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SAGE Publications is now offering a free online trial to all of its Management journals, until September 30^th. Registration for the trial takes only a few moments, and then you can browse, search and download full-text articles from SAGE’s 39 leading management titles. Journals include Organization Studies, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Management Learning and Organization along with many others.

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Over the past few years there has been tremendous growth in corporate responsibility and business in society in terms of its importance, scope and activity. To keep pace with this growth and help EABIS to continue to provide leadership and better support members, we are very happy to announce that EABIS has created the new position of deputy director and appointed Simon Pickard to fill it.

Deputy Director Role
The position was created to better manage the rapid strategic expansion of the EABIS network and its pioneering research, education and training activities. In his position as Deputy Director at EABIS, Simon will report directly to me and be responsible for building stronger relationships with and enhancing EABIS’ support for our member business schools, universities and multinational companies as well as handle direct event planning, staff and day-to-day operations. He will also work closely with Gilbert, I and the boards to shape the organisation’s strategic direction and delivery.

Simon’s Background and Experience
Simon’s professional background contains extensive experience in international education in both Europe and the United States and several positions in the corporate world.

Previously, he worked for almost eight years for Oxbridge Academic Programs, a not-for-profit organisation based in New York, ultimately holding the position of Executive Director.  In this role, Simon was responsible for the creation and implementation of programmes and courses at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge (UK) and Paris (France). In addition, he led various management responsibilities including faculty recruitment, university liaison, contract negotiations and the management of a multinational administrative team. He has also spent time in various administrative roles at Société Générale and Hermes Pension Management Ltd (European Fund) in London.

Bilingual in French and English, Simon was educated in Europe, initially graduating from Oxford University with a Master’s Degree in Modern Languages and Literature.  He also has an MBA from HEC Paris (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) in France where, among other accomplishments, he received the Class Leadership Award. 

Warm Welcome
This is an exciting development for the organisation. Though he started only recently, Simon has already made a very positive impact on EABIS and we're looking very forward to the future as EABIS continues to provide leadership and shape the future of corporate responsibility and business in society in Europe. On behalf of Gilbert, myself, the team and the members, we would like to welcome Simon and look forward to him having a bright future with EABIS.

In mid-July London Business School hosted the third of an international series of forums addressing major areas of research and practice under the broader theme of Corporate Responsibility and Global Business. Through a series of moderated panel discussions, keynote lectures and paper presentations, the conference focused on the impact of said contexts on corporate and marketing strategy. Of particular relevance to those present were issues of fair trade: panelists and speakers examined the responsibility of multinational companies to build fair practice and policy into their integrated strategic models and to what extent a business case can be built for such behaviour.

Over 50 academic papers were presented on contemporary themes linking corporate responsibility issues to various Marketing disciplines. Sessions covered cutting-edge topics such as conscience consumerism, mainstreaming corporate responsibility, and marketing strategies for the bottom of the pyramid, and keynote panels addressed two fundamental business issues - the extent of the business case for corporate responsibility and the marketing of fair trade products. Other highlights of the event were the keynote presentations given Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé S.A., Craig Sams, President of Green and Black’s, and Simon Zadek, Chief Executive of AccountAbility and Senior Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

The forum was co-sponsored by Nestlé, the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, California Management Review, Haas Business School Centre for Responsible Business and Boston University School of Management. Full event information can be downloaded from the conference website.

For some of the business members who may be less familiar, the Academy of Management is the world’s most prestigious group of management scholars and Business Policy and Strategy is one of its top divisions. EABIS is delighted to announce that this summer, during the Annual Conference in Atlanta, both strategy projects under the EABIS research pillar will be presented: the INSEAD led, EU funded project, “Understanding and Responding to Societal Expectation (RESPONSE)” which
uses a unique business-academic collaborative research design and is currently the world’s largest research project in this area and the Zurich led “Stakeholder View of the Firm” project sponsored by EABIS’ founding corporate partners Unilever, Shell, IBM, Microsoft and J&J.

This is a deserved, timely and highly noteworthy recognition of how Corporate Responsibility issues are penetrating the mainstream of strategic thought. It is also an acknowledgement of the major efforts made by RESPONSE Project Leader Maurizio Zollo (INSEAD) and other leading colleagues to achieve change in the “old” agenda. Session details are:

RESPONSE – “Knowledge, Action and Public Concern: Strategy Theory and Corporate
Responsibility” – 14 July, 8.30am

• Jay Barney – Ohio State University
• Maurizio Zollo – INSEAD (project lead)
• Antonio Tencati – SDA Bocconi
• Steven White – INSEAD
• Kai Hockerts – Copenhagen Business School

Stakeholder View of the Firm – “Competitive Advantage: Towards a Stakeholder Orientation in Strat. Management” - 14 July, 4.10pm
• Sybille Sachs - Zurich University of Applied Sciences (project co-lead)
• Edwin Ruehli - Zurich University of Applied Sciences (project co-lead)
• Marc Maurer – Zurich University of Applied Sciences

There is also a whole day on this topic and many other EABIS members will be presenting, including Lance Moir – Cranfield and EABIS current Academic Chair and Andrew Millington and Stephen Brammer - Bath School of Management, as well as a number of leading figures from the strategy field.

We must also acknowledge the role that Maurizio Zollo and other EABIS members will play in the Strategic Management Society Annual Conference in Vienna. The Strategic Management Society is the world’s leading specialist body bringing together reflective practitioners and scholars and an important body in the field in shaping thought leadership. EABIS Academic Vice-Chair and lead of the RESPONSE project, Maurizio Zollo will be leading a “Common Ground” session on corporate responsibility with several EABIS members.

Session Title: “Corporate Social Responsibility and Performance: Can CSR be a Source of
Advantage?”
Day: Tuesday, October 31
Time: 17:00 - 18:45
Facilitator: Maurizio Zollo – INSEAD
EABIS Member Speakers:
• Francesco Perrini – SDA Bocconi
• Clodia Vurro – SDA Bocconi
• Michael Yajizi – IMD
• Don Antunes - IMD

Whilst there is a long road ahead, these are important developments. Perhaps all of this
momentum - coupled with the activities of many of the big consultancies waking up in this area - might even mean that 2006 becomes the year business in society issues seriously start to enter mainstream strategic management?

For now, we would like to congratulate all of those involved and all members for playing a
significant role in advancing the debate based on robust theory and practical business value through EABIS’ knowledge development and research pillar and their own activities. We look forward to seeing and hearing the results.

An interesting article that might be of interest for EABIS members has been published in the Financial Times on July 25, 2006. Summary is provided below:

An inquiry backed by 11 leading businesses to find common rules for international companies launched today.

Read full article here (you have to be a subscriber to the FT site) or check print edition of FT.  

Alternatively, read the article and press release from Tomorrow's Company website: http://www.tomorrowscompany.com/global/default.aspx

Inquiry of Tomorrow's Company: http://www.tomorrowscompany.com/global/discussion.aspx

EABIS members are encouraged to respond to the inquiry.

In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs magazine, Sam Palmisano, IBM's chairman and chief executive director, lays out his vision for the Globally Integrated Enterprise and its implications for trade, commerce, education and government regulation. 

Read more about the article here or download it directly here (pdf file).  

EABIS elections for 2006 are a crucial bi-annual part of EABIS governance process and are open to all EABIS members. They will take place in two phases: first, an online nomination and voting process to elect new board members for both networks, and second, a presentation and voting process to elect Vice-Chairs and Chairs which will take place at the General Assembly on the 12^th Sept at the EABIS Colloquium in Milan.

The following categories are open for election and are for 2 year terms:

EABIS Business Network

• Business Chair
• Business Vice-Chairs (x 3, from whom 1 will be elected Chair)
• Board Members (x 10 including Chair & Vice-Chairs)

EABIS Academic Network

• Academic Chair
• Academic Vice-Chairs (x 3, from whom 1 will be elected Chair)
• Board Members (x 10 including Chair & Vice-Chairs)<

Complete set of documents relating to the election process and open positions can also be accessed through the EABIS Intranet

Engaging New and Recent Members

This round of elections comes after EABIS’ phenomenal growth from 20 to nearly 70 organisations in just 2 years. As well as being an incredibly important aspect of EABIS membership engagement and in shaping EABIS activities, we would like to see these elections include new members and to see members “campaigning” on the basis of how they can take ownership of and develop initiatives on networking and integration of all members into activities.

With that in mind, the existing Management Committee would like to propose 2 additional Vice-Chair places – 1 for each Network – that must be filled by members that have joined in the previous 2 years. This is for discussion at the GA.

A Few Things to Take into Account:

• Candidates represent their full constituencies and not their own interests as individuals
• Candidates must have an appreciation of EABIS as an institutional network and not a network of individuals
• Candidates must be able to dedicate the requisite time to promoting networking and meet governance requirements
• Candidates should have the official support of their member institution
• Each member has equal voting rights to be cast by 1 official institutional representative
• The business and academic network positions are not remunerated

Election Calendar

• Individuals to submit their candidacy and supporting documents = Before 24 July
• Online board elections = 24th July – 5th September<
• Confirmation of candidates for Vice-Chair and Chair = 5 – 8 September
• Vice-chair candidate speeches and elections – 12th Sept at GA
• Chair candidate speeches and elections – 12th Sept at GA

Immediate Action for Candidates by 24^th July

Candidates are asked to announce their intention to stand by submitting two documents: a statement outlining their suitability, motivation, goals and initiatives to promote networking and member engagement, plus a CV / biography (or web link to one). These must be e-mailed by Monday, 24^th July to my address: simon.pickard@eabis.org

For the seventh time in succession, the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) of the Erasmus University offers a Master Program in CSR, Ethics and Sustainability. At the Department of Business-Society Management (B-SM) more than 25 researchers and teachers are working on this Masters Program. The Department of B-SM is strongly interdisciplinary and internationally oriented. With seven professors in this field, RSM wants to show the importance of CSR and sustainability to the academic world and to the business community.

The Global Business & Stakeholder Management Master Program aims at developing students’ knowledge, insight and skills on how to effectively manage the dependency relationships between firms and different kinds of societal actors. In order to accomplish this, the Department of B-SM has developed an attractive and integrated programme based on core courses and several electives. Some of the topics are: public-private partnerships, codes of conduct, business-community involvement, non-profit management, corporate communication, emerging markets, reputation management, institutions, leadership, globalisation and CSR strategies. Each year, more than 60 students participate in the Masters Program. This year the program will start in the first week of September. More information can be found here or you can send an e-mail to B-SM Program Coordinator Désiree Hamelink.

In the future, global companies will be caught between a vigilant European public on the one hand and less scrupulous, and sometimes increasingly powerful, competitors on the other. Under these circumstances, managers will have an increasingly difficult challenge to justify corporate sustainability action beyond compliance. According to numerous academics, consultants and journalists, corporate sustainability is now a veritable mantra for global business, to a large extent because of a supposedly escalating level of pressure from corporate stakeholders. How well does this claim hold true when examined through an empirical study? IMD has launched a research project headed by Dr. Ulrich Steger, Dr. Aileen Ionescu-Somers and Research Associate Oliver Salzmann to look closely at the perceptions of nine stakeholder groups about corporate social and environmental performance and the actions that they take in this regard.

For a detailed description of the study, please contact Oliver Salzmann or refer to Ulrich Steger (Ed.), “Inside the mind of the stakeholder – the hype behind stakeholder pressure” (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), which will become available in September 2006. EABIS would also like to congratulate Dr. Aileen Ionescu-Somers (Deputy Director of the Forum for Corporate Sustainability Management, IMD) for the successful defence of her doctoral thesis at the National University of Ireland on May 9. Her study, which had as a main objective contributions to the conception and building of industry-specific business cases, addressed the complexities and challenges of building and implementing a business case for the integration of environmental and social sustainability aspects into business strategy in the food & beverage industry.

The EABIS network alliance has welcomed three new members since spring : Aarhus Business School, The Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) and The Italian Centre for Social Responsibility (I-CSR).

Aarhus Business School, located in Denmark, is an internationally oriented and acclaimed institution with a diverse variety of teaching and research on corporate responsibility. This business school is particularly dedicated to the EABIS mission of knowledge development and learning, a prime example being the school’s Research Centre for Business Communication that will soon be implementing a 5-year initiative focusing on crisis communication, corporate communication in connection with corporate responsibility, and internal communication under change.

The CCL is one of the largest global non-profit institutions exclusively dedicated to leadership issues. Based in Boston, in the United States, but with an increasing European presence centred in Brussels, CCL integrates cutting-edge research with innovative training, coaching, and assessment to enhance the impact of leaders and organizations around the world. The Centre is currently initiating a research study on leadership and sustainability/corporate responsibility to investigate the leadership and organizational practices used to effectively implement and execute a sustainable CR strategy.

The Italian Centre for Social Responsibility, situated in Milan was established in 2005, by the Italian Government in partnership with EABIS Colloquium co-host Bocconi University, among others. The mission of the Centre is to promote concepts relating to corporate responsibility among different stakeholder groups and to encourage uptake of responsible business principles and practice in mainstream activities. A significant focus area is facilitating the exchange of experiences and practices among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

CCL and the Aarhus Business School join the network as full Academic Members, and I-CSR as an Affiliate Member.

EABIS announced the public availability of the results of a comprehensive one-year study it has led on the corporate responsibility policies of European governments. The report, which is an output of the broader research project titled “The Changing Role of Government in Corporate Responsibility”, examines three diverse European government models—Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom—as a sample group to explore each corporate responsibility policies set within the context of the evolving role of government in society.

The research was carried out by ESADE Business School in Spain, the Bocconi School of Management in Italy and the Norwegian School of Management and was funded by EABIS and its five founding business partners (IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Shell and Unilever) as part of EABIS’ Corporate Funded Research, Education and Training Programme.

The Practitioners Report is now available to the public at the EABIS website.

ALTIS -Università Cattolica di Milan intends to submit a proposal (deadline 1 September) in response to the Call for Proposals for Social Dialogue and CSR, initiated by the European Commission, DG Employment. Details of call: click here

The research project proposed intends to analyse both the CSR practices undertaken in the industrial clusters of Europe, as well as the configuration and functioning of the internal governance of these clusters. Concept of proposal: read here

If you're interested to receive more information and/or to join the proposal & consortium, please contact:
Frank Cinque (frank.cinque@unicatt.it)
ALTIS/Università Cattolica
Tel: +39 02 4851 7036

Washington Post 26-06-06
The Business of Business - Expectations of the company are changing. Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/25/AR2006062500687.html