign of insufficient identification of the customer needs and/or lack of dialogue with the major stakeholders.

Of course, the most encouraging are the results that demonstrate high commitment, passion, and capabilities of faculty and administration to find creative and innovative solutions to the challenges they face.

5. What are some of the challenges that were identified in this area?

Amon the main challenges is still the question of the topic’s legitimacy. In turn, this is related to other important issues, including the very understanding of the term “poverty.” What does “poverty” actually mean? We must also overcome prevailing mindsets and attitudes about this issue, address the existence of a “silo mentality”, and recognise the primacy of the quantitative disciplines. There is the additional challenge of integrating new things into an already “over-packed” curriculum and finding qualified experts whose teaching would be based on relevant research. Finally, we must find a method to address external incentives from the major international accreditation and ranking systems and schemes.

- Part 2 will be posted September 14th-

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5 Questions, 6-Dialogue, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe and CIS, Global, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Western Europe Tagged with , , , , , ,

Business Examples from Around the World – Tanzania, Dominican Republic and Slovenia

3 July 2012 by 1 Comment

As businesses become more and more engaged in sustainability around the world, we are presented with an increasing range of interesting examples of active companies. However, when I speak with students/faculty, they say that they often hear about the same examples from the same international companies over and over again.

In an attempt to share some new best practice examples, I asked a handful of faculty members from around the world about their favourite examples of local companies that they study in their classrooms that are actively involved in sustainability. Here are some examples from Tanzania, the Dominican Republic and Slovenia.

Dr. Shiv Tripathi, Professor, Mzumbe University Dar Es Salaam Campus, Tanzania

Diligent Tanzania LTD, is a commercial company that produces Straight Jatropha oil (SJO) and exports it to airline companies. The oil is a mix between Jatropha oil (40%) and diesel (60%).  To ensure sustainable processes, Diligent encourages farmers to plant jatropha as a hedge, using only 7% of their plot so the rest can be reserved for cash crops. It also prevents soil degradation and adds to farmers additional income as the production of jatropha is not labor intensive and seed are picked during the farming season for their regular crops. Diligent offers a minimum price and technical support for fertiliser, tilling, rotating crops etc.  

Dr. Jose Manuel Alcaraz, Vicini Chair of Sustainability, Barna Business School, Dominican Republic

Helados Bon, a very popular ice cream company with outlets across the country, is doing a lot of work around sustainable agriculture and protecting forests and natural resources in the Dominican Republic. They have a range of interesting projects including promoting organic farming in chocolate and coffee. They also have a project to plant macadamia trees which are very useful to protect the soil and support the ecosystem. Another interesting example is IMCA (Implementos y Maquinarias), which distributes heavy machinery. They are very active in providing a wide range of technical training for their employees as well as working to strengthen the curricula in the best schools in the country.

Dr. Melita Rant, Center for Business Excellence, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slovenian company Valtex, a designer and producer of quality sustainable hygiene products for buildings, managed to successfully transform itself from near -bankruptcy into a company offering sustainable solutions for its customers. Recently, the company grew into an international market leader that provides “sustainability” advice and solutions to global corporations operating in the paper and hygiene product industry. The Valtex case uncovers three areas: (1) difficult dilemmas and trade-offs that top management needed to resolve in order to successfully implement sustainability thinking in every aspect of business design; (2) illuminates the positive effects of the business redesign on the restructuring of the industry value chain towards more a sustainable manner; and (3) shows the power of community of “sustainability” companies, which Valtex managed to create, and the wide range of synergies that such community can create for the region.

Filed under 4-Research, Dominican Republic, Eastern Europe and CIS, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Slovenia, Tanzania

Creating a Global Gender Equality Repository for Management Education

27 June 2012 by 3 Comments

 

I had the chance to speak with Patricia Flynn from Bentley University and Maureen Kilgour from the University of St-Boniface, co-facilitators of the PRME Working Group on Gender Equality. The Working Group, launched in 2011, aims to provide support and resources for integrating gender issues and awareness into management education and recently launched their Global Gender Equality Resource Repository at the 3rd Global Forum in Rio. Here are five questions with Maureen and Patricia about the project.

1.     How did the working group on Gender Equality come about?

In March 2010, the UN Global Compact and UNIFEM (now part of UN Women) launched the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to “help the private sector focus on key elements integral to promoting gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community”. In January 2011, in response to this new initiative, PRME hosted a Human Rights Webinar focused on considering the relevance of the WEPs for the academic community and highlighting the importance of embedding gender issues into business school curricula around the world. The PRME Working Group on Gender Equality launched with a mission to bring together academics and employers to provide support and resources for integrating gender issues and awareness into management education, business school curricula, and related research to facilitate respect and support for the WEPs and PRME. We currently have more than 30 members, both men and women, from 15 countries, actively participating in this group.

2. Why have a working group on Gender Equality?

Gender (in)equity has a long history in business schools and in the workplace, and traditions are hard to change. Across disciplines, the scope and quantity of materials relevant to integrating gender issues into the curriculum varies widely. Case materials on women leaders and managers are still rare, and faculty are often unaware of how to access the related materials that do exist.

In recent years, issues around gender have been focused on issues of the (under)representation of female faculty and administrators and the (under)representation of female students in particular disciplines. The response has been adoption of policies that improve hiring processes, recruiting more female students and introducing specific courses on issues that address gender. While these initiatives are critical and important, they have done little to change how gender and gender (in)equality are addressed (taught, managed, discussed and tackled) in management education. For this reason, in initiatives such as the PRME Working Group, it is important to go beyond the paradigms of “equal opportunity” and diversity management to a more thorough integration of gender equality into management education.

3. What is the Global Gender Equality Resource Repository project?

In order to help promote and expedite the integration of gender issues in management education, the working group, in collaboration with PRME Steering Committee member AACSB, is creating a Global Gender Equality Resource Repository. The Repository will identify materials and resources that will assist faculty in integrating gender issues and awareness into a variety of disciplines and fields. These will include, for example, specific case studies, syllabi, texts, and best practices that assess or otherwise address the role of gender in various educational and workplace environments.

Currently, the Repository has 13 disciplinary subgroups, including Accounting and Finance, Corporate Governance, Corporate (Social) Responsibility, Economics, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, History and Anthropology, Law, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Negotiation and Operations Management. Materials for each subgroup are developed by small groups of volunteers from around the world.

There are many faculty who already have excellent examples of how to integrate various aspects of gender into their courses. What we want to do is bring all of this information into one location, so that others can use it to integrate these issues across their curricula. The working group will also be working with professional academic associations to expand the breadth and depth of materials they create and/or promote.

The platform launched at Rio+20 during the PRME Global Forum on June 15, 2012.

4. What is next for the working group and the repository?

The response to the platform has been amazing since before it was even launched! We have had quite a bit of interest, not just from faculty, but from different academic networks as well as the business sector, NGOs and local government. The project will start with a focus on teaching materials, and then later in the year, we will be looking at posting materials dedicated to research. In the near future, we would also like to explore the context and culture of management education generally and the hidden issues of gender within business and management education.

We will also have a session at the upcoming Academy of Management Annual Meeting in August 2012 focused on the PRME General Equality Working Group and Repository.

What is also exciting about the repository is that it could be used as a model for other disciplines and working groups to provide resources in their fields.

5. How can others get involved?

There are several ways that others can get involved in this project:

  • Join the PRME Working Group on Gender Equality
  • Provide resources that you use or that you have developed to be added to the repository
  • Identify a new disciplinary subgroup and volunteer to coordinate it
  • Join an existing subgroup

To join the Working Group, send an email to PRMESecretariat@unprme.org. For more information on the Global Resource Repository or to share resources, please contact Maureen (mkilgour@ustboniface.mb.ca) and Patricia (pflynn@bentley.edu). To access the repository visit http://prmegenderequalityworkinggroup.unprme.wikispaces.net/Welcome+to+the+Wikispace

Filed under 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe and CIS, Global, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Teaching, Western Europe Tagged with ,

Outcomes of the 3rd Global Forum, 14-15 June, Brazil

19 June 2012 by 1 Comment

The 3rd PRME Global Forum on 14-15 June 2012 was the official platform for management-related Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) at Rio+20 – the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – and the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum, hosted by the UN Global Compact.  A series of measures to inject sustainability principles into management and business school curricula were announced at the Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this past week. They include:

The Rio Declaration on the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions and Management Schools to The Future We Want: A Roadmap for Management Education to 2020: 300 leading business school and university representatives worldwide agreed on a number of concrete commitments to action, including to:

  • Form a leadership group to incentivize the most engaged PRME signatory schools to go further in their implementation of sustainability principles.
  • Delist those signatories that fail to regularly share information on progress made in implementing PRME.
  • Launch PRME Regional Chapters to better engage management education communities on a local level.

A Practical Guide to the United Nations Global Compact for Higher Education: Offers guidelines for higher education institutions in implenting the ten principles of the Un Global Compact withint the orgniazation and then leading their global adoption (UN Global Compact Workshing Group)

Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Provides answers to the most frequently  asked questions concerning the implementation of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and seeks to inspire further integration of PRME by highlighting examples of the Principles in pactice in signatory schools and universities (PRME).

Fighting Poverty through Management Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Solutions: Identifies main challenges and opportunities faced by business faculty and administrators in integrating poverty issues into their courses, programmes, modules and curricula based on the results of a global survey, which collected 435 responses from 70 countries. The report also introduces a collection of best practices of inspirational solutions that will be dveloped into an interactive platform. (PRME)

Anti-Corruption Guidelines (“Toolkit”) for MBA Curriculum Change: Provids a toolkit to incporate anti-corruption into curriculum bof business schools and management-related academic institutions. The toolkit provides a list of topics and conetent, which instructors can use to organize satnd-alone courses or individual course modules. (PRME)

Gender Equality Global Resource Repository: Assists faculty in integrating gender issues into management education by providing an invientory of case studies, syllabi, text books, best practices, related research, search engines and organizations that address gender-related topics contributed by faculty from around the world. The Reporistory is a searchable web-based resource that encompasses a wide range of disci;pliens incluidng busines,s arts & sciences and professional fields. (PRME)

Corporate Responsibility and Responsible Management Education in the Eyes of MBA Students: Presents the results of a survey on perspectives and attitudes towards corporate resonsibility and management education copleted by 1,200 MBA and business students from around the world. The results – which demonstrate a growing commitment to responsible management – and their implications on management education are also analysed. (Macquarie Graduate School of Management/PRME)

The 50+20 Agenda: Management Education for the World: Presents the vision of the 50+20 project, which seeks to demonstrate how management education con contribute to a more sustainable  future. The report outlines steps for business and management schools to: educate and develop globally responsible leaders; enable businesses to serve the common good; and engage in the transformation of business and the economy. (WBCSB/GRLI/PRME)

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Anti-Corruption, Asia, Australasia, Business, Campus Greening, Eastern Europe and CIS, Global, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Rio+20, Service-Based Learning, Student, Teaching, Western Europe

Creating More Sustainable Campuses: Water (part 1)

14 May 2012 by 1 Comment

2012 Wang Center Symposium “Our Thirsty Planet”, Pacific Lutheran University

Water is one of the 7 critical issues being discussed at the upcoming Rio+20 summit in Brazil. According to the Rio+20 website, by 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water.

The business sector, through the production of goods and services, impacts water resources – both directly and through supply chains. Increasing demand, water scarcity and unsustainable supply, and decline in water quality all provide businesses with a range of water related risks. In response to this, the UN Global Compact created the CEO Water Mandate in July 2007, a unique public-private initiative designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices. The water mandate covers six elements: direct operations, supply chain and watershed management, collective action, public policy, community engagement and transparency. Companies who commit to the mandate also pledge to disclose, via an annual report, how they are implementing the Mandate’s elements.

There are quite a few tools available for companies who want to measure their water performance throughout the value chain and better understand and identify water related business risks and impacts, including the WBCSD Global Water Tool, GEMI Water Sustainability and the WFN Water Footprint. We are also currently in the International Decade for Action “Water for Life” (2005-2015) and every year, World Water Day is celebrated on March 22.

In a previous blog, we looked at how a growing number of campuses are choosing to Ban Water Bottles on Campus. In this two part series, we look more broadly at a range of initiatives that business schools are taking part in to reduce the amount of water used on campus and raise awareness about issues relating to water.

Raising awareness

In association with the Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA), the University of Dubai conducted a workshop on conservation of water for students, faculty and staff in 2011. Officials from DEWA emphasised the need for water conservation and showed different methods for implementing them.

The Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana organised a green round table around the topic of ‘Water and our Adjustments to Climate Change’. The round table involved noted professionals from fields of expertise on protecting water resources and social responsibility.

The Green Initiative at the Institute of Productivity & Management is focused on making the campus greener and more environmental friendly and includes a green agenda that looks at using water resources more sensibly.

Student Initiatives

Students at Pacific Lutheran University voted to impose a $20 annual fee upon themselves to improve water quality, and the University has banned bottled water sales. During a recent international case study competition at John Molson School of Business, students pushed the “Lug-a-Mug” campaign. All attendees were provided with reusable mugs to reduce the use of disposable drinking cups. The University of Victoria has a university wide Revolving Sustainability Fund for students and staff interested in organising energy and water saving projects on campus.

What is your campus doing to minimize the use of water? Share your projects in the comments area below.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Asia, Campus Greening, Canada, Eastern Europe and CIS, North America, Rio+20, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, United States Tagged with , , , , , ,

Online and connected 4: Online Lectures on Sustainability

19 March 2012 by 2 Comments

In the fourth installment of our series about how universities are using the internet to engage students and the wider community in sustainability, we look at the growing range of online platforms where students can hear lectures about topics relating to sustainability. But these are not only interesting resources for students, for faculty these can be interesting additions to courses but also the opportunity to post your own lectures and courses to gain a wider audience for your work.

As we have seen in previous blogs, there are several universities around the world that already post their lectures and courses online for free on their websites. This includes, but is not limited to, Yale, MIT, Open University. There are also several lecturers and universities posting lectures to popular online video sites, such as Youtube and Vimeo, for example from the University of California Berkeley.

ITunesU contains over 500,000 lectures and courses from leading universities and other schools, all free of charge. Several schools, such as INSEAD, HEC, Western Reserve University and the University of Warwick also have podcasts of lectures relating to sustainability available through iTunes.

There are several not for profits that are also providing a space to post and share lectures online. Academic Earth was founded with the goal of extending high-quality online learning opportunities to people around the globe. It contains a range of lectures available to listen to free online from the academics across the US. Udemy is platform where you can take a course (free or for a limited charge) or teach a course in any topic you like.

Khan Academy  is a library of over 2,600 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance and history. Khan Academy is a not for profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world class education to anyone anywhere.

Finally, TED is a not for profit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Its conferences bring together the worlds of technology, entertainment and design. The website provides a range of short (20 minute) videos on a wide range of topics including many relating to sustainability.

Have you contributed to any of these platforms? Are there others that you have or would like to contribute to? Share you views in the discussion area below.

Filed under 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe and CIS, Global, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, Online and Connected, Western Europe

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