Aspen Institute Guide to Socially Responsible MBA Programs: 2008-2009
by Aspen Institute
Summary
The Aspen Institute, a premier non-profit, research organization for corporate social responsibility, offers the first comprehensive guide to the world’s leading global MBA programs in CSR—an indispensable guide for prospective students, universities, hiring companies, and libraries.
This guide provides an overview of how global MBA programs bring social impact management into their curricular and extracurricular programs. Social impact management, which includes environmental, ethical, and corporate governance issues, is the field of inquiry at the intersection of business needs and wider societal concerns that reflects their complex interdependency. Without an understanding of this interdependency, neither business nor the society in which it operates can thrive.
Each year business schools from around the world strive to differentiate themselves and attract the best and the brightest future business leaders, while prospective MBAs are looking for a program that will provide effective management skills to succeed in the changing face of business. The bottom line is no longer exclusively dedicated to financial returns. Rather, business leaders must also consider the environmental and social impacts of their decisions in order to compete in today’s marketplace. The MBA schools that participate in the Aspen Institute’s survey, and are therefore highlighted in the Aspen Institute Guide for Socially Responsible MBA Programs: 2008-2009, are leaders in integrating these issues into their MBA curricula.
Excerpt
About the Aspen Institute and Center for Business Education
The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences, and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership programs in Africa, Central America, and India.
The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (CBE) equips business leaders for the 21st century with a new management paradigm—the vision and knowledge to integrate corporate profitability and social value. To that end, it provides business educators with cutting edge-classroom resources and creates peer networks to incorporate social and environmental stewardship into teaching, research, and curriculum development. CBE websites draw over 75,000 visits monthly and its events and networks attract over 1,000 participants each year. http://www.CasePlace.org and http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org are the leading sources of innovative curriculum in top business schools around the world.
CBE is a part of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program (BSP), which is dedicated to developing leaders for a sustainable global society. Through dialogues and groundbreaking research, we create opportunities for executives and educators to explore new pathways to sustainability and values-based
leadership.
The Aspen Institute Guide to Socially Responsible MBA Programs: 2008-2009
This Guide to Socially Responsible MBA Programs (The Aspen Institute Guide) provides an overview of how global MBA programs bring social impact management into their curricular and extracurricular programs. Social impact management, which includes environmental, ethical, and corporate governance issues, is the field of inquiry at the intersection of business needs and wider societal concerns that reflects the complex interdependency between these two realities. It is a critical part of contemporary business-without an understanding of this interdependency, neither business nor the society in which it operates can thrive.
Aspen CBE strives to promote and celebrate innovation in business school education. Every two years we conduct a major survey and alternative ranking as part of our Beyond Grey Pinstripes (BGP) project. Over the years the number of schools participating and the amount of information collected has increased dramatically. While all detailed survey information is available at http://www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org, we felt that the business education community—both students and faculty—would find a user-friendly format helpful. And so The Aspen Institute Guide was born.
The Aspen Institute Guide provides MBA program highlights drawn from data collected for the 2007-2008 BGP survey, and covers information pertaining to academic years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. Surveys consist entirely of self-reported data from each school, and were filled out online by MBA school faculty or administrators. Please visit the survey website (http://www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org) for a more detailed account of content, methodology, and process.
Each year business schools strive to differentiate themselves and attract the best and the brightest future business leaders, while prospective MBAs are looking for a program that will equip them with effective management skills to succeed in the ever-changing world of business....
Reviews
"[This] guide enables prospective MBA students from all over the world to identify and focus on those business schools that are most responsive to their needs and aspirations when it comes to fusing societal contribution with business competitiveness..."--Stuart Hart, author of Capitalism at the Crossroads and Professor, Cornell University