The European Commission has announced the date of the opening of the first calls for proposals under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
With FP7 reaching the end of its adoption process (the European Parliament expected to give its green light on 30 November, the COuncil on 5 December), the European Commission has announced 22 December as the day when the first calls for proposals will open.
CSR/BiS related themes are likely to be covered in the second call, end 2007. EABIS will analyse the calls once available and inform the EABIS network asap on possible relevant and interesting themes and related calls.
23-26/10/06: CBS Doctoral Seminar: CSR – “Between Ethics and Profits”, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark
This doctoral seminar is part of a series of events organized under the CSR platform project. It was the second such seminar at CBS. The event aimed to meet the objectives of EABIS in several ways:
By bringing together PhD students across Europe (the event attracted students from eight different countries) the event discussed and compared research approaches towards CSR and ultimately helps build a more coherent European agenda for research on CSR
Moreover by mixing faculty from the U.S. (David Vogel), Asia (Gerry Fryxell), and Australia (Tim Devinney) with European Faculty (Mette Morsing, Steen Vallentin, Kai Hockerts) the event highlighted the differences between the European research model and different international approaches.
This PhD workshop has put a different emphasis than the other PhD events under the CSR platform. While earlier Platform PhD events have largely focused on the definition of research questions and on the development and discussion of CSR theories, the event decided to focus on the dissemination of research findings. Our focus was thus on publication strategy, journal review, selection process and paper revision. Towards this end we had invited David Vogel as the editor of the California Management Review (CMR) to present the review process from the editorial perspective. Day 3 continued with the theme by discussing different publications strategies (Gerry Fryxell) and educating the participants in the review process (Kai Hockerts).
Another unique element of the workshop was the focus on day on Small and Mediumn Sized Enterprises (SMEs). By linking the PhD workshop with the conference on CSR in SMEs we have emphasized and illustrated the potential for CSR research beyond the world of the MNCs.
Given that the event has received excellent reviews from participating students CBS is determined to continue this effort even after the end of the CSR platform. The next CSR PhD workshop at CBS is tentatively scheduled for autumn 2008. It is our intention to again cooperate with EABIS on this event. Presentations and further details of the event will be available soon on the
21/11/06 - New Publication: Make Poverty Business - INcrease Profits and Reduce Risks by Engaging with the Poor, Craig Wilson and Peter Wilson
Poor people in developing countries could make excellent suppliers, employees and customers but are often ignored by major businesses. This omission leads to increased risk, higher costs and lower sales. Meanwhile, businesses are asked by governments and poverty activists to do more for economic development, but their exhortations are rarely based on a proper business case.
‘Make Poverty Business’ bridges the gap by constructing a rigorous profit-making argument for multinational corporations to do more business with the poor. It takes economic development out of the corporate social responsibility ghetto and places it firmly in the core business interests of the corporation, and argues that to see the poor only as potential consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) misses half of the story.
‘Make Poverty Business’ examines the successes, failures and missed opportunities of a wide range of global companies including Wal-Mart, BP, Unilever, Shell and HSBC when dealing with the poor and with development advocates in the media, NGOs, governments and international organisations. It includes a discussion on how to use a poverty perspective to provoke profitable innovation - not only to create new products and services but also to find new sources of competitive advantage in the supply chain and to develop more sustainable, lower-cost business models in developing countries.
‘Make Poverty Business’ will be essential reading for international business managers seeking to increase profits and decrease risks in developing countries, development advocates who seek to harness the profit motive to achieve reductions in poverty, and academics looking for practical strategies on how business can implement BOP initiatives in developing countries.
More information and purchase:
www.greenleaf-publishing.com (click on the book cover or ‘What’s New’). You can also request a review copy or inspection copy. Alternatively, go to the dedicated book website at: www.makepovertybusiness.org
AccountAbility’s Simon Zadek Wins Academy of Management Book Award for “The Civil Corporation”
Dr. Simon Zadek, Chief Executive of EABIS Affiliate Member AccountAbility and a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, has recently received thSocial Issues in Management (SIM) Book Award for his book The Civil Corporation: The New Economy of Corporate Citizenship (Earthscan / James & James Publishing). In doing so, he joins the exclusive company of some of the foremost thought leaders in this field – including John Rawls, Ed Freeman, Mancur Olson and John Kenneth Galbraith – who have also earned this prize from the world’s leading network of business and management scholars.
The Civil Corporation beat 145 other international award entrants to win what is widely held to be the top academic literary prize for corporate responsibility research and cutting-edge theory. The book itself traces the emergence of contemporary approaches to corporate responsibility and explores its implications for business practice and broader governance. It introduces ‘civil regulation’ into the modern lexicon and connects stakeholder engagement, organisational innovation and learning, and business strategy and practices. Crucially, it connects an insightful vista of the broader landscape with a set of practical "do’s" for businesses and their stakeholders that have stood the test of time.
For More Information on “The Civil Corporation” To read the official AccountAbility press release and for more information on the book, please click here.
We are also happy to inform you that Earthscan has agreed to offer EABIS’ members and friends a discount on any purchase of the book. To order using a direct order form and save 15% on the recommended retail price, please download the form here. To order directly online through the Earthscan site and save 10%, please click here.
The purpose of the meeting was to clarify priority areas of research and consider possible funding sources to enable a pan-European research project, or projects, to get under way.
A short presentation by Ted Fuller (Teesside Business School, UK) was given on Entrepreneurship and its relations with CSR & SMEs. This presentation is available on the EABIS intranet as well as other information on this meeting.
Priority areas of research included the society case where research projects suggested include those that address the comparison of existing policy initiatives on CSR on SMEs drawing out policy level performance issues. Also to be considered within this framework is sustainability and competitiveness which is addressed in a 3 sector study undertaken by Accountability, ESADE, INSEAD and the European Policy Centre, that is due out end November.
Under the area of building capacity in Business Supporting Organisations, ideas for research projects include trying to mainstream CSR, looking for alternative ways of capacity building, and how to deliver capacity.
Another area addressed was that of the business case. Ideas for research projects under this heading include looking at a comparison across existing business case studies, where one looks specifically at the external forces (such as social/policy pressure/incentives) and internal forces (such as the values case or business case) that leave an impact.
The group will explore these and other issues further in the coming months as to enable a pan-European research project to take off in the future.
This initiative, part of the European Knowledge Network (formerly Category C) Funding Scheme of the EABIS Corporate Funded Programme, has been made possible due to the generous financial support of EABIS's founding corporate partners: IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Shell and Unilever.
A substantial majority of global business executives (79 per cent) surveyed believe that companies with strong corporate responsibility track records recover their reputations faster post-crisis than those with weaker records. This finding did not differ by region. The survey, Safeguarding Reputation™, was conducted in 11 markets by Weber Shandwick with KRC Research.
“Reputation recovery is increasingly driven by more than financial metrics,” said Weber Shandwick’s International Head of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Brendan May. “As social, economic and political agendas increasingly influence consumer and market issues, companies now recognise that a record of corporate responsibility can inoculate a company against long-term reputation failure. Responsibility is no longer a nice-to-have. It is now a must-have corporate mandate.”
Global business executives were also asked to rate factors that build company reputation today. Over one-half (55%) surveyed report that being recognised as committed to corporate responsibility contributes “a lot” to a company’s overall reputation. European and Asia Pacific executives were more likely than their North American counterparts to agree on the importance of corporate responsibility in driving reputation.
EABIS has recently joined a recently launced project coordinated by the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment gGmbH (IZT).
The project is called "International Research Network on Social and Environmental Aspects in Business and Management" and will run for three years. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education.
The main purpose of the project is to establish a network of researchers of the field that serves as a platform for exchange, discussion and further development of different research activities and ideas among the partners.
The overall target of the funding programme as well as of the project is to integrate the research of the network partners stronger into the academic mainstream. In other words, the network is meant to help the network partners to better integrate their research in the area of environmental and social aspects of business and management with the mainstream academic position and by doing so strengthening both the academic record as well as the visibility of the network partner's research activities.
Besides IZT, the network includes the following partners, including 2 EABIS members (Amsterdam, Royal Holloway):
Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR), University St Andrews, UK
Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, USA
Faculty of Business, University of Victoria, Canada
Corporate Environmental Governance Programme, University of Hong Kong
University of Amsterdam Business School (UABS), NL (Ans Kolk)
Corporate Sustainability Management, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (KTH), SE
Royal Holloway, University of London (UK) (Lutz Preuss)
European Academy of Business in Society (EABIS)
EABIS will keep its members informed about the project developments.
New EABIS-Ashridge Report on Responsible Leadership Qualities and Management Competencies
EABIS and Ashridge Business School today announced the public release of a pioneering 18-month long research project which profiles the range of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will increasingly underpin successful and responsible corporate leadership in the years to come. Titled Leadership Qualities and Management Competencies for Corporate Responsibility, the report was authored by Andrew Wilson, Director of Research and Development at Ashridge, and Prof. Dr. Gilbert Lenssen, President of EABIS.
It is the first of its kind to empirically examine these vital skills and attributes as they directly relate to the ability of business leaders to successfully manage the integration of corporate responsibility practice into the heart of business strategy and practice as well as successfully manage interfaces with stakeholders and society.
The research project was designed and delivered as a part of the EABIS Corporate Funded Research Programme, which is sponsored by its five founding corporate partners, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Shell and Unilever.
Two key conclusions emerge from the research:
Leadership qualities around corporate responsibility issues, which are often values driven within companies, need to be translated into management skills for strategically managing society and stakeholder interfaces. Crucially, this requires new partnerships and dialogue between Human Resource and Corporate Responsibility departments in order to define explicit competency frameworks and HR policy, as well as made an integral part of core management training programmes.
Leadership qualities and management competencies required by companies are highly contextual and relate to a company’s business challenges, its industry, history and crucially, the way it defines and narrates its rationale for engaging in corporate responsibility, whether that is for reputation risk management, business opportunities or desire to engage in public policy. In other words, no one size fits all.
The content and findings of the project are based on 108 in-depth questionnaire responses from human resource executives and corporate responsibility managers, followed by 24 interviews with senior executives in 11 of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse companies: BP International, Cargill, Dexia, ENI, IBM UK, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Shell, Solvay S.A., Suez and Unilever. This multi-level investigation of business behaviour and operational management allowed the research team to better understand the bridge between corporate responsibility practices in business strategy as they specifically relate to the firm’s human capital.
Following the open call last month (Oct. 2006), the participants to be involved in the preliminary stage of the EABIS Knowledge & Learning Network on CR & Clusters of Innovation have now been selected:
Jonas Eder-Hansen (Copenhagen Business School, DK)
Wayne Visser (Cambridge University, UK)
Steve Downing (Henley School of Management, UK
Steven MacGregor (IESE Business School, E)
Atle Mittun (Norwegian School of Management, N)
Antonio Tencati (SDA Bocconi, I)
Renato Orsato (INSEAD, F)
Paul Begley (Accountability, UK)
Nigel Roome (Solvay Business School, B)
Elena Bonfigioli (Microsoft, EMEA)
The Review Committee had to make a tough selection following a competitive call and number of applications received. The other applicants, as will the EABIS network, will be kept informed on the progress of this initiative. Further engagement opportunities will arise in the next phase of the project design, to be expected by Spring 2007.
As an initial step, the Network will meet in Brussels on 20 and 21 November 2006, hosted by EABIS. The purpose of the first meeting is to bring together researchers and practitioners who have studied clusters of innovation and/or innovation for sustainability from a variety of perspectives to enable the construction of a more transdisciplinary understanding of this phenomenon and to develop the ground for comparative research across Europe that enables the conditions that inhibit or promote the activities of clusters to be developed. The objective is to work together to share approaches as a way to formulate a concerted research proposal for submission to the EC under FP7.
This initiative, part of the European Knowledge Network (formerly Category C) Funding Scheme of the EABIS Corporate Funded Programme, has been made possible due to the generous financial support of EABIS's founding corporate partners: IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Shell and Unilever.
In an article published in the Financial Times on 23/10/06 Prof Mintzberg writes:”We have this obsession with “leadership”. It’s intention may be to empower people , but its effect is often to disempower them. By focusing on the single person....leadership becomes part of the syndrome of individuality that is ....undermining organisations
The complete article, written by Deborah Ancona can be found here (requires FT subscription):
The Observatoire de la Finance, a Swiss not-for-profit foundation based in Geneva (www.obsfin.ch), has launched the Robin Cosgrove Prize, a new prize that aims to promote greater awareness of the benefits of ethics in finance. The Prize honours the vision of Robin, a bright young investment banker who died at age 31. He believed passionately that a major barrier to economic development was the lack of ethical practice in banking and financial systems.
An international Jury will award the prize money of USD 20.000 to young people, aged 35 years or younger, for creative and unpublished papers setting out projects or proposals for innovative ways to promote ethics in finance. Papers must be submitted to the Observatoire before the deadline of midnight, 28th February 2007 (CET). The entries may be written in English or in French, or in another language with a translation into English or French.
Request notifications