Innovation in Social Entrepreneurship Courses – 10 questions with Linda Sama from St. John’s University (part 1)

5 November 2012 by 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, we looked at the work being done by the PRME Working Group on Poverty (part 1 and part 2). One of the members of the Working Group, Linda Sama from St. John’s University in the United States, recently won the 2012 Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award from the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division. The award is given in recognition of the development and implementation of a social entrepreneurship course. The course she developed, called GLOBE, engages students in managing a global microloan business.

I recently had the chance to speak with Linda about her innovative course and how it came about.

1. What is Globe?

GLOBE is an undergraduate 3-credit course in social entrepreneurship housed in the Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University and designed to provide students with the opportunity to manage an entrepreneurial global microloan business. This social business offers microloans, sourced through donations, to entrepreneurs in developing countries, providing them with a “dignified route out of poverty” in the words of microfinance expert and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

Working with field partners – the Vincentian Daughters of Charity – students organized into task teams identify loan candidates, vet loan applications, market and promote the program, create web-based documentation and social media sites, track loans, assess portfolio risk, and recommend new strategies to a governing Board of Directors. GLOBE has a strong web-presence and students have leveraged social media to advance the program’s goals, visibility and reach. The course runs every semester and has graduated 148 GLOBE student managers as of Spring 2012. GLOBE managers are mostly business students; however students from other disciplines are invited to apply. While learning how to be social entrepreneurs, the students assist entrepreneurial talent around the globe, offering business plan advice and financial literacy training. Students, in describing their mission as part of GLOBE, say: “We are committed to building a global community – starting here at St. John’s – that is going to contribute to the goal of eradicating poverty within our lifetime.”

2. Why did you decide to develop this program?

I conceived the idea of GLOBE in the fall of 2007 and, with the help of a Steering Committee, launched the inaugural course in Spring 2009. Inspired by Kiva’s web-based microlending program, as well as the work of Dr. Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, I sought to amplify my research and teaching portfolio, which had been fully immersed in the literature on business ethics, sustainability and corporate social responsibility, with emerging work in the microfinance industry aimed at alleviating poverty. I wanted to find a way to leverage my research for meaningful learning and to engage students in a hands-on academic experience that would challenge some of the traditional views of the interface between business and society. In developing a social business, students apply their myriad talents to running a small enterprise with goals that are not predominantly focused on profits – a very new concept for many of our business students. I also sought to create a course that is truly interdisciplinary so that students might learn skills from each other.

3. What are some of the projects that students have done – some of your favourites?

Students are constantly coming up with new and exciting ideas for the program, and they often push us to reconsider the way we do things in an effort to improve upon the existing foundation of GLOBE. They have done excellent work in adjusting the program to better meet borrowers’ needs and in developing new ways to communicate and fundraise. Some highlights include the newly implemented interest rate calculation based on a declining balance method that the students developed. It took two semesters of students working on this to build a persuasive case for our Steering Committee to approve the change, which will benefit borrowers since, as a result of this new calculation, they will pay less interest over the term of the loan. Also, last semester, the students connected us to the Kenya – Daughters of Charity and their community via SKYPE. It was our first “live” connection with the field for the entire class and the students were completely responsible for making it happen

4. What have been some of the challenges and how have you overcome these?

Challenges have been many and each serves as a “teaching moment”. The challenges range from working within a set University structure to innovating a new program to working remotely with our borrowers and Daughters in the field so that loans are distributed appropriately, repayments are made to allow for follow-on loans, and entrepreneurial activities are supported through student efforts. We have overcome seeming structural barriers at the University by persevering when we receive an answer of “no” to a request; finding people on campus who are interested in what we are doing and eager to help – and then nurturing those relationships; and accommodating our program to meet the needs of the University, which are also many times very legitimate and sensible.

In terms of the field, we have had some heartbreaking stories of default – such as the woman in Kenya who unbeknownst to us or the Daughter there suffers from alcoholism. After she took out her loan and made a few payments, she fell back into drinking and has been unable to keep up her business. This has taught us the importance of understanding the challenges our potential borrowers may face physically and mentally, as well as financially, before burdening them with a loan. It also demonstrates the value of peripheral social programs such as sobriety programs to help borrowers be successful.

Part 2 will be posted on November 8, 2012

Filed under 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, North America, Service-Based Learning, Student, Teaching, United States Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Taking a transdiciplinary approach to teaching ethics

8 October 2012 by Leave a comment

In their research paper, “Ignorance was bliss, now I’m not ignorant and that is far more difficult: Transdiciplinary learning and reflexivity in responsible management education,” coauthors Carole Parkes and John Blewitt from Aston University in the UK write, “If we are to enable students as future business leaders and managers we need to prepare them for complex ethical dilemmas and difficult choices they will encounter.” Doing this, they continue, involves not just reviewing the content of such programmes, but the approach and philosophies that drive them.

I recently had the chance to speak with Carole Parkes about this cross-cutting approach to teaching ethics and their new MSc in Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

1. Could you briefly describe how you approach this unqiue type of ethics module?

We cover a range of issues from ethics and values to CSR and governance, social accountability and ecological sustainability. Students are supported in developing skills related to critical thinking, analysis, and reflection. Teaching methods are highly interactive, enabling them to apply knowledge of theories, models, ethical frameworks, and concepts to local and global issues. We encourage reflection and connection with personal, family, and cultural values from the outset. We have students from around 30 different countries and many different business and professional backgrounds.

They also discuss live case studies with practitioners when we invite local business professionals to facilitate workshops on ethical dilemmas that they have encountered first-hand. This brings the reality of ethics to students’ own situations, rather than using case studies they do not always connect with.

2. This approach is transdiciplinary. How have you reached out to faculty from a range of departments?

When studying, discussing or practicing business ethics, social responsibility and sustainability, whether in the workplace or the university, what is clearly and immediately evident is that the concepts, perspectives and actions involved transgress disciplinary and professional boundaries. The Aston programme is taught by staff of different disciplines drawn from within and outside the business school. We also managed to persuade the school to enable us to recruit for expertise that complimented our programme, rather than making subject-based appointments.

3. How has the module been received? 

Student feedback has been fantastic. Some said “this is the best module in the MBA.” Others reported that the module provided them with the “vocabulary” or the “confidence” to raise issues and concerns that they had previously thought about, but did not know how to construct into an argument.

This issue of “voice” is an important theme. Students also mentioned “realising that others have similar thoughts” or that their studies provided “legitimacy” for their own views. Many students discussed having a “heightened sense of awareness about issues in the media and thinking about matters at a much deeper level,” or “thinking about everyday activities such as shopping and travelling in a way they had not done so before.” Experiencing “self-enlightenment” empowered them to act as agents of change in their place of work; to make their workplaces more ethical, responsible or sustainable. A number of these responses are included in the paper referred to below.

4. What would you recommend for other schools looking at transdisciplinary/reflective learning in particular in an ethics class?

The key is enabling students to have exposure to different issues from different but connected disciplines and to use practical, work-based learning. The students have been encouraged to develop awareness through examination of their own personal values and to use this to critically analyse their previous experiences and current challenges.

These are important stages in reflection and are crucial to the final stage of application. Awareness and analysis provide insights, but if students are to move beyond this, they need to use knowledge to initiate changes. The reflective piece started off as optional but soon became (a small but important) part of the assessment. Marking is anonymous and assessment criteria are based on student’s skills of reflection and ability to relate this to future actions. It is important to emphasize that assessment must be non-judgmental of student’s values and views.

5. What are your plans for the programme moving forward?

From next year, all modules leaders for all MSc programmes have to state how they address issues of ethics, responsibility and sustainability in the context of their subject/module. We will also be launching our MSc Social Responsibility & Sustainability in Distance Learning format. The MSc aims to combine both academic and practical perspectives in a programme suitable for those people interested in working in roles related to CSR and Sustainability in commercial business, the public sector, social enterprises, not-for-profits, and charities. The programme, which is already offered in full-time and part-time options, adopts a transdisciplinary approach, enabling students to explore social responsibility and sustainability from multiple perspectives in the context of a world-class business school.

  • To learn more about Aston’s approach read: Carol Parkes and John Blewitt. “Ignorance was bliss, now I’m not ignorant and that is far more difficult” Trans-disciplinary learning and reflexivity in responsible management education.” Journal of Global Responsibility 2.2 (2011): 206-21.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 3-Method, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Teaching, UK, Western Europe Tagged with , , , ,

Using a case competition to make campus more sustainable – 6 questions with Jenn Hart from Olin Business School

17 September 2012 by Leave a comment

The Olin Sustainability Case Competition (OSCC) began during the 2009-2010 academic year as a way to increase awareness and expand educational opportunities about sustainable business practices at the Olin Business School. Open to all Washington University students in both undergraduate and graduate level programs, the case competition provides participants with a chance to learn about practical, real-world applications of corporate responsibility and sustainability concepts, so that they can make an impact in the world around them.

Designed as a traditional business case study, the competition is based on a current business problem and prepared with the assistance of leading experts in the field of sustainability and Olin faculty.  Any student enrolled in any academic program at Washington University can participate. Teams can be made up of two to five students from any school. I recently had the chance to speak with Jenn Harp at Olin Business School about the Case Competition.

1. Why did you decide to create a case competition that focuses on greening the campus and how did you go about starting it?

We found that increasingly our students were interested in sustainability and were craving ways to learn about it, even outside of the classroom. At the same time, our students were expressing interest in more case competition opportunities, so a blend of the two was a great outcome.

This was very much a team effort between student organization leadership and Olin staff. A great deal of thought went into exactly what kind of competition we wanted to create, so initially there were numerous meetings to establish goals and objectives. After that, we just “ran with it,” making decisions as we went along and reacting to the pulse of the student body with regard to topic selection, how to best market the competition, etc.  The committee consisted of (and still does to this day) students from a cross-section of our programs and staff not just from Olin, but also from across campus.

2. How has the case competition been received by students? By staff and the wider university community?

Our students have been increasingly interested in this competition. Generally, we have anywhere from 25 – 30 teams interested in the competition. That said, we are pretty proud with the amount and quality of first round submissions during 2012. In 2010, there were 16 submissions. By 2011, this number increased to 14 and, this past year, we went up to 18 submissions.

The Olin staff have been great supporters of the OSCC. It was started by an MBA student and staff member, but has blossomed into an entire committee of Olin community members. This past year, our oversight committee was composed of a diverse group of Olin staff, faculty, and students. Additionally, we have been lucky to gain the full support of the Washington University in St. Louis administration as well. Offices from around campus, including our Office of Sustainability, Facilities Planning & Management, and Chancellor’s Office have provided support to this project over the last three years. Their input and assistance has served as a valuable resource and has been crucial to the success of the competition. Chancellor Wrighton has welcomed our OSCC winners into his office to present their ideas to him and other key University administrators each spring. This is a great honor for our students. As a result of this high level of interaction, many of our students’ ideas have been put into action around campus.

The community has been a great support as we continue to build this competition. Over the last three years, we have received generous donations from Anheuser-Busch, Edward Jones, Novus International, Peabody, and Tarlton. They believe in the importance of sustainability as well as our students’ ability to develop and present unique ideas as they relate to sustainability within our University. We are grateful for their continued support. Not only have they donated toward our competition’s cash prizes, but they have also given their time as OSCC judges.

3. What are some of the projects that students have done, what is the impact that students have had?

2010: During our first competition, we tackled the idea of parking on campus. The case topic was entitled, “Where have all the parking spots gone?” You can read more about the case topic in this article.

2011: Our 2nd annual OSCC topic focused on the carbon footprint of the University’s science labs. Lab Manager Magazine wrote a great article detailing the results. You can also read more about some of the ideas that were implemented from the OSCC suggestions here.

2012: Last year, the OSCC topic was Beauty at what cost?: Landscape Strategies for Washington University. Since this competition just took place, we are still looking at how the ideas might be implemented on campus. One of the suggestions was permeable pavement, and during the team’s presentation to the Chancellor, he seemed very receptive to that idea. Maybe we will see that in upcoming construction? But for now, we will have to wait and see.

4. What have been some of the challenges and how have you overcome these?

While we have been lucky to have such strong support from local companies, it can sometimes be a challenge to secure funding given the timing of our competition. We place corporate sponsorship solely in the hands of our student corporate sponsorship chair. While we provide him/her resources and access to companies in the area, it can be a difficult task. Students are on campus starting in September, and our competition takes place in early February. This is a very short window for a student to find sponsors and secure the funds we need to make the competition run smoothly and provide a significant cash prize.

In order to overcome this hurdle, we try to make it as easy as possible for the student corporate sponsorship chair by providing him/her with guidance from our Corporate Relations Office. They will teach the student the best way to make the “ask” and encourage them to be diligent in their efforts. Because we do have a short window of time, the student must put their full effort into building a sincere relationship from the start. I am hopeful that as the OSCC continues to be successful, our past sponsors will see it’s unique benefit to the Washington University community and continue to provide us with their generous support.

5. What are your plans/hopes for the competition moving forward?

Going forward, our hope is to continue to grow the competition. This past year, we reached a total of 18 completed submissions after opening up the competition to all students across the University. I am hopeful that with a good marketing campaign, we can grow this number to 20-25 submissions. I believe that we can certainly handle that growth, and the more implementable ideas, the better. My hope is that the OSCC continues to be recognized across campus as a competition that really contributes to the overall betterment of the University. That could be by connecting students and administration from different schools, by creating strong partnerships with local companies, or by implementing our winners’ ideas on campus.  Empowering our students through sustainability case competitions is a great way for the University to solidify an idea that it was already thinking of undertaking, or, hopefully, to learn of an idea that it had never even considered before.

6. What would you recommend to other schools thinking of putting in place a similar competition?

It is crucial to have a good support team behind your effort. Without the support we have received from the Olin Business School and Washington University communities, the OSCC would not be successful. Having the right people on your team will make it easier to choose the right case topic, secure knowledgeable competition judges, and find corporate community supporters. If you are attempting to hold a case competition where the winning strategy can actually be implemented on your campus, you also need to make sure your University’s decision makers are fully on board. Be sure they are involved in vetting your topic. And, if it makes sense, let that office have a voice during the initial rounds of judging. For example, our Office of Sustainability has been in full support of our efforts. It is essential to have buy-in from offices like theirs from the beginning, if you ultimately want to see the students’ ideas implemented on campus.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 6-Dialogue, Campus Greening, North America, Student, Teaching, United States Tagged with , , , , , ,

Creating a Global Gender Equality Repository for Management Education

27 June 2012 by 2 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 Leave a 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

Getting Started: An Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME

4 June 2012 by Leave a comment

Getting started is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to exploring how to embed sustainability and responsible leadership into MBA and management education programmes. The second big challenge is keeping up momentum moving forward.

The PRME Secretariat commissioned a collection of case stories that provides answers to the most frequently asked questions concerning the implementation of the Principles for Responsible Management Education and seeks to inspire further integration of PRME by highlighting real world examples of the Principles in practice in signatory schools and universities. The Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management launched today as a contribution of the PRME community to the Rio+20 Earth Summit. The Guide includes great examples of how schools are engaging faculty, incentivising change, adapting curricula, engaging with the business community and other stakeholders, conducting research and reporting on their efforts.

What became clear while developing the Guide was that every school takes a slightly different and unique approach to committing to PRME and then beginning the process of implementing the Principles. At Copenhagen Business School, the process of signing the principles for responsible management education was initiated by the former manager and director of the centre for CSR who started the discussion with the support of 12-20 committed staff members. The discussion was then raised to 40 top managers, including heads of departments, where it was soon realised that RME already had a strong presence at CBS.

At Queen’s Business School a curriculum review committee, comprised of faculty and administrative staff from across programmes and disciplines, was formed. Key individuals who have become strong supporters within each programme area were identified and then engaged to advise on the process and help to create buy in from within each programme review committee. The Queen’s Centre for Responsible Leadership  also formed an External Advisory Board comprised of leaders in industry and influential non-profit organisations to advise on emerging trends and how to best deliver programme content to meet the needs of the future.

Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame also formed an external Business Advisory Council (BAC) to advance the College’s mission. The BAC is comprised of alumni, representatives from a wide range of organisations, and friends of the College. Council members serve as ambassadors of the College and engage in the internal operations of the College by offering counsel to the deans and directors and by assisting in targeted initiatives.

Bentley University created the Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility (BAESR), a collaborative effort involving an array of campus-based centres and initiatives. It is meant to build on, enhance and extend the work of various centres, including the Centre for Business Ethics and the Service-Learning Centre. Its mission is to support and encourage greater awareness of, respect for, and commitment to ethics, service, social responsibility and sustainability in their research, curricula and campus culture.

At the University of Stellenbosch Business School, the USB’s Social Impact Initiative aims to ingrain sustainable human development into all academic, research and other activities. The initiative is part of the University’s Hope Project, which aims to create sustainable solutions to some of South Africa and wider Africa’s most pressing challenges.

To reinforce their commitments, many schools also make revisions to their mission statements. The University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur recently revised their code of conduct to reflect the PRME value base in three out of the four central value statements of the university: “reflection and communication”, “appreciation of partnerships”, and “ethical responsibility”.

Over the upcoming months there will be more blog posts featuring the many examples collecting for the guide.

An Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management education, is available online at http://www.gseresearch.com/about/prme.htm.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, 4-Research, 5-Partnership, 6-Dialogue, Canada, Denmark, Global, North America, Service-Based Learning, South Africa, Switzerland, Teaching, United States, Western Europe Tagged with , , , ,

Creating Teaching Cases around Sustainability

16 April 2012 by 1 Comment

Management related academic institutions play an important role in training the current and future generations of leaders. Part of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative is to encourage research on sustainable development issues, in particular leading up to Rio+20.

In an earlier blog, we looked at a selection of business schools that are developing teaching cases focused on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). There have been a growing number of schools writing case studies around these topics, and here we look at a few more examples from the US, UK, Spain and China.

San Francisco State University College of Business has an initiative to develop a series of case studies of local businesses in the Bay Area on their journey to sustainability. The initiative will include a variety of efforts to promote and support the development of business sustainability case studies by 1) fostering collaboration among leading sustainability case writers who teach at business schools in the Bay Area; 2) providing incentives and support to help faculty develop and apply case writing skills in the area of business sustainability; and 3) distributing and promoting cases. The initiative is sponsoring a forum to create a community of case writers from the area and is offering workshops to assist faculty in the development of case writing skills.

Cranfield School of Management, through a partnership with the Pears Foundation, which involves a collaboration between Cranfield School of Management, London Business School and the Said Business School at Oxford University have been developing a series of 27 case studies on themes such as sustainability, corporate governance and ethical decision making on companies.

There are also several examples of schools involving students in the writing of new case studies focused on responsible leadership. Columbia Case Works at Columbia Business School pairs second year students with faculty to write new cases around sustainability topics. Students also work with faculty to write introductory papers, which are distributed to all entering students on the topics of CSR, governance and values based leadership. Each summer, IESE Business School sponsors positions for research assistants with the aim of writing cases involving responsible management. The School’s professors are invited to identify and discuss situations (with colleagues and students, during and after class) that they have experienced during their professional activity and may be useful for developing a case study.

In May 2010, Hong Kong Baptist University School of Business organised the Symposium on Social Enterprises in China to provide a platform for discussion on the business models and success factors of social enterprises in China. Case studies were mainly developed by students of the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme after visiting different social enterprises in Hong Kong and several cities in Mainland China, including Anhui, Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi, and Qinghai. Subsequent to the Symposium, a casebook entitled “Social Enterprises of the New Age: Case Studies in China” was published by Chinese Businesses Case Research Center and DBA students in May 2011.

Are you working on an initiative to create case studies around corporate sustainability or responsible leadership in your region? Share your experiences in the comments area below this blog.

Filed under 3-Method, 4-Research, Asia, China, North America, Spain, Teaching, UK, United States, Western Europe Tagged with , ,

Getting Faculty on Board with Sustainability

9 April 2012 by Leave a comment

Business Schools are increasingly looking at how to embed sustainability into their curricula and in particular core courses. How to get faculty on board is one of the most common questions/concerns relayed by schools as they work in this area. Here are a handful of examples from Denmark, France, Turkey, Germany and the US showing how schools are bringing their faculty together to look at these issues.

  • Euromed Management has created CSR faculty officers who are mandated to provide a link between Euromed Management’s CSR Department and their own departments, with at least on representative from each area. Their role is to transmit and disseminate the CSR strategy to their departments, but also to bring ideas and information that may affect the school’s strategy to the attention of management. The CSR Officers have become vectors of Sustainable Development throughout the school. Last year, their commitment resulted in the creation of a student well-being project and working groups on dematerialisation and responsible purchasing.
  • Istanbul Bilgi University Department of Business Administration formed a working team consisting of four faculty members from Operations Management, Statistics, Economics and Marketing to look at sustainability. The multi-disciplinary taskforce held various in-depth interviews with faculty members from all the subject areas of the Business Department. During these interviews, they explained the main principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and PRME. Afterwards, the faculty were encouraged to integrate these concepts into their courses.
  • At the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, faculty created “primers” for each academic department to assist faculty with identifying ways to incorporate responsible leadership concepts (e.g. using case studies and readings) into academic frameworks and courses. They also conduct workshops for faculty to learn and discuss this very issue, present leading ideas and promising practices from other institution and firms, and share what others at Smith are already doing.
  • For several years now, HHL- Leipzig Graduate School of Management has been gradually expanding its institutional co-teaching (i.e. the joint teaching of courses by faculty from different areas of expertise). Students are very interested in understanding interfaces between different disciplines, such as the interaction between Ethics and Financial Management, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, Accounting, or Logistics Management. Examples include the incorporation of a session on ethical approaches in a marketing management module and the discussion of financial theory from a business ethics point of view.

An Inspirational Guide for the Implementation of PRME: Placing sustainability at the heart of management education, which includes more great examples of how schools are engaging faculty and addressing other common questions/concerns related to embedding sustainability, will be launched at PRME’s 3rd Global Forum at Rio+20 in June.

Filed under 3-Method, France, Germany, North America, Teaching, Turkey, United States, Western Europe Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Certificates in Sustainable Business

26 March 2012 by 1 Comment

Queen's School of Business Certificate Graduates

A growing number of schools are putting in place certificate programmes that give their students the flexibility to pursue a traditional curriculum while specialising in the topic of sustainability. Below are a selection of such programmes from the US, France, Canada and Denmark.

Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management started offering their students the opportunity to pursue a Certificate in Socially, Environmentally and Ethically Responsible Business Practice in 2010. The certificate requires 8 units of course work, 6 units of elective choices and a capstone course on Responsible Business Practice. Students also need to be members of the campus Net Impact Club and get involved in events related to these topics. This programme is offered to all students enrolled in their business programmes.

The University of Georgia in the US has an Environmental Ethics Certificate programme that was founded in 1983. This interdisciplinary program incorporates coursework from the Odum School of Ecology, the law school and a diverse collection of departments across the campus, including philosophy, agricultural and applied economics, anthropology, history and political science.

Students at Queen’s School of Business in Canada can graduate with a Certificate in Socially Responsible Leadership in addition to their MBA. To receive this certificate, students must complete relevant courses, attend Responsible Leadership related conferences and speaker sessions, and engage in meaningful community volunteer work.  The certificate in the Commerce program started in 2004 and, in 2009, the certificate program was expanded to the School’s Accelerated MBA program.

In addition to their degree, Copenhagen Business School graduate students can choose to pursue a minor in sustainable business, which explores how innovative companies simultaneously attain social, environmental and economic business objectives. They also have access to a minor in Social Entrepreneurship and Not-for-Profit Management, which is intended to equip students with the instruments needed to develop earned-income strategies for charities and to launch social enterprises.

IESEG School of Management has recently set up a Certificate Programme in Sustainable Management. Students need to take a series of core courses and electives in the field to earn the certificate. They also need to do a work/study period of a minimum of 6 weeks at an NGO in Cape Town, South Africa.

Do you offer your students certificate programmes in sustainable business? Share your experiences in the comments area below.

Filed under 1-Purpose, 2-Values, 3-Method, Canada, Denmark, France, North America, Teaching, United States Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Teaching Students about Microfinance

20 February 2012 by 1 Comment

University of Denver Microfinance Student

Microfinance, according to CGAP, is defined as financial services for poor and low-income clients. More broadly, microfinance refers to a movement that envisions a world in which low-income households have permanent access to a range of high quality and affordable financial services offered by a variety of retail providers to finance income-producing activities, build assets, stabilize consumption, and protect against risks.

Microfinance is making its way into core finance classes but has also sparked an increase in elective courses in business schools around the world that specifically focused on the topic. The Asian Institute of Management offers a course called Banking with the Poor that focuses on financial services for the poor, understanding the low-income market for financial systems and contemplating the future of microfinance. The University of Michigan College of Business and Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University both offer microfinance courses that bring in a range of speakers working in microfinance to bring the ideas to life.

Some electives provide opportunities for hands on experience in the field. The University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business has an elective called Doing Business in Bolivia, which includes meetings with microcredit agencies and foundations and investment funds in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, allowing students to explore a range of approaches and meet funders in two very different contexts. Students then have the chance to ‘follow the money’, tracing the donations, loans and investments from their sources to the recipients in the field in Bolivia. Students enrolled in the microfinance elective at the University of Portland Pamplin School of Business Administration visit Nicaragua to see first-hand how different types of organisations are offering financial services to low-income citizens.

Fordham University’s international service learning program includes a Microfinance Consulting Project for which a group of students apply their business skills on sales, inventory, accounting and marketing of close to 100 products from artisan groups in developing countries, like Kenya.

The University of Denver Daniels College of Business has partnered with Deutsche Bank’s Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium for an elective in Social Entrepreneurship and Microfinance. Students have the chance to interact with the bank managers that oversee the fund and perform due diligence for loan requests from international microfinance institutions. Students spend their spring break visiting microfinance institutions in a developing country.

Another interesting approach is the one taken by the University of California, Berkeley Haas Business School. With faculty guidance, students created an elective around the topic of microfinance. For their final project, the class invests $25,000 in a portfolio of real world microfinance investment opportunities. Students are required to submit a 3-4 page investment plan detailing specific entities, amounts, and rationale. The investment is made based on the plurality of students’ recommendations. The Berkeley Microfinance course transmits over the web to other campuses across the country, including Cornell University Johnson School of Business and Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Learn more about: CGAP, Microfinance Gateway, ACCION and Grameen Bank. The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the World Bank Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC), and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) offers the Microfinance Training of Trainers (MFTOT) online course based upon the interactive microfinance distance learning course (MFDL) developed by UNCDF. Also, 2005 was the International Year of Microcredit, and the website provides a wealth of information.

Does your programme have a course on microfinance? Share your experiences in the discussion area below.

Filed under 3-Method, 6-Dialogue, Philippines, Teaching, United States Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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