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At Laurier, we are advocates for change in not only the business curriculum, but in business practice, and we are working to influence the latter through our work in the former - to lead with curriculum change in order to positively influence the next generation of managers and executives.
Sustainability ideas are integrated into the MBA curriculum in two ways; first, we incorporate social and environmental issues into our core functional courses, such as Strategy, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, Finance, Economics, and Accounting, as well as into electives such as a Supply Chain Management, Strategic Brand Management, Leadership, Contemporary Issues, and International Strategy. Second, we offer two focused elective courses, one on Environmental Management Systems and another on Strategy and Sustainability. In these, we hold environmental and social issues as the main frame for determining key business drivers, then we look at the strategic implications of that, and the change management issues that arise, beginning with mindset change and flowing through to shifting systems and processes. All of the ‘tools’ that students learn in the traditional courses are still applicable; we just work to bring other contextual drivers into the discussion, and shift the way the tools are applied.
We work to bridge from the classroom to real world issues through consulting and research projects, and especially through our Centre for Community Service Learning. Students are engaged in community service as part of the curriculum, through three main approaches: placement-based, project-based, or co-curricular service learning, in which an intensive service activity with structured reflection.
Many of our placements and projects are in social and environmental not-for-profit organizations. Many MBA students undertake independent research studies with faculty, as part of larger projects organized under our several research centres, particularly the Centre for Responsible Organizations and the Centre for the Study of Nascent Entrepreneurship and the eXploitation of Technology (NeXt).
Laurier Academic Plan 2010-2015.
Following an inclusive development process, the President's Office in spring 2010 released the Laurier Academic Plan 2010-2015, a high level guiding document that recognizes the strengths and unique characteristics Laurier boasts as an institution, while identifying the areas which Laurier will continue to emphasize and initiate focus. The following predominant topics, referred to in the Academic Plan as core principles and domains, are directly related to sustainability.
• Sustainability
• Environment
• Diversity
• Justice
• Social and cultural analysis
• Cultural and artistic production
Specifically on sustainability:
"The most complex questions involve challenges related to cultural, economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Inherent in sustainable systems is the need to work toward equitable distribution of opportunities, benefits and decision-making. Sustainable development occurs when we improve the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. At Laurier, we focus on sustainability from all perspectives across our academic and professional programs. Achieving global sustainability requires multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to address changing relationships among individuals, societies, organizations, resources, ecologies, businesses, technologies and development."
Action to support the plan:
A university-wide Sustainability Office was created in January of 2010
(see http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=12304).
A group of our MBA students facilitated the drafting of the guiding vision, mission, and objectives of the sustainability office as follows:
Vision
Transform Laurier into an institution that integrates sustainability practices into all areas of the university and to inspire, educate, and prepare students, faculty, and staff to engage others in the same practices.
Mission
Create and foster a culture of sustainability by engaging, promoting and coordinating sustainability efforts of all stakeholders and develop an environmentally proactive Laurier community.
Objectives
* To create and advance partnerships in the University and the greater community to share, cultivate and form sustainable programs.
* To support the development of academic programs and research at Laurier related to proactive sustainability.
* To develop and support policies and practices that contribute to sustainable operations and resource utilization at Laurier.
* To organize events and utilize communication channels to increase awareness and convey the mission of the Sustainability Office.
* To consider the pillars of sustainability; economic, social, cultural and environmental in all decision making processes.
In 2010, Laurier participated in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a campus sustainability assessment framework developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS rates a university’s progress towards sustainability based on the sum of a number of weighted indicators. These indicators are based on 4 major categories:
1. Education and research
2. Operations (ex. energy consumption, transportation options, waste management, etc.)
3. Planning, administration and engagement (ex. human resources, investment, etc.)
4. Innovation
Laurier achieved a Bronze rating in its first year of the Sustainability Office operation, and we have used the system to set improvement goals going forward. As part of the assessment, Business school faculty participating in drafting definitions and objectives for research and teaching relating to sustainability:
Sustainability Research: concerns the scientific analysis, communication and performance of how to create and maintain conditions that enable societies to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability research considers the ecological, economic, social, and cultural factors and interconnections necessary for creating conditions that are at once manageable, viable, and equitable. As such, it is connected to Laurier's multi-campus, multi-disciplinary environment, core values and guiding principles through such topics as: social/environmental justice, ecological resilience, equity, diversity, human and labour rights, economic prosperity, land-use planning, resource management, socially-engaged cultural and artistic production, and health and well-being.
Sustainability Education:
The goal of sustainability education at Laurier is to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to improve the quality of human life within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. The Laurier Sustainability Office has compiled a listing for students of all sustainability-focused and sustainability-related courses on campus.
Community Service Learning:
Community Service-Learning is an educational approach that provides students the opportunity to gain valuable real-life learning experiences while providing a service to local community organizations.
Operations:
Goals, measures, and improvement plans are in place to make university operations more sustainable.
1. Campus Greenspace: Tree Resource Analysis
The Grounds Division of Physical Resources is in the process of collecting field data such as plant taxonomy, dimensions, environmental conditions, location, and photo documentation of each tree on campus. Tree health, diversity, maintenance requirements, and pest/disease problems are also highlighted. The collected data will be analyzed by software and organized into a digital database that will be able to generate information about species composition and available planting space. This initiative will help provide an understanding of the existing urban forest and is an excellent way to evaluate the benefits of campus trees in terms of how they affect the University’s carbon footprint and overall environment.
2. Construction:
Laurier has just opened its first two LEED Certified (Silver) buildings, the Research and Academic Centre - West and East, at the Brantford campus.
- High recycled and regional content in construction materials
- Low VOC interior materials
- Energy efficient design and construction - 25% to 33% more efficient than standard building
- Reduced indoor water use by over 30%.
- Water cistern for use of roof water for irrigation purposes
- Construction Waste Diversion - divert over 90% of construction waste from landfill and sent it for recycling or reuse
- Carpooling parking spots and bicycle racks installed to reduce reliance on cars
3. Energy
Energy Management Plan
In December 2009, the University developed a comprehensive Energy Management Plan, with a focus on reducing the energy and resource use of campus buildings and exploring opportunities for renewable energy. The Plan outlines goals, utility monitoring, energy management, renewable energy, and related incentive programs in order to benefit the University both financially and environmentally.
Several other campus sustainability initiatives are underway in the areas of Food, Procurement, Transportation, Waste, and Water.
For more, see: http://www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=12304&p=16768
The nature, structure and mission of NPO's and their role in society is discussed. Also discussed are the accounting methods and the role of financial statements in assessing the risk of an NPO's operations.
The students complete a short exercise for a given NPO where they address the characteristics, mission and measurement of success or failure of the NPO. Elements of fund accounting are discussed.
The issues of sustainability and social responsibility are prominent in the Ben & Jerry's and Body Shop cases. These issues are present in other cases as well, and do come up in the class discussions.
The Applied Business Research course is a graded, team project with a client organization. Approximately 20% of clients are not-for-profit organizations in need of management consulting from the MBA team. Each student devotes approximately 200 hours to the project. Additionally, 100% of students enrolled in the course complete a "not for profit practicum" involving a minimum of 40 hours of community service on behalf of a not-for-profit organization. This practicum is not graded.
Ethics and sustainable development (the green movement) are a background to all the B3B marketing issues and strategies addressed in the course.
Sustainability is increasingly becoming a strategic issue for businesses in all sectors. Global drivers such as climate, environment, population growth and social inequity are redefining the competitive landscape, and are demanding higher levels of attention, transparency and social responsibility from corporate entities. In recent years, a number of companies have completely redefined their business strategies in line with principles of sustainability in order to maximize value creation for the organization and its stakeholders. A sustainability framework is becoming especially salient for leading organizations that are looking for ways to create synergies between various operational demands, rather than being locked into a sub-optimizing "tradeoffs" mindset.
This course provides a base for the program by examining the global drivers for sustainability, frameworks for sustainable business, and the requisite skills in critical and integrative thinking to embrace and advance a sustainability agenda. We take a "triple bottom line" approach, defining sustainability in business as balanced progress towards economic performance, social justice and environmental quality. Through discussions, cases, and assignments, we will critically examine sustainability drivers, organizational conceptions of sustainability, strategic approaches to value creation and the challenges and opportunities for organizations to contribute to broader level societal aspirations for building more sustainable communities.
The course is dedicated to the topic of environmental management.
The course is dedicated to the subject of ethics and the conduct of business.
The course includes a session on Fair Treatment & Effective Employee Relations and a session on
Changing Legal Issues: Compliance to Diversity with a Case: Harassment
The program has a team-taught, integrated core. It comprises 40% of the MBA curriculum. Half of week 12 of the core is fully devoted to ethics. This equates to approximately 5% of the core.
The course explores the role of ethical perspectives on leaders' effectiveness.
Net Impact Event: March 9, 2011
Cleantech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Dr. Tom Rand is author of 'KICK the Fossil Fuel Habit: 10 Clean Technologies to Save Our World.' Dr. Rand will speak to Laurier MBAs about the business opportunities and challeges in moving society away from a dependence on fossil fuels and toward clean energy technologies.
The conference was an exciting and multi-faceted event that offered students, academics and community members a forum for engagement in local, national and international issues. There was a weekend of panel discussions, skill-building workshops, entertainment, food, and incredible people.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Wilfrid Laurier University Global Citizenship Conference (GCC) provides an educational experience for the conference delegate and seeks to create and continue a dialogue about the contemporary challenges we are and will be facing as Global Citizens. Through providing an open forum, comprised of varying points of view, the GCC promotes students and community members to be engaged, empowered and proactive toward a more sustainable future locally, nationally and internationally.
The 2010 Global Citizenship Conference
The theme for the 2010 conference is “Breaking the Culture of Silence.” We live in a culture of oppression that is grounded historically and permeates all facets of modern life. We need to re-evaluate conceptions of self, global citizenship, civic engagement and systems of pedagogy domestically and internationally. Through exploring these ideas we hope to come to a better understanding of how we are educated and educating citizens without a critically engaged voice. In challenging notions of Canadian global citizenship, this conference will seek to reclaim our silenced voices and inspire you to make social change within yourself and in the world.
The 2009 Global Citizenship Conference
The theme for the 2009 conference was “Turning Ideas into Actions.” Too often, global justice and citizenship is explored as an abstract concept. It is nothing of the sort. Understanding our roles as global citizens means understanding how, where, when, and why we can make a difference. This conference will bring together the academic and non-academic spheres to discuss both the issues and the strategies and tactics to confront them. There are so many sources of inspiration and information all around us, all we have to do is use them, and the world will change.
Introduction to Curriculum Change
"Curriculum is a Social Product" and "arises from the social, economic and political systems of the dominant social paradigm"1. The dominant social paradigms of the 20th century to the current day are Capitalism - Industrialism - Consumerism. To be sustainable is to meet "the economic, social and environmental needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future in an interdisciplinary way"1. Part of the curriculum change initiative is to include a sustainability-related case in each of the integrated core subjects.
Laurier Net Impact's Curriculum Team is meeting with MBA faculty to encourage and offer support for introducing sustainability focused cases and articles into existing curricula.
To keep up-to-date on all current initiatives, please visit the Curriculum Renewal section of our "Initiatives" page: http://lauriernetimpact.com/index.php?p=22
Contact Us
For more detail of current initiatives or to discuss potential future initiatives, please contact Laurier Net Impact's Director of Curriculum Change, Richard Hildred: cirriculum@lauriernetimpact.com
1Springett, D. (2005), 'Education for sustainability' in the business studies curriculum: a call for a critical agenda. Business Strategy and the Environment, 14: 146-159. doi: 10.1002/bse.447
Net Impact's Green Day took place March 30, 2010, from in the Senate Board and Chamber. There was an address from the Dean of Business, Ginny Dybenko, with 2 Guest speakers, Dr Barry Colbert and Greg Murray from Frito Lays.
There were booths set up from several environmental clubs on campus. There was a Nature Photo Contest/Silent Auction which received over 225 submissions.
Net Impact hosted a panel on social intrapreneurship - how to bring about sustainability-related change within an organization when you're not in traditional positions of power, or when "sustainability" is not a part of your job description. The panel discussed and demonstrated how social intrapreneurs can add value to their organizations, advance their careers, and create lasting social and environmental change through employee-driven sustainability initiatives.
Panellists included Daniel Wang (Senior Consultant, Deloitte), Tracey Robertson (Regional Manager, Trillium Foundation), Sean Geobey (McConnell Fellow, SiG@Waterloo), and Jeff Nesbitt (Vice President, Government and Strategic Relations at Agfa Healthcare).
The Wilfrid Laurier MBA Net Impact Chapter held its kickoff event on January 25, 2010. To celebrate the occassion, Net Impact welcomed guest speaker and environmental economist Dr. Peter Victor of York University who discussed his recent book "Managing Without Growth: Slower by Design, Not Disaster." Dr. Victor's talk raised some provocative points about the shift in mindset and policy that will be needed if we are to achieve sustainable development in the future.
Secrets of Successful Changemakers - A Workshop on Social Intrapreneurship
with Priyanka Sundaram, President of Wilfrid Laurier's Net Impact Chapter
Tuesday January 25th, Bricker Academic 208
Despite the growing societal demand for social and environmental sustainability, many people work in organizations that are stuck in the business-as-usual mentality. Although "sustainability" may not appear in their job descriptions, social intrapreneurs leverage their business skills and ideals to help their organizations deliver market solutions to pressing social and environmental challenges. In Secrets of Successful Changemakers - A Workshop on Social Intrapreneurship, we take a closer look at the social intrapreneur. We discuss how these innovators can add value to their organizations, advance their careers, and create lasting social and environmental change through employee-driven sustainability initiatives.
Intro to Social Finance with Sean Geobey
Monday January 31st, 7-8:30pm, Bricker Academic 208
In Canada there are currently over $3 trillion in assets under management which are invested in a variety of profit-yielding investments. Social finance tries to redirect some of this wealth towards investments that produce social and environmental value as well as financial returns. In this workshop we will explore what social finance is, recent social finance developments in Canada and some of its implications as both a social innovation and an enabler of future social innovations.
Creative Management and the Joy of Thinking BIG
with Humera Javed, Executive Director of LSPIRG
Wednesday February 9th, 7-8:30pm, Bricker Academic 208
In this workshop, participants can expect to:
· Theorize the role of creativity in social change
· Explore the idea of "managerial imagination" and its relationship to creating strong organizations
· Learn about innovation as an organizational strategy and as a leadership framework
· Understand how creativity can lead to more engaging learning experiences
Laurier MBA teams are set to compete in the Aspen Institute's International MBA Case Competition 2011, focusing on the social, environmental and ethical challenges that business leaders in mainstream, for-profit companies, this competition provides an opportunity for future business executives to explore the significant and positive influence that business can have on society.
MBA students have been working on an initiative called The Oath Project.
The mission of the MBA Oath is to facilitate a widespread movement that creates a higher standard of ethics and professionalism in management.
By working with The Oath Project, we aspire to increase awareness of the MBA Oath.
We set a goal to get 30 MBAs to sign the Oath online before June 30th, 2010. Thanks to everyone*s support, 37 WLU MBAs have signed the Oath.
Integrating Sustainability into Business Education: A Workshop for Canadian Business Faculty was held on May 4th, 2010, at the University of Guelph Arboretum. The event was co-organized by Dr. Barry Colbert of Wilfrid Laurier University and Dr. Elizabeth Kurucz of the University of Guelph and and facilitated by Dr. Asaf Zohar of Trent University as part of an inter-university research initiative on business school interaction with stakeholders on sustainability issues. Wilfrid Laurier's CMA Centre for Business & Sustainability was the Presenting Sponsor. The workshop was convened on the premise that global sustainability issues—energy, climate, water, food, justice, population, poverty—will form the relevant context for organizational leaders in the 21st century. The purpose of this event was to provide a forum for academics in business schools across the country to dialogue with their peers about the opportunities to advance sustainability focused education in the design and delivery of elective and core courses in the curriculum. A total of 80 participants (including faculty, administrators, industry representatives, and students) gathered from 16 different universities and colleges to discuss the complex global issues that our business students will increasingly face in their personal and professional lives. The day was structured around four uniquely themed sessions exploring different aspects of integrating sustainability into business education and practice. Each session contained a provocation from invited dialogue leaders, followed by table dialogue sessions of 30 to 45 minutes. Laurier MBA were in attendance and presented at the event.
Plenary session topics:
• 30 Years of Educating for Sustainability
• Perspectives on Sustainability-Focused Business
• Education from Leading Institutions
• Insights from Internal Stakeholders: The Student Perspective
• Insights from External Stakeholders: Perspectives from Industry, Public Sector & Civil Society
See the conference report at:
http://www.wlu.ca/docsnpubs_detail.php?grp_id=1685&doc_id=42218
Laurier MBA teams competed in the Aspen Institute's International MBA Case Competition 2010, focusing on the social, environmental and ethical challenges that business leaders in mainstream, for-profit companies, this competition provides an opportunity for future business executives to explore the significant and positive influence that business can have on society. We are registered again for 2011.
As is becoming increasingly apparent at a local and global scale, society is facing a number of 'big problems', which are bigger than choosing Starbucks or Second Cup for your coffee on the way into work and bigger even than Canada's pursuit for more Olympic Golds.
In our own community, the Waterloo Region, there are numerous organizations and new ideas being dedicated to solving the bigger problems of our local and global community by using innovative approaches. At 5:30pm on March 4th at the Kitchener Children's Museum, these change-makers came together to share their social innovations and seek support from this community as they continue to work towards finding new ways to solve old problems.
The event was called SEE: Social Entrepreneurship Exchange. It is a unique networking event bringing social entrepreneurship to the forefront, showcasing the innovative organizations and individuals who are using the principles of entrepreneurship to support a social or environmental injustice. This event is not only designed to help us learn about the social innovations through informal discussions and a pitch competition ($300 for winners!), but also features a poker-chip style exchange, where all participants become philanthropic investors in social change by receiving two $10 poker chips and one two-hour volunteer chip on arrival (from your $30 event fee). By the end of the night, as you learn about Social Innovation, if you hear something you like, support them with your chips. After the event the new ideas, or innovative organizations can turn those chips into real dollars (and contact information from donated time chips!) to help grow and develop their innovations.
This event is hosted by Students Offering Support (www.studentsofferingsupport.ca), a local, turned national student-led social venture headquartered here in Waterloo.
The event is sponsored by Capacity Waterloo Region and Laurier's Centre for Sustainable Organizations. Our community partners include: Leadership Waterloo Region, Manulife Financial, Communitech, DreamNow, Lime Events, and the Kitchener Children's Museum.
To learn more about the event (check out our event video), and to register / participate - go to www.SEEinnovation.ca.
Students in Free Enterprise is an international non – profit organization that connects business leaders with higher education.
Participating students form their own University campuses to make a difference in communities while developing fundamental ski
A university-wide Sustainability Office was created in January of 2010
(see http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=12304).
A group of our MBA students facilitated the drafting of the guiding vision, mission, and objectives of the sustainability office as follows:
Vision
Transform Laurier into an institution that integrates sustainability practices into all areas of the university and to inspire, educate, and prepare students, faculty, and staff to engage others in the same practices.
Mission
Create and foster a culture of sustainability by engaging, promoting and coordinating sustainability efforts of all stakeholders and develop an environmentally proactive Laurier community.
Objectives
* To create and advance partnerships in the University and the greater community to share, cultivate and form sustainable programs.
* To support the development of academic programs and research at Laurier related to proactive sustainability.
* To develop and support policies and practices that contribute to sustainable operations and resource utilization at Laurier.
* To organize events and utilize communication channels to increase awareness and convey the mission of the Sustainability Office.
* To consider the pillars of sustainability; economic, social, cultural and environmental in all decision making processes.
The CMA Centre for Business & Sustainability is funded by the Certified Management Accountants of Ontario, with a mission:
To foster sustainable management by developing and mobilizing knowledge on the integration of business and a sustainable global society. The CMA-CBS serves as a catalyst to bring together faculty researchers, students, and leaders in industry, government and civil society, in order to build capacity for progressive, socially and environmentally engaged management practice. The CMA-CBS also supports course curricula and student engagement activities aimed at developing a new generation of leaders committed to sustainable business management.
The CMA-CBS is an applied sustainability research centre with five key strategic areas of focus:
- Research: Fostering and sharing high quality, cross-disciplinary academic research on sustainability and the role of business
- Teaching/Curriculum: Leading on curriculum renewal to integrate sustainability concepts into the traditional business curriculum, including executive development
- Student Engagement: Raising student awareness and extracurricular engagement in sustainability issues at the Undergraduate, Masters, and Doctoral levels
- Civil Society Engagement: Working with civil society organizations to further their capacity for effective advocacy on sustainability issues
- Business Engagement: Fostering dialogue with and among business leaders, to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting social, economic and environmental value creation challenges
Campus organizations
EcoHawks
ecohawk2.JPGThe EcoHawks work to raise awareness of environmental issues, promote sustainable living and encourage the reduction of individuals' ecological footprints. In order to achieve this, the EcoHawks hold a number of events and promotions throughout the school year. The EcoHawks Waterloo is a student run service out of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union (Waterloo Campus).
Coordinator: Ericha Region
• Email: ecohawks@wlusu.com
• WLUSU website
• Blog
Starting this fall, The EcoHawks Brantford will be a new student service run out of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union (Brantford Campus).
Coordinator: Reuben DeBoer
• Email: brantfordecohawks@wlusu.com
• WLUSU Website
LSPIRG
lspirg.JPGThe Laurier Students Public Interest Research Group (LSPIRG) employs community collaboration, research, and education, in order to provide opportunities for those at Laurier and the local community, to be agents of social change, in pursuit of a just world.
Executive Director: Humera Javed
• Email: info@lspirg.ca
• Website
Laurier Campus Greens
greens2.JPGThe Laurier Campus Greens is a registered club with the Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union (Waterloo Campus). It’s purpose is to bring the message of the political Green Party to Laurier, and provide opportunities for social networking and discussion about environmental and political issues.
Coordinator: Griffin Carpenter
• Email: lauriercampusgreens@gmail.com
• WLUSU Website
SIFE
SIFE Laurier is part of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a global non-profit organization that uses programs to aid the community of Kitchener-Waterloo. One of SIFE Laurier’s many programs includes the Go Green Blitz, a partnership with the City of Waterloo to help businesses develop and understand their carbon footprint, reduce waste and push forward green initiatives.
• Email: inquire@sifelaurier.ca
• Website
WLU Farm Market
The WLU Farm Market operates on Tuesday’s during the school year, in the concourse on campus. It provides students with an opportunity to purchase local, organic, fair-trade, and sustainably produced food including vegetables, fruits, and baked goods.
• Email: wlufarmmarket@gmail.com
• Website
GSA Sustainability Committee
The GSA Sustainability Committee oversees plans and carries out tasks related to sustainability and the Wilfrid Laurier University Graduate Students Association operations.
Coordinator: Paula Bryk
• Email: paula.bryk@gmail.com
• Website
Laurier Cycling
The Laurier Cycling Club is a registered club with the Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union (Waterloo Campus). This group of avid bikers go on group bike rides, visit tracks in Southern, Ontario and provide support for bicycle initiatives on campus.
Coordinator: Justin Sim
• Email: jsimlittle@gmail.com
• WLUSU Website
WLU Bike Network
The WLU Bike Network is a group of faculty, staff and students interested in promoting the interests of cyclers on campus. They have initiated a Cycling Roundtable where key stakeholders are currently discussing opportunities for more bike racks, bike lockers and bike shelters on campus.
Co-Directors: Alex Latta and Bob Sharpe
• Email: alatta@wlu.ca or bsharpe@wlu.ca
The Wilfrid Laurier MBA Net Impact Chapter is a team of like-minded MBA students who are using the power of business to advance social and environmental sustainability. Our chapter is one of over 260 volunteer-led chapters globally, and helps to form one of the most influential networks in existence today. Laurier's MBA Net Impact Chapter seeks to connect, educate, and inspire individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world.
For more please see:
This article explores the implicit and explicit conceptions of the relationship between business, society, and nature that are evident in the management literature. The authors derive three conceptions, termed the disparate, intertwined, and embedded views, and consider how they relate to the economic, social, and environmental challenges of our time. It is argued that an embedded view is best able to help us address these challenges, as it infers a holarchical (or holistically hierarchical) perspective of the business– society–nature interface: the notion that the business, societal, and biospheric systems are not only interrelated but that they are most realistically (and therefore most usefully) viewed as nested systems. The embedded view highlights systemic limits and the dependency of society and economy on nature, and it thus provides a logical value ordering to these domains. The authors conclude by discussing the research implications of an embedded view.
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