This course covers ethical issues and social responsibility in business.
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Beyond Grey Pinstripes
London Business School
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London Business School
Regent's Park
London, , NW1 4SA
United Kingdom
London Business School
London, , NW1 4SA
United Kingdom
Demographic Information
Number of full-time MBA students (2011):
400
Number of part-time MBA students (2011):
0
Total duration of full-time MBA program:
21 months
MBA faculty (Fall 2010):
130
Females as percent of student body:
28%
Private Sector (98%)
Non-profit (0%)
Government (2%)
Description of MBA Program:
London Business School is a world class business school with a global student and faculty community and programmes in major business centres worldwide. Its vision is to have a profound impact on the way the world does business, and the School is striving to establish an efficient and effective approach to raising business leaders’ capacity to understand and manage the business-society relationship. It is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and was a founding partner of the European Academy for Business in Society (EABIS).
London Business School was set up by the British government, nearly 50 years ago, as a centre of excellence in management education. Despite being one of the youngest leading business schools, it was one of the first to introduce ethics into the core curriculum, and all full-time MBA and executive MBA students complete a core course in corporate responsibility and ethics. This provides students with an overview of why and how to manage extra-financial elements of business performance, including issues ranging from corporate governance to global poverty and climate change. In addition, the School offers a series of successful electives taught by award-winning faculty members in areas such as social enterprise and sustainable financing. Among the electives on offer in 2010-11 are ‘Sustainability: The Implications of Environmental and Demographic Change’ and ‘The New Revolution: Social Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century’. Students are increasingly undertaking consultancy projects on aspects of corporate responsibility.
The School is a member of the Pears Foundation Business Schools Partnership, which was created to promote a culture of philanthropy, public service and corporate responsibility amongst business leaders of the future. In association with two other business schools, the Partnership produces case studies and hosts lectures to help business students develop an understanding of and commitment to public service and philanthropy. The School also took a lead role in producing the book of case studies ‘Mainstreaming Corporate Responsibility’ commissioned by EABIS, which is structured around major subject areas in the business school curriculum.
Faculty are involved in research and corporate engagement in environmental, social and governance issues. The Centre for Corporate Governance provides independent, cross-disciplinary research and recommendations designed to influence and drive the corporate governance debate. The Energy Markets Group focuses on strategic modelling, price behaviour and the problems of a competitive industry and undertakes government-funded research on climate change energy policy. The School hosts the European rounds of the Global Social Venture Capital Competition, the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition for social ventures from around the world. Faculty in finance, organisational behaviour, marketing and innovation have published on aspects of the role of business in society, and indeed the role of the business school.
Students play an important part in furthering the School’s social and environmental agenda. In addition to formal teaching, they are engaged in various aspects of corporate responsibility and sustainability outside of the classroom. The Responsible Business Club runs regular events on themes of corporate responsibility from microfinance to sustainability. It provides advice to young social entrepreneurs and is part of the entrepreneurship community in London. The Energy Club holds events about alternative energy and other aspects of the low carbon economy. The Volunteers Club facilitates volunteering and fundraising opportunities for students in London and the local community.
How does the MBA program 'walk the talk' of social and environmental impact?:
London Business School recognises the importance of engagement in sustainable development in the achievement of its vision to have a profound impact on the way the world does business. The School aims to promote awareness of and engagement in sustainable development and to work towards achieving sustainable development in all aspects of its activity.
The School’s sustainability policy and its associated action plan set out specific objectives and KPIs in the areas of energy consumption, waste and resource management, water consumption, procurement, management of environmental impact, and community links. The sustainability action plan forms an integral part of the School’s annual corporate plan. Progress against the objectives set out in the plan is likewise set out in the twice-yearly performance reports on the implementation of the corporate plan. The School’s sustainability policy, sustainability action plan and related progress reports are all published on the School’s website. In addition, regular updates on sustainability issues are reported to staff, students and alumni in the monthly School e-newsletter.
In terms of progress, the School is steadily reducing its energy consumption and energy usage has fallen by around 15% over the past five years. Key initiatives in making these savings include expansion of the School’s building management system, installation of passive infra-red and motion sensors to minimise lighting usage, and programming PCs to shutdown automatically when not in use. These activities have been realised in conjunction with the Campus Greening Initiative introduced by the student-led Responsible Business Club.
Almost one-third of the School’s waste is now recycled, and a further 12% is sent to a local waste to energy facility which incinerates non-recyclable waste to produce electricity. The School has in place a large-scale recycling programme that includes paper, cardboard, cans, plastic and glass bottles. It also reuses furniture and stationery, either internally or by donating it to charities. The School has reduced its water consumption by 28% over the past five years and continues to pursue a range of initiatives to reduce this further, including infrared taps with spray nozzles and dual flush toilet systems.
The School has drawn up a comprehensive estates masterplan to support a major campus redevelopment project. The masterplan contains a series of objectives relating to environmental management, including a commitment that the new build elements of the project should achieve a BREEAM (the UK version of LEED) ‘excellent’ rating, and the construction of a single energy centre utilising a range of technologies including CHP to replace the plant rooms currently distributed around the campus.
A Community Action Group has been formed with the aim of promoting a culture of volunteerism amongst employees and to strengthen the School's relationship with, and have a positive impact on, the local community. Working in conjunction with the student Volunteers Club, activities include a tutoring programme at a local school for mostly underprivileged students, partnering with Deutsche Bank to teach the Young Enterprise Learn to Earn Programme, business mentoring and lecturing with Career Academies UK and cleanups of London cemeteries.
Course Name: Carbon Finance, Analytics and Trading
Instructor: Derek Bunn
Carbon finance has been a rapidly growing area of financial investment and trading, as well as operational compliance by the affected industries. This course will give an overview of the various carbon markets, their evolution and possible future directions, as well as a detailed understanding of the traded products. It should provide students with a sound basis for initial employment by investment banks, consultants and energy companies who are active in this area.
Course Name: Crafting the future of work
Instructor: Lynda Gratton
Work is, and always has been, one of the most defining aspects of our lives. Work matters – to us as individuals, to our family and friends and also to the communities and societies in which we live. What we are now facing is a substantial schism with the past, which is so great that the work we do will change – possibly unrecognisably over the next two decades.
In this elective we explore how work will change and the way in which we need to prepare for these changes. The elective is designed to both create a deep understanding of the structural changes we are facing – with an opportunity to understand how the most valuable careers can be shaped.
Course Name: Energy: Markets, Models and Strategies
Instructor: Derek Bunn
This course explores the emergence of carbon trading.
Course Name: Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets
Instructor: Rajesh Chandy, John Mullins
Given the home countries from which many of our students come and given the globally-focussed career aspirations of most of our graduates, it is clear that doing business in the BRIC countries and other parts of the developing world will comprise a part of the career paths for many of our current students. This course seeks to equip students having insights or interests in emerging markets to deal effectively with a host of issues with which they are likely to be confronted in pursuing entrepreneurial ventures in emerging markets. Whether raw start-ups or new ventures within established firms, such ventures will provide the vast majority of the planet’s economic growth over our students’ lifetimes
Course Name: Management Accounting
Instructor: Dennis Oswald, Francesca Franco, Konstantin Rozanov
Building on the technical foundations of Financial Analysis, this course concentrates on the use of accounting for decision and control in the firm. The first part seeks to develop the foundation of management accounting, namely understanding costs and costing and becoming proficient in cost analysis for decision-making.
The second part of the course tackles accounting for control. It is especially intended to deepen understanding of the processes, possibilities and limitations of management accounting, including budgetary control, divisional performance measurement and management planning and control systems.
Instructor: Jean Pierre Benoit, Dominic Houlder, Andrew Scott
This course is about Globalization, environmental issues, demographic change and how this relates to corporate success.
Instructor: Michael Hay
This course aims at establishing social enterprises as sustainable business models.
Course Name: Understanding General Management
Instructor: Louise Mors, Brandon Lee
This course deals with social and environmental values and their impact on business strategy and leadership.
Type: Competition
Date: April, 2010
Now in its second year, the idea for the CleanTech Challenge was conceived by London Business School and University College London to foster innovation in clean technology and cooperation between students with business and technical backgrounds. It aims to facilitate the development of clean technology ideas from a concept stage to a point when they will be ready to enter the clean technology market.
CleanTech refers to any technology aimed at preventing or cleaning up pollution, such as composting, recycling, energy efficiency and renewables developments.
Students entering the challenge have the chance to win £5,000 and gain invaluable feedback from venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and potential investors.
Students from London Business School were members of winning teams in 2009 with GreenLease: A turnkey green energy solution provider, and in 2010 with an energy auditing, financing and project management company.
Date: January, 2011
Camila Batmanghelidjh, Founder of Kids Company, visited the School for a guest speaker session. Kids Company provides practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children. Its services reach 14,000 children across London, including the most deprived and at risk whose parents are unable to care for them due to their own practical and emotional challenges. Camila spoke about how she set up the charity, its growth and how it really makes a difference to the lives of others.
Date: April, 2010
The recovery, sustainability and evolution of real estate were all under the spotlight as eminent industry leaders looked to the next decade at London Business School’s Real Estate Conference. The conference was organised by the Real Estate Club and coincided with the launch of a real estate finance module across the School’s MBA programmes.
Sir John Ritblat, former Chairman and CEO of the British Land Company, delivered the opening keynote. He was joined by panels comprising economists, investors, fund managers, developers, consultants, architects and brokers. The panels discussed key issues and opportunities of the industry, including investing in Europe, emerging markets, starting a fund, and building a greener future.
Date: June, 2010
This social enterprise event highlighted the different opportunities available in the social business sector, one of the most emerging fields, and showed that it is possible to have a social impact with a well planned business.
An interactive panel discussion chaired by Dr Jeff Skinner of London Business School took a closer look at blending business skills with a desire to improve society. Panellists were Kresse Welsing of Elvis & Kresse Arts, Charmian Love of Volans, Matt Knopp of Eastside Consulting and Tom Saunders of SIFE.
Date: July, 2010
The Global Leadership Summit is London Business School's flagship event bringing together, on one platform, world leaders in business and government alongside the School's world-class faculty, corporate partners, alumni, students and VIP guests. The theme for the 2010 Summit was ‘New Frontiers: Expansion, Opportunity and Innovation’. As the global economy starts to stabilise, participants explored the opportunities emerging from the developing world and discussed the economies, industries, governments, innovation and technologies that are leading the way in the next wave of globalisation.
The summit always features a panel on CSR or related issues. In the 2010 Summit, a session on the future of work posited that whether in a developed or emerging market there is one over-riding trend common to all business – the way we work will change dramatically in the future. Speakers from ARM, Logica, Save the Children, Colt Technology Services Group and the London Business School addressed the five key factors that will influence this change – technology, demographics, social trends, carbon and globalisation.
Date: November, 2010
London Business School welcomed a group of students from Burlington Danes Academy in West London to a workshop aimed at improving their understanding of business. The group of Year 11 and Year 13 (aged 15-18) BTEC Business Study students, accompanied by their teacher Laura Megaw, took part in number of activities, culminating in a competition based on the popular BBC business programme Dragons’ Den.
Date: November, 2009
James Cochrane, Chairman of the British Red Cross and an alumnus of the School, shared his experiences of the British Red Cross and why volunteering is important to the British Red Cross. He spoke about volunteering opportunities, potential pro-bono consulting projects and internship opportunities available for students within the British Red Cross.
Date: May, 2010
The ninth annual Africa Day Conference, organised by London Business School’s Africa Club, took as its theme ‘Africa Evolves: Next Steps for Development’. Panel sessions looked at developing a culture of expansion in entrepreneurship, the outlook for African capital markets in the global environment, technology and infrastructure – building a platform for economic growth, and agribusiness – turning challenges into opportunity. Keynote speakers were Thierry Tanoh, VP, Sub-Saharan Africa, LAC & W Europe, International Finance Corporation; Nkosana Moyo, VP & COO, African Development Bank; and Arnold Ekpe, CEO, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Date: January, 2010
The CleanTech Challenge kick-off and speaker event featured:
- Michael Waldron – International Energy Agency (IEA) on ‘The new IEA World Energy Outlook and how it relates to CleanTech’
- Dan Carter – Principal at Conduit Ventures, an energy venture capital fund specializing in high-efficiency energy storage, management, generation and supply on ‘What are the venture capital funds, companies, and entrepreneurs doing in CleanTech?’
- Jeff Skinner – Executive Director of London Business School’s Foundation for Entrepreneurial Management on ‘Introduction to the CleanTech Challenge 2010’
- Daniel Saunders (MBA 2009) – Winner of the CleanTech Challenge 2009 on ‘The CleanTech Challenge from idea, team formation up to winning the finals’.
Date: November, 2009
The GSVC provides a global forum for entrepreneurs to showcase their plans and for investors to support groundbreaking social ventures. The 2009 GSVC Symposium explored how backers of social entrepreneurship are supporting social enterprises, the latest ideas and results stemming from the social entrepreneurship movement, and the bigger picture, how social entrepreneurship can achieve scale. Speakers included Jonathan Jenkins of UnLtd Ventures, Skye Heller of Bridges Ventures, and Alejandro Litovsky of Volans Ventures.
Date: November, 2010
Debate on the role of business in society at the first Pears Business School Partnership lecture at London Business School called for a new approach to philanthropy by the UK business sector. Every responsible business must be able to articulate how it is contributing to the common good and we need a new generation of socially responsible business leaders. Stephen Green, outgoing chairman of HSBC Holdings plc, gave the keynote speech and debated the role of business in society with a 350 strong audience of MBA students, senior business figures, philanthropists and foundations.
The Pears Business School Partnership is a collaboration between London Business School, Cranfield School of Management, Saïd Business School and the Pears Foundation to encourage deeper thinking among MBA students about the role of business in society. The partnership will publish new case studies on this theme and is also staging an annual keynote lecture by a renowned philanthropist or business leader.
Date: February, 2010
The inaugural lecture of London Business School’s Business Leaders Series was given by Tony Hayward, CEO of BP. Tony Hayward talked to students, alumni and guests about the energy question and reiterated that energy security is at the top of the global and economic agenda. He reinforced the need to address the issue of climate change and energy job security, and stressed the need to consider energy security in terms of diversity, competition and efficiency.
Date: February, 2010
The focus of London Business School’s tenth Annual Women in Business Conference was on addressing the theme of ‘Embracing Change in a Global Environment’. The conference acknowledged that the global financial and economic crisis had led to a radical re-think of organisational management strategies. The conference opened the door to debate opportunities for women in the aftermath of the economic crisis and for the future generation of women in business in all sectors of the economy and in society as a whole. Keynote speakers were Dr Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and Helen Alexander, CBE, President of the Confederation of British Industry.
Type: Weekend event
Date: March, 2010
London Business School’s Gay and Lesbian Network presented EUR OUT 2010, and event which aimed to build a common network in Europe across Business Schools and targeted LGBT MBA students and alumni. EUR OUT 2010 commenced with keynote addresses from Gavin Wills, Managing Director of Goldman and Sachs and Tim Monger, Partner and Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group. They provided a unique perspective to the audience on the role of diversity in their companies, and what their LGBT employee networks represent for their institutions.
Along with a compliment of London Business School alumni and students, EUR OUT 2010 saw the presence of more than eighty students and alumni from Europe and the United States, with representation of business schools including Wharton, Columbia, Harvard, ESADE, IESE, Insead, Instituto de Empresa, Cass Business School and Manchester Business School.
EUR OUT 2010 was a first time event in Europe and represented a truly unique opportunity to further strengthen the commitment to diversity, while giving greater visibility to London Business School in the global MBA network.
Date: January, 2010
This series brings experienced business experts to London Business School to speak on topics relating to the Responsible Business Club’s main focus areas – carbon markets and climate change, socially responsible investing, microfinance, social entrepreneurship and international development.
In the first event of 2010, Michael Blowfield addressed CSR basics with 'What is CSR? Business as change agent in XXI century'. CSR has become a buzzword – it has warranted specialised MBA and executive education programmes in top business schools, has made its way into the job functions of senior executives across industries, and any company with aspirations of market leadership will have a department devoted to it. Questions considered included What is CSR really? Is it and how is it different from not-for-profit? Charity? Responsible business? And, more importantly, what are the implications for your career?
Date: November, 2010
The theme for the Energy Club’s seventh annual Global Energy Summit was ‘Energy Security and the Roadmap to 2020’. The event provided a forum for political, academic and business thought-leaders to debate the market dynamics and geo-physical fundamentals which will determine the fate of the world’s most important industry. GES2010 explored and debated issues from the frontline perspective of global energy companies, clean energy players, utility companies, regulatory bodies and financiers.
The summit split into several segments, each consisting of a series of global-leader keynote presentations followed by an interactive panel discussion. Within the broad theme, topics included:
- The 2020 supply mix: a frank appraisal of geophysical, economic and environmental fundamentals and the global supply mix they will deliver
- Utility perspectives: insider evaluation of power markets, infrastructure and demand-side implications for the coming decade
- Market dynamics - finance and regulation: the legislative frameworks and investment trends which will ultimately determine this industry's fate.
Type: Competition
Date: March, 2010
The Global Social Venture Competition is the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition providing mentoring, exposure and prizes for social ventures from around the world. The mission of the GSVC is to catalyse the creation of social ventures, educate future leaders and build awareness of social enterprises. The competition supports the creation of real businesses that bring about positive social change in a sustainable manner. The GSVC is organised by the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in cooperation with London Business School and ESSEC Business School in the Europe, Middle East and Arica region. Each year, entrant teams from around the world compete for over $70,000 while gaining valuable professional feedback on their ventures.
Successful entries from London Business School include the 2009 finalist Gearch, a Google powered search engine and portal that uses all the money generated by the searches to plant trees in tropical countries, and the 2010 finalist Winduction, a company to commercialise a revolutionary small wind turbine.
London Business School supports and encourages MBA students wishing to pursue careers across all sectors. The Career Services team works hard to build relationships with organisations in public and non-profit management, international development, corporate social responsibility/sustainability, and social entrepreneurship and also trains students with the career skills required to be successful in these areas.
The business development team actively engages with a variety of not for profit organisations ranging from large organisations such as Save the Children and the British Red Cross to smaller local charities such as Healthy Planet. In 2010 several London Business School MBA students were recruited into full time roles in the not for profit sector as a result of the connections that career services has established. These organisations also engage students on interesting projects, and increase awareness of careers which will have a greater social impact. For example, a group of first year MBA students completed a project for their Management of Behaviour course with the British Red Cross, and both sides had a great experience.
As students are increasingly interested in pursuing careers in sectors such as renewable energy, the Career Services team has worked hard to establish relationships with companies such as The Carbon Trust. The team also spends a considerable amount of time supporting student clubs in career related activities. The Energy Club stages a ‘Clean Tech Challenge’ every year where students compete to develop innovative clean technology ideas from a concept phase to a stage at which they would attract Series-A funding or otherwise be self-sustainable.
Career Services runs an annual Industry Careers Fair which provides MBA students with an opportunity to consider organisations that value social impact and presents opportunities in areas such as environmental management. It is a forum where recruiters and students meet and interact with each other on campus.
A pro-bono consulting student group called ‘Asperastra’ was formed last year and is now running successfully. This group works with mostly charitable organisations and offers a team of students to deliver consulting projects for no fee.
Business School Housing? Yes
Number of Faculty: 1
Contact Name: Derek Bunn
Contact Email: dbunn@london.edu
The School's energy research programme focuses on strategic modeling, price behaviour and the problems of a competitive industry. It has extended its research through collaborative work with companies and government agencies worldwide.
The EMG has become known for:
- technology transfer
- policy relevance
- international scope.
Technology transfer
The Group works with public and private energy utilities to improve competency in the application of new techniques of analysis.
In doing so, it has developed a worldwide reputation for the application of agent-based simulation techniques and econometrics, which are used to:
- model energy and carbon prices
- forecast demand
- optimise risk management
- understand investment drivers.
Policy relevance
The EMG has carried out policy and industry-wide studies to complement strategic insight at the company level.
It has been able to provide evidence to official inquiries relating to:
- the reform of the electricity market mechanisms
- the interaction of gas, carbon and electricity markets
- market structure and market power.
International scope
The Group has taken on projects for a wide range of organisations and private companies worldwide, focusing on the liberalisation of markets, investment, pricing and demand-side issues.
Facilitating the exchange of international experiences between analysts and managers is another important aspect of its work. It regularly hosts visiting scholars who benefit from participation in its activities.
Business School Housing? Yes
Number of Faculty: 9
Contact Name: Vanessa Farnell
Contact Email: vfarnell@london.edu
The vision of the Centre for Corporate Governance is to lead international thinking in this field and move governance practices beyond regulatory compliance and towards the creation of value for the companies, investors and other stakeholders.
The centre:
- Provides independent, cross-disciplinary research and recommendations designed to influence and drive the corporate governance debate.
- Engages the academic and professional communities to facilitate interaction, provide a platform to stimulate debate and define solutions.
- Serves the needs of business, investors and policy makers.
- Focuses on issues surrounding the rise of alternative investors in private equity and hedge funds, and their value-creation strategies.
- Objectively examines contentious issues, including: shareholder activism; family ownership and control of public corporations; measuring CEO and board effectiveness; the way in which information management and systems can help new demands on boards; valuing corporate social responsibility.
- Disseminates research and recommendations internationally through publications, seminars and conferences.
Pages
Several theories, both ancient and recent, suggest that having the time to contemplate a decision should increase moral awareness and the likelihood of ethical choices. Our findings indicated just the opposite: greater time for deliberation led to less ethical decisions. Post-hoc analyses and a followup experiment suggested that decision makers act as if their previous choices have created or lost moral credentials: after an ethical first choice, people acted significantly less ethically in their subsequent choice but after an unethical first choice, people acted significantly more ethically in their subsequent choice. These findings provide the basis for a model of compensatory ethics.
Unfair offers in bargaining may have disruptive effects because they may reduce interpersonal trust. In such situations future trust may be strongly affected by social accounts (i.e., apologies vs. denials). In the current paper we investigate when people are most likely to demand social accounts for the unfair offer (Experiment 1), and when social accounts will have the highest impact (Experiment 2). We hypothesized that the need for and impact of social accounts will be highest when the intentions of the other party are uncertain. The results provided support for this reasoning.
1. [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 95(6) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2010-22091-001). The note to Table 10 on p. 1024 inadvertently referred to PYM as the path from ego depletion to deviant employee behaviors. The note instead should have referred to PYM as the path from intrusive thoughts to deviant employee behaviors.] Two competing explanations for deviant employee responses to supervisor abuse are tested. A self-gain view is compared with a self-regulation impairment view. The self-gain view suggests that distributive justice (DJ) will weaken the abusive supervision–employee deviance relationship, as perceptions of fair rewards offset costs of abuse. Conversely, the self-regulation impairment view suggests that DJ will strengthen the relationship, as experiencing abuse drains self-resources needed to maintain appropriate behavior, and this effect intensifies when employees receive inconsistent information about their organizational membership (fair outcomes). Three field studies using different samples, measures, and designs support the self-regulation impairment view. Two studies found that the Abusive Supervision × DJ interaction was mediated by self-regulation impairment variables (ego depletion and intrusive thoughts). Implications for theory and research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
By operating in war zones, urban slums and deep rural areas, companies could not only achieve growth and profits but could also improve the economic and social conditions of these impoverished regions. But how could a company operate in areas with unstable security, poor infrastructure and little or no formal legal frameworks in place? Our research suggests that to do so successfully, companies need to go beyond transactional alliances or legalistic business partnerships with local partners. Instead, they need to develop community buy-in and long-term personal relationships based on trust with “unorthodox” local inhabitants—the ones offering them security and protection rather than technology and business assets. Such deep social enbeddedness is not cost-free. To prevent it from derailing their success, companies need to nurture and grow their local partners beyond their specific needs. We provide examples of companies who did so to highlight our points
The financial crisis of 2008 and the resulting recession caught many companies unprepared and, in so doing, provided a stark reminder of the importance of effective risk management. While academic theory has long touted the benefits of risk management, companies have varied greatly in the ways and extent to which they put theory into practice. Drawing on a global survey of over 300 CFOs of non-financial companies, the authors report that while most CFOs felt that their risk management programs have significant benefits, the risk management function in general needs more attention. A large percentage of the finance executives surveyed acknowledged that the most important corporate risks extend far beyond the CFO's direct reports, and that risk-based thinking is not incorporated into everyday business activities or corporate strategies. A large majority of executives also said they were seeking a more widespread understanding of risk throughout their organizations—and many confessed their firms' inability, or lack of interest, in evaluating their own risk management functions. At the same time, the efforts of most companies to develop enterprise-wide risk management (ERM) programs were said to fall well short of the comprehensive and highly coordinated programs envisioned by the proponents of such programs.
Through a study of the emergent U.S. wind energy sector, 1978–1992, this paper examines how large-scale social movements external to an industry can influence the creation of new market opportunities and hence encourage entrepreneurship. We theorize that through the construction and propagation of cognitive frameworks, norms, values, and regulatory structures, and by offering a preexisting social structure, social movement organizations influence whether entrepreneurs attempt to start ventures in emerging sectors. We find that the direct and indirect effects of social resources (e.g., environmental groups) had a larger impact on entrepreneurial activity in this sector than the availability of natural resources such as land with high-quality wind. Greater numbers of environmental movement organization members increased nascent entrepreneurial activity, and this effect was mediated by favorable state regulatory policy. Greater membership numbers also enhanced the effects of important natural resources, market conditions, and skilled human capital on entrepreneurial activity. Taken together, these results have important implications for the study of social movements, entrepreneurship, and institutional theory.
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