cbs sustainability quarterly #2
DESCRIPTION
The Second Issue of CBS Sustainability Quarterly.TRANSCRIPT
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CBS Sustainability Quarterly
Volume 2, July 2012
Published by CBS Sustainability Platform
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Welcome to the second edition of the CBS Sustainability Quarterly!
The CBS Sustainability Platform would like to sincerely thank the following people, for contributing to this
issue of CBS Sustainability Quarterly - your inputs and contributions are greatly appreciated: Robert
Strand, Stefan Meisiek, Lucia Reisch, Jette Steen Knudsen, Sameer Azizi, Luise Noring Henler, Kathrine
Johansen, Simon Holm Klange, Anders Schultzer, Kristine Ohrt, Janni Raundahl
Research
Research
Research
Education
In this issue: Editorial p.3 Researcher’s Corner: Scandinavia, Birthplace of Stakeholder Theory? p.4 Rio+20 p.8 A Studio for Corporate Social Sustainability p.10 New Projects Supported by CBS Sustainability Platform p.13 Partnership2012: NGO+Business Towards a Sustainable Society p.14 The Emerging Frontiers of Public and Private Regulation of CSR p.19 The German Sustainability Code p.23 Update from 360⁰ Students for Sustainability p.26 CBS Goes Green p.27 How CBS is “Walking the Walk” Concerning Sustainability p.28 CIEL Goes Green at CBS p.30 Ph.D. Highlight: Sameer Azizi - Sustainable Development in Afghanistan p.31 New Ph.D.s p.33 The Economist: Sustainability in the CBS MBA p.34 Recent Events p.35 Upcoming Events p.38 CBS Sustainability Platform Leadership and Staff p.40
Students
CBS
CBS
Research
Conference
Conference
CBS
CBS
Events
Events
CBS
Research
Education
Research
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Editorial
Professor, Mette Morsing (Ph.D., Msc)
CBS
RIO+20 has set the agenda on sus-
tainability over the last many months.
The attention is again urgently di-
rected to the increasing pressure on
the planet’s resources: oil, coal, gas
and water at the prospects of the
growth of the global middle class
consumption. And again, the ques-
tion is asked among global leaders:
how do we deal with this? Rio+20
has in particular demarcated new
socio-economic developments and
new geo-political balancing acts. Ac-
cording to the recent sustainability
report from McKinsey, in 2030 more
than 3 billion people in Asia will be-
long to the consuming middle class
category wanting ”non-basic prod-
ucts” such as more leisure time and
leisure time products, service, trans-
portation, personal services and
communication. The report con-
cludes, that only 20% of future global
consumption will be spent on basic
needs such as food.
This time, more profoundly than be-
fore, corporations are not only called
upon to assist in solving global chal-
lenges, but RIO+20 seems to have
left its participants and audience in a
state of agreement – or naïve hope,
some have argued - that corpora-
tions are the only ones that can be
hoped for to solve the problems. Cor-
porations have the technological ex-
pertise, the global presence and the
organizing skills to act. And, not
least, the resources.
From a business school perspective,
this calls for more research on how
sustainability instrumentally may
open for new markets and new tech-
nologies to let not only business in-
novate but also societies grow in a
way that presumably will serve today
without endangering future genera-
tions, in the words of Brundtland. Im-
portant research and education is
being exercised here.
Equally important, from a business
school perspective, the conspicuous
call for corporations to act, also calls
for another type of sustainability re-
search and education that is less im-
mediately instrumental and manage-
rial, but one that critically questions
the role of business in the changing
global socio-economic and geo-
political power balances. Here re-
search questions are raised about for
example new forms of economic de-
velopment (sustainable capitalism),
the potential of degrowth, and the
political challenges of access to nat-
ural resources and to human rights
such as health, safety and education.
While the former instrumental per-
spective on sustainability may seem
of more immediate managerial rele-
vance than the latter, it is neverthe-
less both types of concern and both
types of questions that are raised
and debated at for example the CBS
Executive MBA core courses directly
related to Sustainability, at the re-
quest of the executive student audi-
ence. The same experience is ex-
pressed by the corporate group at
CBS’s ”CSR Knowledge Group”
headed by CBS associate professor
Steen Vallentin at the invitation from
AP Møller Maersk. Here the corpo-
rate audience of sustainability man-
agers have come to CBS - to a busi-
ness school - asking for theoretical
discussions and critical examinations
of current economic managerial
thinking and their own role as busi-
ness managers towards a more sus-
tainable society.
It is encouraging to be able to state –
as questions are asked by other
business school colleagues at
RIO+20, in the CEMS and UN PRME
communities and also now by
AACSB accreditors – that both man-
agerial-instrumental and critical so-
-political research perspectives are
researched and part of the educa-
tional programs at CBS.
Finally, it is with great pleasure that I
am able to officially welcome the new
co-director of CBS Sustainability
Platform, Stefano Ponte. Stefano is
employed at DIIS until September
1st, where he will take on the posi-
tion as professor at Department of
Business and Politics. Stefano’s
work on sustainability focus on global
economy, international political econ-
omy and economic development,
and his engagement will strengthen
CBS Sustainability Platform in these
areas.
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Researcher’s Corner Scandinavia: Birthplace of Stakeholder Theory?
CBS Ph.D. Graduate Robert Strand
and Professor R. Edward Freeman
of the University of Virginia Darden
School of Business recently co-
authored an article together (currently
under journal review) in which they
retrace the roots of Stakeholder Theo-
ry and demonstrate that a much larger
role was played by Scandinavian think-
ers in its development than is currently
acknowledged.
Professor Freeman is author of the
landmark 1984 publication Strategic
Management: A Stakeholder Ap-
proach. The article by Strand & Free-
man is titled “The Scandinavian Coop-
erative Advantage: Theory and Prac-
tice of Stakeholder Engagement in
Scandinavia” and draws attention to
important contributions to stakeholder
theory and exemplary stakeholder en-
gagement practices from Scandinavia.
We caught up with Robert to discuss
this article and what it is like to work
with the legendary Ed Freeman.
CBS Sustainability Quarterly: You
are co-authoring with Ed Freeman on
stakeholder engagement in Scandina-
via. How did this first come about?
Robert Strand: The story for me goes
back to my time as an MBA student at
the University of Minnesota some 10
years ago, where I first read an article
by Freeman on stakeholder theory in
which he distilled the key points of his
1984 book. That article by Freeman
really resonated with me as it was the
first time in my business school experi-
ence that I heard of strategy based
upon the premise of initially cooperat-
ing with stakeholders as opposed to
trying to beat them all, as I had grown
accustomed with Porter’s 5 Forces
model.
That article by Freeman included a
comment about developments in the
stakeholder concept as having come
from Scandinavia. That little comment
by Freeman spurred on my curiosity as
I was increasingly interested in the
strong and balanced economic, envi-
ronmental, and social performances
that could be seen by many Scandina-
vian companies like Novo Nordisk that
seemed to be a result, at least in part,
of companies engaging with their
stakeholders in a cooperative spirit.
In the time since I continued exploring
the theory and practice of stakeholder
engagement in Scandinavia, collecting
old management books from Scandi-
navia and engaging in conversations
with some remarkable individuals with
insight into Scandinavian contributions
to stakeholder theory, including the
late Juha Näsi from Finland.
We are really fortunate to have leading
scholars like Ed Freeman visiting the
Copenhagen Business School on a
regular basis and through this I got to
know Ed a bit on a personal level. So I
proposed the possibility for co-
authoring a paper to further consider
the contributions to stakeholder theory
and the practice of stakeholder en-
gagement from Scandinavia.
To my pleasant surprise, he said yes.
Robert Strand recently com-
pleted and defended his Ph.D.
He is affiliated with the Center
for Corporate Social Responsi-
bility (cbsCSR) and his Ph.D.
was co-financed by PwC Den-
mark. His Ph.D. project focused
on the role of leadership in cor-
porate social responsibility
(CSR), with a particular focus on
CSR discussions and activities
within the top management
teams (TMT) in large companies
(i.e. the “C-suite”).
Robert has a B.S. in Industrial
Engineering from the University
of Wisconsin (1999) and an
MBA from the University of Min-
nesota (2005). He has a decade
of experience in industry with
IBM and Boston Scientific in
manufacturing, supply chain,
strategy, and investor relations
roles and was a United States
Fulbright Scholar to Norway
(2005-06) during which time he
explored CSR across Scandina-
via. Robert is also a Lecturer at
the University of Minnesota
where he developed and leads
the annual MBA course
“Corporate Social Responsibil-
ity: A Scandinavian Approach” in
which U.S. MBA students visit
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark
to meet with Scandinavian com-
panies, NGO’s, governments,
and universities- including the
Copenhagen Business School.
Research
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CBS Sustainability Quarterly: So what do you say
in the article?
Robert Strand: A key contribution we make is to
draw additional attention to important contributions
to stakeholder theory that have come from Scandi-
navian thinkers over the years, most notably those
of the Swedish scholar Eric Rhenman. In Free-
man’s 1984 offering, he acknowledges Rhenman
and other Scandinavian academics of the 1960’s
and 1970’s as having contributed to the stakeholder
concept. However, he attributes the important con-
tributions to stakeholder theory from Scandinavia as
having stemmed from previous work that was per-
formed at Stanford in the early 1960’s.
Without question the work at Stanford was key in
the early development to what has now become
known as stakeholder theory, but I am rather excited
that in this article Ed and I offer an important clarifi-
cation to his 1984 book where we show key contri-
butions were being made in Scandinavia in parallel
to work at Stanford. For example, this includes the
publishing of the first stakeholder map for which Ed
and I are aware within Eric Rhenman’s 1964 book
on industrial democracy.
These kinds of stakeholder maps are now common-
place. I really like Rhenman’s version as the over-
lapping ellipses accentuate the jointness of interests
between stakeholders.
Here Rhenman also offers one of the earliest defini-
tions of ‘stakeholder’—or ‘intressent’ as it was first
called in Swedish in that 1964 volume and later
translated to ‘stakeholder’ in the 1968 English publi-
cation of Industrial Democracy and Industrial Man-
agement. That is a great book by the way.
CBS Sustainability Quarterly: What is it like to
work with Ed Freeman?
Robert Strand: First off, I think it is a real testa-
ment to the humility of Ed Freeman to agree to co-
author with a nobody like me. Ed set me at ease
from the beginning, which was very important be-
cause I was proposing a modification to his land-
mark 1984 volume. In fact when I proposed co-
authoring this article to Ed I said something to the
effect of ‘and of course you would be the first author’
but when Ed agreed to writing this together he said I
should take the first author. My sense from other
Ph.D. students I know at various U.S. universities is
this is not how it always works.
Over the period of time that we have written the arti-
cle we have had a nice series of back and forths
where I have learned a great deal from seeing
where he chooses to edit and add commentary.
Prior to pursuing my Ph.D., I worked for quite some
time in Corporate America. One of my roles was
investor relations in which I wrote scripts for the
CEO and CFO types for the quarterly Wall Street
earnings calls.
I learned so much about these individuals by the
edits they chose to make to my drafts where you
kind of feel like you get inside the mind of a person
through this. In working on this article with Ed, I feel
Research
Eric Rhenman’s stakeholder map from his 1964 book
on Industrial Democracy
6
the same to some degree as I learn what areas he
considers of greater importance by the edits he sug-
gests and how he constructs his blocks of text and
links to the existing text we have. It has become
very apparent to me that Ed sincerely wants to offer
credit where credit is due for the development of
stakeholder theory. And we show that more credit is
due to contributions having come from Scandinavia.
CBS Sustainability Quarterly: Is it fair to say that
you have an agenda with this article to draw attention
to activities from Scandinavia?
Robert Strand: Absolutely. We lead off the article
by explicitly stating we have an agenda to advocate
for increased stakeholder engagement on the part of
companies and we contend lessons can be learned
by looking to Scandinavia- particularly from the U.S.
In this article we advocate for companies to adopt
what we call a “cooperative strategic posture” in
which stakeholders are first considered as partners
with whom to cooperate prior to considering competi-
tive aspects. In a manner consistent with stakehold-
er theory we argue this opens up more possibilities
for value creation between stakeholders.
The U.S. business context has been characterized
as having a romance with competition so we are per-
haps a bit devious in trying to spur on a competition
of sorts by U.S. companies for who can cooperate on
par with the likes of Scandinavian companies. This is
important for sustainability reasons because govern-
ment and civil society organizations alone cannot
effectively address global challenges like poverty,
disease, human rights abuses, resource depletion
and water shortages, and global warming without
cooperation by companies.
And no single company can effectively address these
challenges alone. So we need to encourage cooper-
ation between companies and their stakeholders.
Ed Freeman and Robert Strand (both lower right) with students at CBS
Research
7
CBS Sustainability Quarterly: Are you claiming that Scandinavia is the
birthplace to stakeholder theory?
Robert Strand: I do not think any individual or institution or region can lay
claim to stakeholder theory
as it represents a summation
of centuries of thought that
includes Adam Smith’s The
Theory of Moral Sentiments-
and really goes back to the
moment the first two people
came together to create value
together through commerce.
But we can say with confi-
dence that Scandinavian
thinkers like Eric Rhenman
and his Scandinavian con-
temporaries made founda-
tional contributions to what
has come be known as stake-
holder theory and that some
of the most effective stake-
holder engagement practices
can be seen with Scandinavi-
an companies.
In sum, Ed and I contend that Scandinavia offers inspiration for business
scholars and practitioners from throughout the world for effective stakehold-
er engagement.
Research
Professor R. Edward Free-
man is academic director of the
Business Roundtable Institute
for Corporate Ethics. From 1987
to 2009 he was Director of
Darden's Olsson Center for Ap-
plied Ethics, one of the world's
leading academic centers for the
study of ethics. He is a senior
fellow of the Olsson Center at
the University of Virginia Darden
School of Business. Freeman is
also a professor of religious
studies and a faculty advisor to
UVA's Institute for Practical Eth-
ics and adjunct professor of
stakeholder management. In
March 2010, the University of
Virginia Board of Visitors named
Freeman as a University Profes-
sor. Freeman is the first faculty
member in Darden’s history to
be given this rare honor, accord-
ed to less than 20 professors
among the more than 2,200 pro-
fessors at U.Va.
Before coming to the Darden
School, Freeman taught at the
University of Minnesota and the
Wharton School.
Sidenote:
Robert Strand, Ed Freeman and Kai Hockerts (cbsCSR) are working on a
special issue for the Journal of Business Ethics together. The Call for papers
has ended and the selection process has begun. More information on the
special issue will follow in the next edition of CSQ.
Map of Scandinavia
8
Rio+20
Conference
Rio does Sustainability!
Rio served as the venue for the Rio+20 UN Confer-
ence for Sustainable Development, boasting a myri-
ad of conferences, activities, and events, initiated by
the UN. Together with the CBS UN PRME office del-
egates, CBS Sustainability Platform was naturally
present at the conference, with the purpose of gain-
ing new understandings within the field of sustaina-
bility, making new contacts, and building new bridg-
es into the academic and corporate world.
Strong CBS representation at Rio+20
For CBS, Rio+20 proved an excellent forum to show
case CBS’ firm commitment towards sustainability;
with both CBS Sustainability Platform and the CBS
UN PRME office being represented at the PRME
Global Forum and the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainabil-
ity Forum, arranged by the UN Global Compact.
Many of our international colleagues were impressed
by the strategic sustainability focus of CBS and our
high level of activity; a commitment exemplified
through the significant investment of resources and
interest from the CBS top management in, for exam-
ple, CBS Sustainability Platform and the CBS PRME
office.
The CBS PRME office was given particular interest
and admiration during the Rio+20 conferences, as it
is one of the
only physical
offices at an
institution of
higher edu-
cation; with
an appointed
academic
director, pro-
ject manager
and a num-
ber of student assistants dedicated to implement re-
sponsible management education throughout CBS.
In fact, the CBS PRME office has been approached
by Jonas Heartle, Head of the UN PRME Secretari-
at, to serve as a best practice example of PRME
implementa-
tion in their
global
“Inspirational
Guide for the
Implementa-
tion of
PRME: Plac-
ing Sustain-
ability at the
Heart of
Manage-
ment Education”. In particular, their extensive CBS
wide curriculum change project and their cross-
departmental case writing initiative has been high-
lighted as extensive, inclusive, and tangible efforts
towards implementing responsible management ed-
ucation at CBS; both at a curriculum level and
through the production of teaching material.
In Rio, the delegates from CBS were provided an
opportunity to gain new perspectives, understand-
ings, and attitudes towards sustainability as a con-
cept and implementable goal. In addition to the for-
mal program of the UN PRME and Corporate Sus-
tainability Forum conference agenda, the Rio+20
platform was a hub for networking and building new
partnerships across the academic, corporate, and
political scenes.
Tangible results from the CBS delegates included
establishing the foundation for two physical working
groups; one related to faculty development and an-
other in regards to institutional structures at institu-
tions of higher education, related to sustainability
and responsible management education. Also, sev-
eral of our international colleagues across the world,
showed an eager interest in engaging with CBS and
has approached us to visit CBS in the near future.
The learning potential during the conference days
was high. The conference sessions showcased inter-
esting profiles and discussions, covering a diverse
range of educational and corporate initiatives within
the overarching field of sustainability. Many ses-
sions and discussions delivered highly informative
CBS PRME Project Manager, Lene
Mette Sørensen, at Rio+20
CBS Sustainability Platform Project
Manager, Kristina Walker Pedersen, at
Rio+20 during a roundtable discussion
9
and inspirational perspectives with topics including
university rankings and the challenges they pose; so-
cial entrepreneurship and youth employment; strate-
gic sustainability; effective implementation of sustain-
ability and the vital engagement of top management;
and moving sustainability from an abstract level to
concrete action.
Rio+20 – The way forward?
During the many sessions, one could nonetheless not
help sense that underneath the formal, politely moder-
ated panel debates was a lurking concern. Ethical im-
plications arise when corporations chose to engage in
CSR and sustainability, calling for critical reflection
and discussion.
For example, celebrated as a leading example of cor-
porate attention to, and integration of, sustainability,
one of the world’s leading breweries SABMiller’s local
beer production in Uganda was highlighted as an ex-
ample to
follow. By
including
smallholder
farmers in
their local
production,
using local
produce,
and em-
ploying lo-
cal populations, SABMiller has captured the Ugandan
beer market. Making beer available to low-income
populations – previously only obtainable for the upper
middle class and above – SABMiller now holds the
chief position in the Ugandan beer market.
However, with alcoholism being a paralyzing social
issue, crippling many Ugandan families, ethical impli-
cations to this corporate strategy arises. Is SABMiller
a sustainable corporation or are they enablers of a
debilitating social problem?
In short, as researchers we have to ask ourselves to
what extent or at what level is SABMiller’s production
sustainable?
Where Sustaina-
bility meets Ac-
tion?
Many examples dur-
ing the Corporate
Sustainability Forum,
implicitly called out
for the importance to
think about sustaina-
bility from wider per-
spectives. The cor-
porate strategy as a
panacea for long-
term sustainable de-
velopment may be a
dangerous path to follow.
Critical discussions and an understanding of the
broader implications of corporate sustainability strate-
gies are crucial. Therefore, the link between academ-
ia and corporations becomes even more essential, in
order to better understand what happens when corpo-
rations engage in CSR and sustainability.
The UN PRME initiative is a promising forum, as it
educates future managers to understand the ethical
implications of corporate actions; however, it calls for
tangible action and commitment within institutions of
higher education, which is not without challenges.
In sum, the potential exists, both from a corporate and
academic front under the labels of the UN Global
Compact and PRME – yet the challenge lies in bridg-
ing the two labels and ensuring actual and tangible
action. Thus, while Rio+20 provided a forum to under-
stand, assess and develop the status quo within the
corporate and academic sustainability agenda, the
challenge will be to deliver on the aim of ‘where sus-
tainability meets action’ and produce tangible results
that also take into account the broader ethical implica-
tions of corporate sustainability.
Written by Kristina Walker Pedersen
Conference
Participants from CBS at
Rio+20:
Vice Dean of Education,
Sven Bislev
Professor, Kai Hockerts
Associate Professor,
Hans Krause Hansen
PRME Project Manager,
Lene Mette Sørensen
CBS Sustainability Plat-
form Project Manager,
Kristina Walker Peder-
sen
Map showing Uganda
10
On February 28th, 2012, Kim
Østrup, Vice President of IBM Den-
mark, visited the Studio at Copen-
hagen Business School
(www.cbs.dk/studio). He came to
talk to the students of the Fine Art
of Leadership class about corpo-
rate social responsibility at IBM, an
area where the company prides
itself for its global best practice.
However, Kim Østrup would not
only talk about what was running
smoothly. He would also talk about
the difficulties with introducing a
global CSR policy in Denmark. At
the end of his presentation he
posed a challenge to the students.
Instead of just learning from the
best, they were supposed to im-
prove upon the best, tackling an
issue that IBM had not yet been
able to solve. The students would
have three weeks to do so, includ-
ing two facilitated studio sessions.
Then, the students were invited to
come to corporate headquarters in
Copenhagen and present and dis-
cuss their results and proposals.
The race was on.
The Challenge
Kim Østrup is responsible for IBM’s
community programs and external
relations in Denmark, and some
recurring problems have become
visible in his many years of working
with various stakeholders. He
chose two observations to denote
the challenge for the students.
1.) Again and again the voluntary
and public sector does not quite
understand how companies like
IBM can be involved in solving soci-
etal issues. At times, there is a diffi-
culty with identifying, defining, and
presenting the challenges to private
actors. At other times the voluntary
and public sector seems to avoid
cross sector collaboration, or are
occupied foremost with their organi-
zational development and results. A
cultural barrier seems to exist.
2.) The cultural barrier seems also
to affect IBM’s employee volunteer-
ing program. IBM wishes to en-
hance employee volunteering
through motivation and induce-
ments but without pressure or di-
rect encouragement. Yet this is a
difficult challenge in a nation with
no tradition for employee volunteer-
ing and a strong welfare state.
The challenge to the Fine Art of
Leadership course was to propose
creative ways to overcome the two
problems, while staying with IBM’s
approach to corporate responsibil-
ity.
IBM’s approach to Corporate Re-
sponsibility
IBM has an almost 100-year long
history of working with Corporate
Responsibility. It has focused its
community engagement and corpo-
rate service programs on specific
societal issues, including the envi-
ronment, community economic de-
velopment, education, health,
A Studio for Corporate Social Sustainability: CBS and IBM
By Stefan Meisiek
Education
Stefan Meisiek is an Associ-
ate Professor of Leadership
at the Department of Man-
agement, Politics and Philos-
ophy at Copenhagen Busi-
ness School.
Stefan’s research interests
concern mainly ideation, en-
trepreneurial reasoning, and
arts-based approaches to
problem solving and organiz-
ing. He is currently working
to develop the Enterprise
Studio, a design-based expe-
rience for organizations and
academics that draws on his
extensive research in the
field of art and management
and on his current study of
studio learning in organiza-
tions.
cbs.dk/stefanmeisiek
11
literacy, language, and culture. These are areas of
societal needs where IBM can apply technology and
talent to solve problems, rather than simply making
cash donations. The philosophy behind the ap-
proach is that innovative partnerships, knowledge
sharing, and transfer of competencies between sec-
tors are the path to true change.
Existing societal issues need new innovative solu-
tions.
Examples of IBM Denmark corporate responsibility
activities in 2011 are KidSmart and On Demand
Community. In KidSmart, IT-competencies were
identified as prerequisite for active citizenship in the
future. Early learning strengthens children’s IT-
competencies significantly. IBM’s specially designed
KidSmart computers enabled children to enhance
learning and social skills with the use of educational
software. IBM Denmark has donated more than 500
KidSmart computers and reached tens of thousands
of children. The programs are run in collaboration
with partners such as municipalities, primary
schools, children’s day care, hospitals, libraries and
other institutions. The success of the projects often
depend on the partnerships. In 2011 IBM among
others collaborated with the Agency of Library and
Media, Odense Municipality, and Ålborg University.
On Demand Community is IBM’s global program
that facilitates and support IBM’ers voluntary work in
their local communities. Employees who do corpo-
rate volunteering have access to presentations and
software and can apply to IBM for a cash or equip-
ment grant for the organization that they volunteer
for. On Demand Community is organized around an
internal online community where employees can
register and track their hours, find solutions, apply
for grants, and share their stories.
IBM Denmark joined the Danish Council of Volun-
teering’s steering committee for the EU Year of Vol-
unteering 2011. The steering committee worked to
celebrate and support citizenship and civil society.
IBM initiated the collaboration by sponsoring re-
search of voluntary organizations strategic use of
social media. The research became the foundation
of subsequent workshops on the same subject with
the attendance of more than 100 voluntary organi-
zations. IBM also contributed to the development of
www.frivilligfredag.dk – the website of the first na-
tional day of volunteering (Frivillig Fredag). In ac-
cordance with the voluntary spirit the web-site was
developed by IBM volunteers in collaboration with
students chosen through crowd sourcing.
The Studio at Copenhagen Business School
With just a presentation and a brief at their hands,
there were few limitations to students’ imagination.
But where to begin?
Traditional class-rooms are not where imagination,
playfulness, and inquiry are nurtured. Studios are.
With their emphasis on materiality, making, practice,
and invention, studios and studio methods have an
accomplished history when it comes to creative
work. The Studio at Copenhagen Business School
is such a dedicated studio space. Along with studio
pedagogies, it promotes experiential, problem-
based learning around business issues and tech-
niques (www.facebook.com/studio.cbs). It is a place
where CBS teachers and students can work with
processes like tangible business modeling, drama-
turgic approaches to organizational behavior, visual
and haptic design of organizations, strategies, and
business processes, creative explorations of inno-
vation and change, and much more. Much of the
studio work circles around live business cases
where company stakeholders interact with students
and professors, just like in the case of IBM’s chal-
lenge to the Fine Art of Leadership students.
Over the three weeks following Kim Østrup’s IBM
challenge, the students worked twice in the studio.
During the first session, they were mostly exploring
what they knew, what they didn’t know, and how
they could fill in the gaps. They developed a per-
spective on the challenge and the situation around
volunteering and public-private collaborations, filling
blank spaces with careful and considered specula-
tions.
Education
12
The point was to avoid jumping to
conclusions until a certain familiarity
with the issues at hand was
reached. The challenge was held,
expanded, played with, twisted, and
settled in rounds of visualizations
and conversations around a guiding
metaphor.
During the second session in the
studio, the students were taking
what they have learned and the
perspective they had developed to
brainstorm a number of possible
solutions and propositions.
These where then narrowed down,
and tested against the core as-
sumptions. Since exact information
was missing, students had to keep
their proposals at a suggestive, ex-
plorative level: Inspiration and in-
sight take precedence over nuts
and bolts. Again, large-scale visua-
lization, and developmental group
work marked the process.
The Outcome
It would have not been the Fine Art
of Leadership, if the task were not
to present the results in the form of
video skits or another creative
presentational format.
Instead of delivering a standard re-
port, the students worked on a
presentation that would invite the
attendees of the final meeting to
continue exploring and rethinking
the issues at hand.
On presentation day at IBM Den-
mark, Kim Østrup was at first sur-
prised, and then smitten with the
creative presentation formats. Mod-
els, videos, drawings, and texts re-
vealed a number of suggestions on
how to address the challenge. He
asked to show the creative presen-
tations to his colleagues to get a
conversation in IBM going about
how to address the challenge fur-
ther.
To take a live case CSR problem
into the Studio was an attempt to
see how students could work with
wicked problems in a creative, open
way. It stretched students beyond
their usual analytical frameworks,
and had them produce unusual so-
lutions to a complex problem.
I hope we will see more CSR work
in the Studio in the future.
The CBS Studio
The Studio is a flexible, edu-
cational space for problem-
based, experiential learning
that takes place in groups.
It’s not uncommon that a
company, non-profit, or gov-
ernment organization brings a
challenge to the Studio that
the students work on over a
period of time. But problems
can also come from case
studies, news casts, and oth-
er sources.
The Studio can be booked for
entire courses, week-long
immersions as part of other-
wise lecture-based courses,
creative workshops, meet-
ings, and summer schools.
For study programs, it is pos-
sible to book Open Studio
hours for independent group
work.
For more information on the
CBS Studio, please visit:
cbs.dk/studio
The CBS Studio is lo-
cated at Grundtvigsvej
25, 1864 Frederiksberg
C
Education
13
New Projects Supported by CBS Sustainability Platform
CBS Sustainability Platform has had the good for-
tune of receiving several new applications seeking
support. The Platform has approved seven new ap-
plications and looks forward to seeing the projects
and events take effect. The following projects have
been approved for support from the platform:
1. Smart Metering - Rasmus Pedersen (ITM) and
Peter Møllgaard (ECO)
2. NGO Consultancy for Greater Social Impact -
180⁰ Consulting (CBS Students)
3. Biofuel Conference - Stine Haakonsson (DBP),
Janus Hansen and Stefano Ponte (DBP)
4. Copenhagenization/Sustainable Metropolis:
Signe Vikkelsø (IOA) and Ursual Plesner (IOA)
5. The Influence of Social Media on the Public
Opinion Formation about Sustainability Issues:
Michael Etter (ICM), Sine Nørholm Just (DBP)
and Anne Vestergaard (ICM)
6. Partnership 2012: NGO+Business - Towards a
Sustainable Society Conference: Per
Østergaard Jacobsen (OM)
7. Oikos Conference: 360⁰ Students for Sustaina-
bility (CBS Students)
More information about each project or event can
be obtained through email, by requesting it from the
owners, or from the platform.
Furthermore, CBS sustainability Platform has five
additional applications currently under assessment.
If you would like to apply for support from the plat-
form, please email suggestions, with a description
of the activity in approximately two-three pages, to:
Project Manager, Kristina Walker Pedersen
Please include a brief answer to each of the follow-
ing points:
Type of activity that you seek support for
The relevance and importance of the activity to
the Sustainability Platform (either in terms of
research, teaching, outreach and/or further
fundraising)
Expected outcome of the activity & how it will
contribute to further developing the Platform’s
activities at CBS
Participants inside and outside CBS
External target group, if in addition to partici-
pants
Budget, with a timeline
Possible long-term future activities to be ex-
plored after the supported activity has taken
place
We kindly ask that you hand in a short summary
and preferably photos that we can add to the Sus-
tainability Platform website once the activity has tak-
en place.
Research
14
Conference Supported by the Sustainability Platform
Partnership2012: NGO+Business Towards a Sustainable Society
Co-financed and co-organized by the CBS Sustain-
ability Platform, the Partnership2012:
NGO+Business Towards Sustainable Society
conference challenged traditional ways of viewing
the relationship between NGOs and Businesses;
spearheading integrated ways of viewing this rela-
tionship – namely through mutually reciprocal part-
nerships.
Inarguably, key note speaker former UN General
Secretary Kofi Annan was a main attraction for the
400 international business managers, policy-
makers and NGO managers; as well as the 350
students present in neighboring auditoriums set up
with a live-streaming of the conference proceed-
ings.
He reminded the business school audience about
the importance of seeing the interdependence be-
tween human rights and environmental protection,
as we move towards a more sustainable society.
Under the central phrase “In today's world we de-
pend on each other", Mr. Annan emphasized the
necessity of partnerships, fuelled by younger gener-
ations, to tackle central social and economic chal-
lenges.
Gaining particular popularity was the Q&A session
with Kofi Annan, conducted by the experienced
news reporter, Steffen Kretz, and CBS Professor
and conference co-chair Mette Morsing.
Another central keynote speaker was HRH Crown
Princess Mary, who engagingly spoke about her
own partnership experiences through the Mary
Foundation. The Crown Princess portrayed the
Mary Foundation’s active involvement with partner-
ships, using unique social partnerships as a plat-
form to prevent and alleviate social isolation.
Taking a short pause from the conference activities,
a small delegation of central CBS partners contin-
ued their partnership conversations with Kofi Annan
and the Crown Princess over an intimate lunch; al-
lowing time for important new relationships to be
forged. Participants included; Per Holten-Andersen
(CBS), Karsten Dybvad (DI), Mads Lebech
(Industriens Fond), John Vassallo (Microsoft), Mads
Øvlisen (Novo), Randa Grob-Zakhary (Lego Foun-
dation), Claus Meyer (Meyer) and Simona
Marinescu (UNDP).
By large, the conference boasted an impressive
guest list. Present were speakers and participants
from a wide range of institutions; representing aca-
demic, civil society, and private institutions alike.
Conference
Steffen Kretz, Mette Morsing and Kofi Annan during the
Q&A
HRH Crown Princess Mary and CBS President Per Hol-
ten-Andersen
15
Conference
Quick Facts About the
Conference
Where: Copenhagen Busi-
ness School, Solbjerg Plads
When: 10th-12th of June.,
2012
Who: Approximately 400 in-
ternational business manag-
ers, policy-makers and NGO
managers, from over a dozen
countries, all over the world;
in addition to over 350 stu-
dents participating in neigh-
boring auditoriums set up
with a live-streaming of the
conference.
The conference agenda, par-
ticipant list, video interviews,
presentations and other relat-
ed conference material at:
parternship2012.com
cbs.dk/sustainabilityplatform
Organizers:
CBS, CBS Sustainability
Platform, CBS Public-Private
Platform, ISOBRO, EFA, DI,
CSR Fonden
Partners:
Microsoft, PwC,180Degrees
Consulting, CIEL
Media Partners:
Berlingske, Huset
Markedsføring
Event Partner:
About - a mobile agency
Opening
CBS Professor and conference co-
chair, Mette Morsing, opened the
conference on Sunday, June 10th,
and before the farewell reception
on Tuesday, June 12th, a large
number of speakers had presented
cases of how Partnerships can be
successfully implemented in order
to facilitate both societal and eco-
nomic outcomes.
With around 400 international par-
ticipants from over a dozen coun-
tries, all over the world, the results
of this conference will demonstrate;
new understandings of the benefits
reciprocal partnerships can accrue;
newly forged relationships amongst
highly diverse actors; and the initia-
tion of new partnerships that blur
the traditional lines between busi-
ness and society – creating part-
nerships that work together, to-
wards sustainable society.
Kofi Annan, Q&A
The popular Q&A session with Kofi
Annan was not conducted in the
usual manner, with conference as-
sistants running up-and-down the
aisle with microphones to the audi-
ence. It was held in an interview
format, conducted by the experi-
enced news reporter, Steffen Kretz,
and CBS Professor and conference
co-chair Mette Morsing.
During the first hours of the key
note speakers program on Monday,
11th of June, the audience had the
opportunity to ask Kofi Annan ques-
tions through a mobile website/
application, which allowed the two
interviewers to pick “the best ques-
tions”, as vocalized by Steffen
Kretz.
The result was a much more coher-
ent and well-structured Q&A ses-
sion. The format of the Q&A gradu-
ally facilitated more in-depth and
reflective responses from Kofi An-
nan; including direct admonitions to
both NGOs and business-
es. Partnerships should not ob-
scure the boundaries between
NGOs and business, but rather ex-
tract the best resources from both;
suggesting that a good partnership
needs a common goal. However,
Kofi Annan highlighted the danger
of shortism, where both NGOs and
businesses to a large extent focus
on immediate relief.
A great obstacle to NGO-business
partnerships is to sustain partner-
ships beyond the period of crises:
“In the time of crises everybody
talks about reform, but it slowly
concedes”, he said. Nevertheless,
Kofi Annan presented a bright out-
look for partnerships in the future,
arguing that the future belongs to
younger generations – generations
not bound by traditional assump-
tions in relation to partnerships.
Kofi Annan during the Q&A
16
Conference
Consequently, a key message deduced from the
Q&A was that the future of NGO-business partner-
ships should be spearheaded by younger genera-
tions.
Focus on Key Note Speaker: John Vasallo
John Vassallo (Microsoft, Vice President EU Affairs)
initiated his presentation by emphasizing a program
implemented by Microsoft; a program that offers all
employees up to three paid days off, annually, if they
volunteer at a NGO or another cause of their choice.
Vassallo also noted how technology can improve the
performance of
NGOs, in part-
nership with Mi-
crosoft.
A central pur-
pose of Mi-
crosoft’s part-
nerships with
NGOs is to up-
grade the tech-
nologic capacity
within NGOs,
making their or-
ganizations
‘work smarter’.
Technologic im-
provements are often regarded as minor steps with-
in an organization; in contrast Vassallo argued that
technological improvements often can be a stepping
stone for further innovation within the NGO.
A central shared point of reference, noted in several
of the presentations held during the Partnership
2012 conference, was the emphasis on NGOs as
laggards in terms of know-how and resources. John
Vassallo argued that NGOs may overcome these
barriers by upgrading their technologic competen-
cies. Vassallo noted that technological upgrades in
NGOs serve to change attitudes within the organiza-
tions and are able to shape new business models.
Changing the practices and work processes within
an NGO, dilutes the differences between NGOs and
businesses, as it merges the competencies of the
partners within the different organizations.
Academic Day
As part of the morning plenum session on Tuesday
June 12th, conference co-chair Associate Professor
Esben Rahbek Pedersen (CBS) presented a study
of the “why’s”, “how’s”, and “what’s” of contemporary
partnerships.
In short, the findings from the study demonstrated
that 1) the motives for partnering most often are for
NGOs to get resources and for businesses to raise
awareness of social problems; 2) the partnership
structures span from close and mutually beneficial
partnerships, to more conflict ridden types. As noted
by Esben Rahbek Pedersen, “partnerships are any-
thing from marriages to cockfights’”; 3) both parties
in a partnership most often get what they are after.
Businesses influence their reputation in a positive
manner and NGOs get access to the desired re-
sources.
The study provided empirical evidence that a com-
mon goal is necessary for a partnership and that it is
the assurance that each involved party achieves
their own goal(s), i.e. the mutual acknowledgement
Kofi Annan during his speech
John Vassallo (VP Microsoft)
17
Conference
of dissimilar but not mutually exclusive goals. The
question is, then, how can the potential for achiev-
ing such dissimilar goals through partnerships be
measured? In short, what is the value of your part-
nership?
Focus on Partnership: Red Cross and PwC
During a presentation, Maya Færch from Red
Cross, described Red Cross’ need for being able to
measure
the value of
partner-
ships. Red
Cross have
collaborat-
ed with
PwC in or-
der to de-
velop what
they term a
“value
measure-
ment meth-
odology”.
Birgitte Mo-
gensen,
from PwC,
presented
three steps:
1) Impact assessment boundaries, 2) Total impact
measurement and 3) Impact diagnostics. Maya
Færch then presented how this valuation model is
currently being implemented in Red Cross projects.
The model presented by PwC and Red Cross
seems to elaborate on the content of a partnership.
The model is not only concerned with the inputs and
outputs of a given partnership, but also with ques-
tions of the resulting impacts and who the intended
and actual beneficiaries are and how the partner-
ship created value (or decreased value) for those
being influenced by the activities of the partnership.
Partnership2012: NGO+Business
Student Competition
Over the course of three months, an innovative col-
laboration between the CBS student organization
180 Degrees Consulting and the Confederation
of Danish Industry (DI) has occurred, designed to
explore NGO-Business Partnerships in the context
of students and industry partners.
DI and 180 Degrees Consulting paired five groups
of CBS students with five companies wishing to ex-
plore possibilities of value-creating partnerships with
NGOs. The question raised was how can business
as well as society benefit from NGO-Business part-
nerships? Moderated by CBS Professor Mette
Morsing, the conference held the culmination of the
competition; allowing three finalist teams to present
their cases.
The finalist teams – Team Coloplast, Team Ib An-
dresen, and Team Pressalit – provided enthusiastic,
thought-provoking, and inspiring student presenta-
tions. Subsequently, a winning team was an-
nounced, after feedback and deliberation amongst
the jury, which was chaired by Director General and
CEO Karsten Dybvad (DI) and included members:
President Per Holten-Andersen (CBS), Head of
Secretariat Mette Holm (ISOBRO), Partner Birgitte
Mogensen (PwC) and President Emma Lindgren
(180 Degrees).
Team Pressalist, consisting of the five CBS students
Søren Grundt (Team Leader), Mads Poulsen, Sanja
Hegelund, Rasmus Michler Mogensen, and Andrea
Cocco were
declared the
winners;
attributed to
their well-
executed
and creative
NGO-
Business
Partnership
solution. The winning team with the CEO of Pres-
salit, Dan Boyter.
Per Holten-Andersen presenting
the speakers
18
Conference
Partnership2012: NGO+Business Best Paper
Award
The second day of the Partnership2012 Conference
at CBS, was dedicated to further presentations from
practitioners and academic papers. From the many
relevant academic papers presented, the organizing
academic committee had the difficult job of choosing
one winner.
The winning paper of the Partnership2012:
NGO+Business Conference was: “Partnership
Steering Wheels: How the formation process of a
cross-sector partnership can influence its govern-
ance mechanisms” written by Heike Schirmer,
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
The committee thought it was an extremely interest-
ing paper. The author explored the governance
mechanisms -control (formal/informal) and trust
(goodwill/competence) - in means-driven and goal-
driven partnerships. The paper was very relevant to
the scope and focus of the conference.
The winner, Heike
Schirmer, has been
a Ph.D. student at
the FreieUniversität
Berlin, Germany,
since June 2010.
Her research focus
is on partnerships
between social en-
trepreneurs and
corporations.
She is a scholar and active member of the Villigst
Foundation. Additionally she is a member of the
Ashoka Support Network and in this role accompa-
nies and coaches individual social entrepreneurs on
strategic topics.
Prior to her Ph.D. she worked as a consultant at
McKinsey & Company in Munich and Berlin. While
she started working there as a “generalist”, the ener-
gy sector later became the focus of her work.
Heike Schirmer received her Dipl.-Phys. (equivalent
to M.Sc. in Physics) from the Technical University in
Munich in 2007. She also studied Physics in Bang-
kok (Thailand) and Santa Barbara (California).
Heike Schirmer
19
The Emerging Frontiers for Private and Public
Regulation of CSR
On May 2nd and 3rd, 2012, Jette
Steen Knudsen organized a re-
search publication workshop that
addressed the emerging frontiers for
public and private regulation of CSR.
Jette Steen Knudsen also set up a
practitioners’ meeting where re-
searchers and practitioners engaged
in a public debate about the implica-
tions for companies of the emerging
public regulation of CSR. Both
events were funded by the Carls-
berg Foundation and CBS Sustaina-
bility Platform.
The purpose of the research work-
shop was to examine changes in the
relationship between private and
public regulation of CSR. CSR has
traditionally been defined as volun-
tary social and environmental initia-
tives that go beyond legal compli-
ance, and CSR has been seen as
incompatible with public policies.
However, in recent years we have
witnessed a remarkable growth of
public policies designed precisely to
encourage responsible business in-
cluding for example the linking of
CSR to the use of public procure-
ment as well as mandatory non-
financial reporting requirements. For
those who view CSR as voluntary
initiatives, it would appear to be a
category error that a concept found-
ed on voluntarism should be shaped
by the antithesis of voluntarism, pub-
lic policy.
The research workshop explored
how and why the boundaries be-
tween public and private regulation
of CSR have changed focusing in
particular on three questions: 1)
How can we understand the motiva-
tions that drive governments to
adopt CSR policies? 2) What is the
impact of government CSR policy on
business behaviour? 3) How are na-
tional and international governance
of CSR linked?
Why is this research agenda
important?
Traditionally research on CSR has
focused on the firm, and the domi-
nant theoretical approaches have
come from the management litera-
ture. The workshop participants ex-
plored CSR not simply in the context
of changing business strategies but
as part and parcel of a wider system
of societal governance. Thus, partic-
ipants looked at CSR as a regulatory
tool that facilitates new governance
arrangements involving private and
public actors at national and global
levels. Scholars of regulation gener-
ally divide regulation into two types:
state-centered conceptions of regu-
lation with reference to state-made
laws and society-centered analysts
and scholars of globalization that
examine the proliferation of regulato-
ry institutions beyond the state.
However, government regulation of
CSR encourages a research agenda
that examines state-centered con-
ceptions of policy in interaction with
business and civil society, often
transcending borders.
Jette Steen Knudsen is an
Associate Professor at the
Department of Business
and Politics at CBS.
Also Jette Steen Knudsen is
affiliated with the CBS Cen-
ter for Corporate Govern-
ance and the CBS Center
for Corporate Social Re-
sponsibility.
Jette Steen Knudsen has
written numerous scientific
articles and newspaper arti-
cles, which have been pub-
lished in journals such as
Regulation and Govern-
ance, Journal of Business
Ethics and European Jour-
nal of Industrial Relations.
Some of her main research interests are: The changing relation-
ship between public and private regulation of CSR
Corporate social respon-
sibility/sustainability
Corporate governance
Globalization and new corporate strategies
Mainstreaming of re-
sponsible (ethical) in-vestment
cbs.dk/jettesteenknudsen
Research
20
1. Government Motivation of CSR Policies
How do we under-
stand the motiva-
tions and drivers of
governments for
adopting public poli-
cy initiatives on
CSR?
To what extent are
policies shaped by
resource constraints
and/or different tradi-
tions of business-
government interac-
tions?
A recent literature has attempted to delineate the
various ways that governments have approached
CSR. One set of explanations argues that govern-
ment promotion of CSR is well suited to the predom-
inant neo-liberal agendas at the national and global
levels. While liberal economists have dismissed
CSR as a diversion from profit maximization, in
practice self-regulation, public-private partnerships
and new regulatory forms suit the neo-liberal agen-
da, serving as means of reducing state involvement
in the social and environmental spheres. Some au-
thors have argued that the promotion of CSR has
been a distinct component of neo-liberal political
agendas. Others see CSR as a response to privati-
zation, deregulation and trade liberalization, which
have left gaps that non-governmental organizations
and the public increasingly pressure corporations to
fill. Existing research has explored both the motiva-
tion and content of CSR across countries, but there
remain several open questions. Firstly, motivations
and drivers for government involvement in CSR are
often inferred rather than established empirically.
More research is needed to understand the motiva-
tions of governments with different degrees of re-
source constraints and different traditions of busi-
ness-government interaction. How are government
CSR policies shaped by national business systems,
ideology and culture? Are different policy types
(e.g., foreign policy, social policy, development poli-
cy) shaped by different processes? Does reliance
on CSR as a policy tool raise issues of democratic
legitimacy? Are government policies on CSR seen
as more democratically legitimate than private regu-
lation of CSR?
2. Government policy and the impact on busi-
ness behavior
How can we integrate management and institutional
perspectives in order to try and understand better
how government CSR policies impact business in-
terests as well as private regulatory initiatives by
companies? What are the mechanisms that explain
the response of business to government regulation?
How well are government intentions regarding the
purpose of CSR policies reflected in actual CSR ini-
tiatives? Has CSR governance by firms or civil soci-
ety organizations taken over from government? Are
governments captured by firms that demand certain
kinds of CSR policies? An unanswered question in
existing research on government and CSR is how
CSR policies are determined. If governments decide
on particular areas where CSR can facilitate public
objectives, then we might describe CSR policies as
being government-led. In this case, we would ex-
pect that business activities would need to be initiat-
ed or re-aligned to meet government objectives.
This could have multiple implications for businesses
and may yield new alignments between businesses
sharing best practice. The impact of government
policies on business practice has not yet been re-
searched systematically. Equally, we do not know
whether changes in business practice yield ex-
pected policy outcomes.
Research
CBS, Porcelænshaven
21
Are the objectives of government actually achieved
when using CSR policy, and how does CSR as a
policy tool compare on this level with harder forms
of regulation? What sort of public CSR policy instru-
ments are recently used; and how do they relate to
existing regulatory forms? Government CSR poli-
cies might also reflect existing business practice, or
may intend to motivate practices that improve the
competitive position and financial well being of na-
tionally based firms.
If this is the case, then public objectives and policy
outcomes may be largely determined by business
interests. Do business interests align with the public
interest, and how are the differences between the
two negotiated? Are government CSR policies ever
business-led, and if so, what are the implications of
this in terms of accountability and public outcomes?
3. The relationship between national and inter-
national CSR governance
How well do national policies on CSR and policies
on global governance fit together? How does in-
creasing complexity internal as well as external to
the state drive government CSR programs? CSR is
not just a national phenomenon but also a key ele-
ment in cross-national governance. This is not
simply a function of the growth of cross-border
trade, but also about the responsibilities of business
for globalizing societal impacts as reflected in inter-
national CSR institutions which take responsible
business out of its exclusively national homes and
into explicitly cross-border, multi-actor governance
contexts (e.g. the UN Global Compact, the Global
Reporting Initiative, the Ethical Trade Initiative).
Some scholars have argued that global and multi-
level governance has replaced national governance
and they emphasize how governmental regul-
ation has been replaced by self-regulation and soft
law.
How can we understand the role of the state in an
increasingly global context and particularly under
conditions of limited statehood, where involvement
of private business firms in governance often
emerges as a functional equivalent to state-led gov-
ernance? When do national government policies on
CSR enhance and when do they replace global ini-
tiatives? How do governments utilize global stand-
ards in national level policymaking? Is CSR emerg-
ing as a new set of standards and soft norms and
under what conditions?
Outcomes – research and practice
A main aim of the workshop was to guest-edit a
special issue of a key academic journal such as
Regulation and Governance. However, the re-
search workshop also included a public debate
meeting that brought together practitioners and ac-
ademics to discuss the effects of government CSR
regulation on the internal operations of businesses
operating globally. Governments in Europe and be-
yond have added layers of new policies to monitor
and control CSR. How can companies respond ef-
fectively to these myriad new regulations? What are
the best company practices that have emerged to
date?
Maria Gjølberg, a researcher with Oslo Business
School and a CSR expert with Steria (a consultan-
cy) gave a presentation on why governments want
Research
22
to regulate CSR. She highlighted how government policies on CSR tend to complement existing govern-
ment regulations and/or strive to make global firms more competitive. Jette Steen Knudsen in her presen-
tation focused on how (Danish) Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises can get squeezed by government
CSR regulation. As large firms seek to meet non-financial reporting requirements and other government
CSR demands, they shift CSR demands onto smaller suppliers.
These smaller suppliers often find it
very challenging if not impossible to
manage the CSR performance of
their own international suppliers in
countries such as China and India.
Novo Nordisk and J. Lauritzen A/S
addressed how Danish companies
organize initiatives to manage new
government regulation for CSR. Bo
Wesley, Senior Advisor, Global
Stakeholder Engagement, and Con-
sultant Camilla Crone Jensen, Novo
Nordisk talked about some of the
challenges involved in handling new
regulatory demands in countries
such as China, while Kathrine Geisler, CSR Manager in J. Lauritzen A/S spoke about the practical impli-
cations of the UK Bribery Act.
Finally, professors Brad Googins and Phil Mirvis
from the Carroll School of Business at Boston
College shared insights from their recent study of
the organization of CSR in 300 best practice
companies. Their main conclusion was that most
companies are still struggling to integrate CSR
practices into mainstream business operations.
After the presentations a lively debate ensued amongst the more than 100 participants that had signed up
for the event.
Research
CBS, Solbjerg Plads
Brad Googins, Carroll
School of Business
Phil Mirvis, Carroll School
of Business
23
By Lucia Reisch
German corporate practice is in-
creasingly becoming shaped by the
need for sustainability. Climate
change and the secure supply of en-
ergy, depleting resources and the
price increases associated with this,
biodiversity conservation and demo-
graphic change are all challenges
facing the political and business
worlds and civil society alike. The
market that rewards sustainability
actions must, however, be created so
that companies, services and prod-
ucts can be adequately assessed
and sustainability afforded a com-
mensurate degree of consideration.
To assist this development, The Ger-
man Council for Sustainable Devel-
opment set out to establish a Ger-
man Sustainability Code (GSC) to be
applied well beyond the group of
companies already actively engaged
in sustainability reporting. The Ger-
man Sustainability Code arose during
a dialogue process involving numer-
ous stakeholders from the financial
markets, businesses and civil society
actively participated in the dialogue
process. Importantly, businesses
field-tested the German Sustainability
Code before launch and found it to
be highly practicable. The idea is for
the German Council for Sustainable
Development to critically monitor the
application of the Code as a standard
offering transparency in relation to a
company’s sustainability perfor-
mance. It creates a scope of validity
by applying benchmarking to corpo-
rate social responsibility. Its applica-
tion is voluntary.
The idea
The German Sustainability Code em-
anates from the definition of sustain-
ability which was coined by the
Brundtland Commission in 1987:
“Sustainable development is devel-
opment that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet
their own needs. […] In essence,
sustainable development is a pro-
cess of change in which the exploita-
tion of resources, the direction of in-
vestments, the orientation of techno-
logical development, and institutional
change are all in harmony and en-
hance both current and future poten-
tial to meet human needs and aspira-
tions.” The German Council for Sus-
tainable Development perceives sus-
tainability within the meaning of a
triple bottom line as the equal consid-
eration of ecological, social and eco-
nomic aspects, the aim being to con-
serve the environment as well as so-
cial cohesion, and to advance eco-
nomic development both in Germany
and internationally.
We observe an increase among play-
ers on the financial and capital mar-
kets who are interested in having a
means of measuring corporate per-
formance using non-financial indica-
tors. The significance of environmen-
tal, social and corporate governance
The German Sustainability Code
Dr. OECON, 1994, from the
University of Hohenheim, Lu-
cia Reisch is a professor at
the CBS Department of Inter-
cultural Communication and
Management.
Lucia Reisch is working with
several projects and institu-
tions within, i.e., the E.U. sys-
tem and the German Govern-
ment.
Lucia have been appointed
by Chancellor Angela Mer-
kel as a member of the Ger-
man Council for Sustainable
Development and is active in
the development of the Ger-
man Sustainability Code.
Her research interests are
mainly:
Corporate Social Respon-
sibility
Intercultural consumer
behavior
Consumer policy
Sustainable consumption
and production
Children and consump-
tion
Pathological consumption
cbs.dk/luciareisch
Research
German Council for Sustainable De-
velopment logo
24
(ESG) factors for corporate analyses and for finan-
cial market decisions is increasing. This is apparent
e.g. through the intense discussion on integrated
financial and sustainability reporting. Therefore, it
was important that The German Sustainability Code
was developed in close conjunction with business
and financial market representatives as an instru-
ment for the financial market. The German Sustain-
ability Code describes the core requirements to be
met by a corporate sustainability management sys-
tem and lends transparency to the contribution
made by sustainability to value creation.
Through the “German Sustainability Code”, the Ger-
man Council for Sustainable Development seeks to
lend transparency to the methods of sustainability
applied by companies and to make sustainability an
effective benchmark for the economy as a whole
and for the capital market. In substantive terms, the
German Sustainability Code follows on from the
principles of the UN Global Compact, the OECD
Guidelines for Multinational Companies, the ISO
26000 guidelines for social responsibility, while, in
instrumental terms, it follows on from the G3 report-
ing standards of the Global Reporting Initiative
(GRI) or the reporting standards of the European
Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS).
The introduction of standardized processes based
on a select group of key performance indicators
(KPIs) is designed to raise the degree of relevance
and enhance the comparability and measurability of
sustainability management, which will serve all
stakeholders.
Extension of existing reporting procedures
The German Sustainability Code lends itself as a
basis of valuation in portfolio management, for cor-
porate bonds, when granting loans and for investor
information. The Code therefore represents an ex-
tension of the reporting procedures applied under
binding national and international accounting stand-
ards. It also supplements the widely accepted Ger-
man Corporate Governance Code. The German
Sustainability Code thus complements the global
trend of augmenting the reporting procedure to in-
corporate various degrees of bindingness, the goal
being to apply integrated reporting as the basis for
integrated investment analysis.
As such, the existing market for sustainable invest-
ment, with its specific requirements and depth of
methodical evaluation, is complemented by a stand-
ardized instrument which is also appropriate for
mainstream investors and analysts who, until now,
have barely based their activities on sustainability
information.
The German Sustainability Code identifies and high-
lights corporate sustainability achievements as ex-
amples of best corporate practice, makes them
more binding through transparency and comparabil-
ity, and thus extends the basis for assessing sus-
tainability. Capital flows can be channeled into fu-
ture-proof business models and companies.
Greater transparency enables companies to discern
opportunities and risks more readily to manage the-
se proactively. Companies located in Germany
which, today, are already required to satisfy higher
demands in Germany’s social market economy can
use a declaration of conformity with the German
Sustainability Code to lend worldwide transparency
to their sustainability performance and turn this into
a competitive edge.
Research
German Parliament Building in Berlin
25
So, What Have We Learnt From the GSC
Launched in October 2011, the German Sustainabil-
ity Code (GSC) has already attracted several key
corporate players in different industries. Evonik,
MAN, Allianz, Puma, Daimler, Bayer, Triodos Bank
and Deutsche Boerse have all submitted their
“declarations of conformity” to the German Sustain-
ability Code recently.
Thus, 17 declarations of conformity (with 20 more
companies considering signing the code) have been
published to date. Recently, the German network of
the Principles for Responsible Investment of the
United Nations (UN PRI) advised its signatories the
application of the GSC for investment decisions and
the documentation of compliance with the principles
in core business. Also the French Government have
recently invited the German Council for Sustainable
Development to come and present the GSC.
While it is still premature to evaluate the success or
failure of the Code, a few supportive factors in re-
gards to the process of launching the Code can be
identified: First, the whole project was designed as
a cooperative effort between the Sustainability
Council and diverse industries. In particular, in sev-
eral full day workshops, we talked extensively to the
financial industries in order to understand their per-
ception of risks and opportunities and to find com-
mon ground for a voluntary – but by no means arbi-
trary - approach. Government only came into play
once the Code was agreed to. In this stage of “roll
out”, it was of high importance that the support
came directly and outspokenly from the German
Chancellery – herewith setting an unwritten norm
and formulation specific expectations for German
industries.
Finally, since the Code is largely based on accepted
and well known standards, debates could and can
start already from an elaborated level – both within
corporations and between industries and the Coun-
cil – and can focus on the strategic and larger ques-
tions beyond the base work of drafting indicators.
For more information on the German Council for
Sustainable Development please visit:
www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/en
The code itself, can be found here:
www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/en/projects/projects-of-
the-council/deutscher-nachhaltigkeitskodex/
”Green” view of the German countryside
Research
Industrial Dock in Germany
26
Update from 360° Students for Sustainability
360° Students for Sustainability is
at the moment busy wrapping up
the academic year of 2011/12, and
preparing for what’s coming after
the summer.
The past year has been amazing
with many changes. In November,
we started our collaboration with
oikos International and in March we
were appointed members to repre-
sent Copenhagen. With the mem-
bership we have been able to ex-
pand our network and share
knowledge with other oikos chap-
ters. Furthermore, our members
got to attend conferences in Spain,
Germany, Switzerland and Swe-
den. 360° has been able to in-
crease the collaboration with other
student organizations at CBS
through the CBS Network. One
practical example of this was the
one-week NextLead conference on
responsible and sustainable leader-
ship that was arranged by five net-
work members. It attracted more
than 300 participants from all study
branches. The conference ended
with a party where we collected
over 18 000 DKK for the NGO
Care.
A big success was our nomination
for the CSR Awards 2011 in the
Student and the Communication
category. The honor to be consid-
ered for the awards by the sustain-
ability community shows the impact
we have made in the field. Over the
past two years, 360° has profes-
sionalized the organizational struc-
ture to be able to lift more tasks.
We will continue our efforts and
improvements because we believe
this is the right path to be the game
-changer we want to be.
We had our general assembly the
15th of June at 4 pm at Rosenvil-
laen, Porcelænshaven 7. Everyone
was welcome to join and say good-
bye to the old secretariat and wel-
come the new!
After the summer, we will return
with a new initiative called 360°
|Academy, and continue with 360°
|Develop Prize, Company visits and
more! We will of course also
strengthen and deepen the just
started collaborations with the Sus-
tainability Platform as well as CSE.
We are in negotiations with The
Sustainability Platform about them
supporting us with a student worker
to take administrative tasks and
thereby lessen the work load for
the volunteers, while the CSE is
providing us with office space in
their newly renovated floor at How-
itzvej 60.
On behalf of the organization,
thanks to all of you supporting us in
one way or the other! Have a beau-
tiful summer and see you in Sep-
tember!
Best Regards
Janni Raundahl
Chairperson
360⁰ Students for
Sustainability:
Website:
360students.dk
Email:
Facebook:
facebook.com/360students
Students
27
CBS Goes Green
CBS Goes Green is an official sustainability initiative at CBS that focus on
saving energy on campus by engaging people and implementing technical
solutions. As a leading Business School CBS strive to become one of Eu-
rope’s leaders in responsible leadership.
CBS Goes Green focus on three different pipelines:
People
Working closely with students and employees - on campus CBS Goes
Green strive to create a movement that will empower and continue the sus-
tainable development.
Technical measures
Together with Campus services CBS Goes Green strive to find and imple-
ment the best technical solutions that will save energy on campus and en-
hance sustainable living.
Research
Through research and benchmarking CBS Goes Green apply best practic-
es on campus and continue the development towards a sustainable cam-
pus.
At CBS, Green means developing an attitude towards sustainability and
practices that can be incorporated into everyday life. CBS Goes Green
wants to enhance a sense of responsibility as well as include students and
employees in the path to a sustainable campus. CBS Goes Green bench-
marks with the top universities of Europe and aims to be the number one
green university.
The CBS Goes Green Staff:
Sisse Videbæk-Felby, Mads Misiak Friis, Kathrine Johansen, Peter N. B. Christensen, Mie Johnsen.
Gert Bechlund (Marshal
Emeritus at CBS and founder
of CBS Goes Green).
Gert Bechlund has over 40
years of work experience at
CBS, which includes jobs like
Associate Professor, Head of
Department, Dean, University
Director and Director of Cam-
pus Facilities.
Gert has lead the implementa-
tion of The Green Strategy
since the beginning of 2009
and likes international review
work and teamwork. Gert finds
it invigorating to work with stu-
dents and he has high expec-
tations for the results of the
cooperation with the Green
Ambassadors. Gert expects
that CBS, in a few years, can
be leading in the areas of sus-
tainability, environmental is-
sues and diversity.
Gert Bechlund has a dedicated
staff of student employees and
several volunteers, all working
to establish and strengthen the
green agenda at CBS.
For more information on the
CBS Goes Green staff please
follow this link:
www.cbsgoesgreen.com/about
CBS Goes Green founder
CBS
28
Halfway towards 2020 Goals
During the spring of 2012 CBS Goes Green has
conducted an elaborate calculation of CBS’ energy
use, waste impact, water use, transportation use
and CO2 emissions. With help from Business Intelli-
gence CBS and Campus Services data have been
collected and analyzed in order to determine CBS’
CO2 Footprint for an extensive report.
The Case of Electricity
When looking at the energy use from 2008 to 2011
it is noticeable that the energy use has decreased
by 15.5%. Several factors contribute in explaining
this decrease.
First of all, about 1000 light bulbs have been
switched to electricity saving lighting (LED-lighting)
in many buildings. Furthermore, the effectiveness
of the ventilation system on CBS has been greatly
increased, which has had a big impact on the ener-
gy use. Last but not least, CBS has in recent years
become more aware of sustainability and saving
energy.
CBS focusses on reducing the consumption of
electricity in two ways:
By investing in more electricity-efficient technol-
ogy
By engaging students and employees in behav-
ioral change
Even though students might only have limited ac-
cess to the regulation of lighting and other electrici-
ty consuming activities at CBS - students can still
affect electricity use in certain situations, for in-
stance, remembering to switch of the computer
screens after using them.
Suggestions for further energy-saving
changes:
Solar panels (capacity of approximately 95% in
25 years)
Lighting (change to LED)
Solar screens for windows (reduces heat ab-
sorption through windows by up to 90%, result-
ing in energy cost savings)
CO2 Footprint
The goal of this project was to assess the impact of
CBS on the environment, and ultimately to calcu-
late CBS’ CO2 emissions. Through research CBS
Goes Green have uncovered an impressive 20%
decrease in CO2 emissions in only four years,
which is halfway to the goal of 40% in 2020. It
should, however, be noted that CBS should only be
accredited with a certain amount of this decrease,
as the contribution of renewable energy sources to
the provision of 1 KWh used has increased much,
thus automatically decreasing CO2 emissions.
How CBS is “Walking the Walk”
Concerning Sustainability
By the way, did you
know that electricity
emits approximately
four times more CO2
than heating?
CBS
29
Future work to be done
For CBS Goes Green’s future work, the goal is to expand the project by
converting the energy use, water use, waste and transportation into a busi-
ness case. This conversion would give an overview of how much is actually
spent on these activities in monetary terms, which might be more under-
standable than ton CO2, KWh, MWh etc. for students and employees. Also
CBS Goes Green are looking into expanding the project with a seminar and
paper series to further engage people on campus and external stakehold-
ers.
Also, CBS Goes Green are currently investigating the possibility of creating
a comparable analysis of CBS’ CO2 emissions through a benchmarking
analysis with Europe’s three largest Business Schools CBS, BI in Norway
and WU in Vienna. This is a highly ambitious project which will contribute to
setting a standard for measuring CO2 Footprint in Higher Education Institu-
tions.
Want to read more?
The report on CBS’ CO2 footprint is available through the website:
www.cbsgoesgreen.com
CBS Goes Green are looking for collaboration with researchers for future
work. Please get in touch if you have experience in this area and want to
contribute to CBS’ path to a sustainable campus.
Contact
CBS Goes Green
Copenhagen Business
School
Solbjerg Plads 3, D2.28,
2000 Frederiksberg
Mail.: [email protected]
Tel.: (+45) 3815 2018
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/
cbsgoesgreen
Sign up to become a
Green Ambassador:
http://podio.com/
webforms/989543/43994
Opening hours:
Monday-Thursday from
10.00 -13.00
CBS Goes Green
Copenhagen Business School
Solbjerg Plads 3, Office D2.28
2000 Frederiksberg
Tel.: 38 15 20 18
CBS
30
CIEL (Copenhagen Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Lab) is initiated by the presidents of Copenhagen Uni-
versity, Danish Technical University and Copenhagen
Business School, with the purpose of promoting re-
search and teaching with a focus on innovation and en-
trepreneurship. CIEL supports both educational initia-
tives and research initiatives.
Education
In relation to sustainability the educational initiative
“Green Innovation in Cities” look at novel ways for mak-
ing cities more sustainable in relation to resources,
flows and energies.
“Green Innovation in Cities” consist of three course
themes and a summer school. The course themes are:
Urban Greening, Urban Flows and Green Energies and
the summer school is focused on Clean Tech. Teach-
ers and students from all three universities are repre-
sented in the program - thereby, the program encour-
ages a new cross-disciplinary and holistic approach to
teaching green innovation and sustainability in cities.
By focusing on green innovation in cities, CIEL is help-
ing shape the next generation of decision makers scal-
ing up awareness of co-existence, sustainability and
urban development. By 2008, more than half of the
world’s population lived in cities and by 2030 United
Nations Population Fund (UNPF) projects that more
than 5 billion people will live in metropolitan areas.
Thus, it is important that cities become sustainable and
provide good living conditions for its inhabitants.
The Urban Greening course theme is centered on
urban water and vegetation ecosystems and how to
handle climate adaptation in sustainable ways within
the fields of, for instance, greenscape creation and
management, and floodwater management.
The Urban Flow course theme examines the goods
and material flows within, to and from a town. It sup-
ports ideas similar to the cradle-to-cradle concept by
reusing materials in both a technical and biological cy-
cle.
The Green Energy course points to increasing de-
mands for electricity from renewable energy sources
and investigate how to generate new ideas in this field,
for instance, how to fit in or adapt solar cell panels,
small windmills and bioenergy to city spaces.
Research
In addition to the teaching program, CIEL at CBS sup-
ports exciting research projects within sustainability,
such as:
1) ‘Creating the City of the Future’ (Patricia Plack-
ett), which researches innovative models for designing
and financing urban infrastructures, including energy
infrastructures
2) ‘Multi-stakeholder synergy analysis of innovation
for sustainability and green cities’ (Niels Kornum)
looks at how multiple stakeholders potentially create
synergy in order to promote the greening of the cities
3) ‘Co-creation – Experiences and learning from
company-university infrastructure’ (Sigvald Har-
ryson) investigates co-creation for companies develop-
ing clean energy and clean urban mobility
4) ‘Valuing Design - aesthetics, meaning and identi-
ty in the co-creation of sustainable living’ (Daniel
Hjort) investigates how identities around design and
sustainable living are formed, produced and uphold and
subsequently organized and governed
5) ‘Micro-financing, Sustainability and Rural Devel-
opment’ (Serdan Ozcan) researches how micro fi-
nancing of potential entrepreneurs in the health care
system can boost the quality of health care afforded to
residents of impoverished regions.
CIEL at CBS are also engaged in collaboration on busi-
ness cases for teaching purposes, conferences and
workshops. If you would like to acquire more infor-
mation on CIEL at
CBS, please contact
Luise Noring Henler:
CIEL goes Green at CBS
CBS
31
Understanding CSR and
Sustainable Development
in Afghanistan
By Sameer Azizi
My initial focus on CSR in Afghani-
stan was based on my master thesis
at the Business and Development
studies master program at CBS.
The thesis aimed to explain the im-
pact of CSR on poverty reduction in
Afghanistan. Soon after the comple-
tion of the thesis report in summer
2010, I realized that this research
topic was much more complex and
relevant than I had imagined. In
2011, I came back to ICM at CBS as
a Research Assistant and got the
possibility to conduct a three-
months field study on CSR in Af-
ghanistan. This trip to Afghanistan
was my 12th since 2003, as I have
earlier been working for a Danish
NGO (GES) during 2006-2010, and
it enabled me to work further on my
Ph.D. proposal for this topic. In
March 2012 I got the Ph.D. stipend
from CBS to finally work on my
Ph.D. research.
Now why would one focus on CSR
in Afghanistan?
The discourse on CSR and sustain-
ability has in the past decades un-
dertaken many assumptions about
businesses’ role in supporting pov-
erty reduction through CSR in the
poorest regions of the world. How-
ever, very few research projects
have actually focused on CSR in the
poorest contexts of the world. Af-
ghanistan is a war-torn country that
has suffered from war and instability
through more than four decades.
The U.N. has ranked the country as
one of the world’s least-developed
countries in regards to human de-
velopment and poverty.
The Afghan state is generally char-
acterized as a fragile state due to
high level of corruption and lack of
security and control over their terri-
tory. The businesses in Afghanistan
have a large room for maneuvering
and can therefore play a very im-
portant and crucial role in poverty
reduction and stabilization of the
country.
The aim of my research project is
therefore to focus on CSR in Af-
ghanistan in order to provide new
theoretical and empirical insights on
the business-society relations in a
context that is completely different
from those yet studied in the litera-
ture.
Sameer Azizi, is a Ph.D.-
Fellow at the Department of
Intercultural Communication
and Management, with a
background as cand.merc.int
from CBS.
His Ph.D. project aims to
understand and explain the
relationship between CSR
and poverty reduction in Af-
ghanistan - characterized as
a least-developed country
with a fragile state and post-
war attributes.
The focus of the project is to
explore the relationship be-
tween CSR's business case
and the development case,
and to explain how, when
and why this relationship en-
ables or disables CSR's im-
pact on poverty reduction.
Empirically, the project in-
vestigates the telecommuni-
cation sector in Afghanistan
consisting of both foreign
and domestic companies.
cbs.dk/sameerazizi
The Afghani flag
Research
Ph.D. Highlight
32
Focus on Telecommunications
More concretely,
my focus will be
on four both lo-
cal and interna-
tional telecom-
munication firms’
CSR in Afghani-
stan.
The telecommu-
nication industry
is important, as it
is one of the
fastest growing
formal industries
in not only Afghanistan but in many least developed
and emerging economies. Moreover, it is important
to note that the telecommunication firms are highly
engaged with CSR.
The questions are then why firms in such countries
invest in CSR? And what are the developmental
impacts of these CSR initiatives for the local Af-
ghans? My initial studies in Afghanistan shows that
CSR is not led by the standard arguments from
books in the literature such as; consumer activities,
state regulation or NGO pressure. Therefore in or-
der to understand the business logic of CSR in
such a context, a more contextualized understand-
ing of CSR is required that goes beyond the west-
ern logic and the one-size-fit framing of CSR.
My current understanding of the field also revels
that businesses – at least in the telecommunication
industry – are interested in a more prosperous and
stabile Afghanistan. Therefore, the developmental
impacts of CSR in such contexts are to be mapped
and explored first and then questioned; how can
CSR as business’ tool for development enable sus-
tainable development for the local population in a
war-torn and poor country?
This could lead to the question of who gains from
CSR and who do not – and importantly why/why
not?
Research
Communication lines and wiring
Afghanistan quick facts:
With a population of approximately 29 million,
Afghanistan has an area of 647,500 km2, mak-
ing it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest
nation in the world.
It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the
east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbeki-
stan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in
the far northeast.
Afghanistan is an impoverished and least de-
veloped country, one of the world's poorest due
to the decades of war and nearly complete lack
of foreign investment. In 2009 approximately
42 % of the population lived on less than $1 a
day, according to the US Agency for Internatio-
nal Development (USAID).
Map of Afghanistan
33
During spring 2012, CBS sustainability Platform has facilitated the development of a few new Ph.D.
collaborations for CBS. Since the last issue of CSQ, the following Ph.D. collaborations, which all focus
on elements of sustainability, have been approved.
Furthermore, the Platform has had a Ph.D. position for CBS approved through the E.U. system, under
the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks.
Corporate Ph.D. Collaboration with AP Møller Maersk and Ph.D.-Fellow Majbritt Greve
(MPP)
CBS Ph.D.-Fellow Majbritt Greve has entered into an corporate Ph.D. collaboration with AP Møller
Maersk. The project will revolve around the linking of foreign direct investment and strategic use of
CSR literature in a tool-developing perspective, in order to create a business model that can provide
value for both company and society.
I4S/ITN
Through the E.U. system, CBS have been awarded funding for one Ph.D.-Fellow under the Marie Cu-
rie Initial Training Networks (ITN). The overarching scientific objective of the I4S/ITN is to train re-
searchers who better understand the processes and practices that foster sustainability-driven inno-
vation (“SDI”). Throughout this proposal, SDI is understood as a business contribution to sustainable
development. The search for a suitable candidate for the Ph.D. position will commence during sum-
mer.
Corporate Ph.D. Collaboration with PwC and CBS Ph.D.-Fellow Ann-Charlotte Beier-
holm (AA)
The CBS Department of Accounting and Auditing and the Department of Intercultural Communication
and Management have collaborated with PwC on a corporate Ph.D.
With tax reporting as focal point, this project extends prior research by examining a new subject mat-
ter of CSR reporting and by conducting in-depth explorative research that deals with the practice of
CSR reporting, including the design of reporting processes, related communication and, in collabora-
tion with practitioners, by identifying challenges and related solutions.
New Ph.D.s
Research
34
The Economist: Sustainability in the CBS MBA
The corporate social responsibility and sustainability offerings of the CBS MBA program are now featured in
The Economist’s online “Which MBA” webinar series.
The Economist offers its “Which MBA” series as a service to prospective MBA candidates to compare MBA
programs from around the world.
The 23 minute segment about the Copenhagen Business School is conducted by CBS MBA Admissions
Manager Thuli Kutloano Skosana and CBS Ph.D. Robert Strand.
For more information on the CBS Full Time MBA, please follow this link:
cbs.dk/fulltimemba
The segment can be viewed at: https://event.webcasts.com/viewer/directLink.jsp?ei=1005925
Education
35
Recent Events
ISUP Networking Café Event, July 3rd, 2012, at Solbjerg Plads 3, Nexus Bar
The Brand Strategy Director for State of Green – Marius Sylvestersen – came to CBS for a networking event.
State of Green – ‘the official green brand for Denmark’ – aims to strengthen international awareness of the solu-
tions and competencies of Danish business in dealing with climate change impacts.
Roskilde Festival 2012, June 30th, 2012 – CBS Goes Green visits Backstage Sustainability
This year CBS Goes Green and Green Associates visited Roskilde Festival and their sustainable initiatives.
Backstage Sustainability focuses on environmental- and sustainability work, and audience involvement. The
event took the participants on an adventure through Roskilde Festival's many green installations, crazy experi-
ments, enriching talks and audience involved activities and games.
For more info: http://back-stage.dk/raadgivning_viden/backstage/backstage_workshops/sustainability/
Contact person: Sisse Videbæk-Felby, [email protected]
Seminar, by the Department of Economics - V. Kerry Smith (Arizona State University): Quasi Experi-
ments, Hedonic Models, and Estimating Tradeoffs for Local Amenities - June 25th, 2012, 13.00-14.00
at Porcelænshaven 16A, room 2.80
This paper evaluates whether the property value capitalization effects measured with quasi-experimental meth-
ods offer reliable estimates of the willingness to pay for changes in amenities. We propose the use of a market
simulation as a robustness check. Two applications establish the method’s relevance. The first examines the
conversion of land cover from desert to wet landscape. The second examines the cleanup of hazardous waste
sites. We find that even when quasi-experimental methods have access to ideal instruments their performance in
measuring general equilibrium willingness to pay cannot be assumed ideal. It needs to be evaluated considering
the specific features of each application.
For more information please see http://www.cbs.dk/en/Research/Departments-Centres/Institutter/node_3381/
Menu/Seminars
Seminar with Dr. Arne Bigsten (University of Gothenburg) and Dr. John Kuada (Aalborg University),
June 20th, 2012, 13.00-16.00, at Kilevej 16, room Ks71
African Business On the Rise?
From “The hopeless continent” (Economist, 2000) to “The hopeful continent” (Economist, 2010), African business
appears to be on the rise. But how much do we really know about the new African business lions? How wide-
spread are these African lions, what defines this new generation of African firms, and what are the determinants
of their success? In short, what are the major research agendas on the rise of African business?
CBDS invited two distinguished scholars on African enterprise development - Arne Bigsten, Professor in Devel-
opment Economics at the University of Gothenburg, and John Kuada, Professor of International Management at
Aalborg University, to CBS. Based on their presentations and the following discussion, the seminar sought to re-
fine the research agenda on African business. The seminar provided inputs to a major CBDS research project on
‘Successful African Firms and Institutional Change’ (The SAFIC Project) recently funded by the Danida Research
Council (see www.cbs.dk/cbds/safic for more information).
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Partnership 2012: NGO+Business . Towards a Sustainable Society Conference, June 10th to 12th,
2012, at Solbjerg Plads 3
June 10th - 12th, 2012, Copenhagen Business School hosted an international partnership conference with partic-
ipation of some of the world’s leading experts from business, NGOs, and academia.
Key-Note speakers (among others): Kofi Annan, HRH Crown Princess Mary, Ole Sohn, Peter Eigen, Simona
Marinescu, Karsten Dybvad, Jon Duschinsky and Mette Morsing.
The objective of the conference was to disseminate knowledge about innovative, cutting-edge partnerships, stim-
ulate match-making between businesses and NGOs, and communicate the newest research findings on interna-
tional partnerships practices. The Partnership NGO+Business Conference had a very interesting program, span-
ning over three days. If you want to have a more detailed view of the agenda and see the presentations and ma-
terial, please visit cbs.dk/sustainabilityplatform or partnership2012.com
Sustainability Seminar Series, June 7th, 2012, 12.00-15.00, at Porcelænshaven 22, room R3.20
Workshop on understandings of the term ”sustainability” at CBS.
June 2012 was 20 years since the Rio Earth Summit that popularized the term “Sustainable Development”.
With the Sustainability Platform CBS is signaling that we consider this term still to be of crucial importance in a
business school context. However, what do we understand when we use the term “Sustainability“?
This workshop aimed to clarify the terminology of sustainability and to identify pathways to how it can be used
fruitfully in business school research. While the aim was not one single CBS-wide definition, it was sought to map
the different uses of the term within CBS and understand what these mean, for potential research collaborations.
The workshop was introduced by brief statements from 4 CBS faculty who had volunteered to propose one text/
definition: Peter Møllgaard (Econ), Adriana Budeanu (INT), Lucia Reisch (cbsCSR) and Kai Hockerts (cbsCSR).
This was followed by a broad discussion with contributions from several departments across CBS (OM, ICM,
MPP, Marktg, INT, FI, ECON, IOA and INO).
You can find the presentations from the workshop under events and activities at: cbs.dk/sustainabilityplatform
Sustainability Seminar Series, May 8th, 2012, 14.00 - 15.30, at Porcelænshaven 22, R1.20
Frank de Bakker on “How do (networks of) NGOs try to impact firms and norms on issues of corporate social
responsibility?”
Frank de Bakker is an Associate Professor of strategic management at Department of Organization Sciences at
University Amsterdam, and a board member of The Faculty of Social Sciences and of the International Associa-
tion for Business and Society. His research interests are at the intersect of social movement studies and institu-
tional theory and focuses on corporate social responsibility, environmental management & innovation, among
other subjects. Frank de Bakker’s work has been published in for example Academy of Management Review,
Business & Society, Organization Studies and Journal of Business Ethics.
At this seminar Frank de Bakker drew upon his previous work on mapping NGOs impact on firms and invited the
participants to comment and discuss the findings and the recent progress of some of his work-in-progress.
The presentation from the seminar can be found under events and activities at cbs.dk/sustainabilityplatform
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MISTRA Future Fashion Symposium, May 2nd, 2012, 09.00-16.30, at Porcelænshaven 22, RS.20
As part of the MISTRA Future Fashion Program, Copenhagen Business School (CBS) hosted an international
symposium, coordinated by Associate Professor Esben Rahbek Pedersen, on sustainable fashion on May 2nd,
2012. The Symposium had the participation of both researchers and practitioners who discussed the potentials for
mainstreaming sustainability within the fashion industry. The focus of the Symposium was on the opportunities
and barriers for integrating social and environmental issues in different stages of the fashion lifecycle – from design
to final disposal and reuse of clothes. Participants were, among others, from; H&M, Katvig, CBS, Malmö Universi-
ty, Chalmers and Aarhus University.
For more information please visit: mistrafuturefashion.com
Seminar by 360⁰ Students for Sustainability, April 12th, 2012, 14.00-16.00, at Solbjerg Plads 3,
roomSP202
Sustainability next in China and Denmark!
360⁰ Students arranged a conference on business and sustainability trends and challenges in China and Denmark.
These topics were covered in presentations by Friis Arne Petersen, Ambassador of Denmark to China and Anna
Lise Mortensen Grandjean, Director at the Danish Business Council for Sustainable Development. The event was
rounded off with a Q&A.
For more information please see: facebook.com/events/341183825928893/
Sustainability Seminar Series, April 12th, 2012, 14.00 - 15.30, at Kilevej 14A, K4.41
Jean-Pascal Gond on Strategizing Corporate Social Responsibility: Institutional Work in Practice.
Jean-Pascal Gond is a guest Professor at HEC Montreal and before that he was an assistant Professor at the In-
ternational Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility of Nottingham University Business School. His research ana-
lyzes the socio-political dimensions of CSR, the influence of CSR programs on employees and how theories are
transformed into managerial practices. Jean-Pascal Gond's publications can be found in, for example, Organiza-
tion Science, Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Business Ethics Quarterly, Business and So-
ciety and Economy and Society.
At this seminar, Jean-Pascal Gond presented his recent work with institutional theory, and his work-in-progress,
and asked the participants for inputs regarding his work up until now. The discussion went on and more work-
meetings were arranged for further collaboration to take place.
The presentation from the seminar is available under events and activities at cbs.dk/sustainabilityplatform
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38
Upcoming Events
CBS Goes Green; Meeting the New Students, August 2012
CBS Goes Green work close together with tutors from different bachelor programs to ensure that all new students
get an understanding of sustainability and the work being done at CBS by CBS Goes Green. To ensure this un-
derstanding they host a competition to give incentives towards sustainable behavior where they award the most
sustainable intro trip. The competition is being evaluated on criteria´s such as waste sorting, energy saving, trans-
portation, care for local environment and other creative sustainable initiatives. In addition to the competition CBS
Goes Green also perform introductions at the different programs in the intro period to explain about different initia-
tives and how students can get involved in a sustainable future.
CBS Goes Green finds it very important to start a dialogue and understanding of sustainability early in the stu-
dents’ university life.
For more information please contact Mads Misiak Friis: [email protected]
Responsibility Day, August 31st, 2012, Falconer Salen
The Office of PRME at CBS will host the Responsibility Day where new students enrolling at CBS, will be intro-
duced to issues and opportunities concerning responsibility and sustainability. The CBS Responsibility Day is a full
day dedicated to the promotion of issues of responsibility, ethics and sustainability in both corporate and student life and
is aimed at all 2500 first semester students within the undergraduate programs. Taking place on the August 31st it is the
new students' first ever encounter with the CBS classroom and the ambition is to introduce each student to critical is-
sues concerning responsibility, ethics and sustainability.
For more information and a full program for the day please visit the site www.intro.cbs.dk/rd (work in progress) or
write student assistant Ane Kamstrup Pedersen: [email protected]
CBS Sustainability Ph.D. Cohort Launch, September 10th, 2012
The CBS Sustainability Ph.D. Cohort that was described in the first issue of CSQ, will commence on September
10th, 2012, and offers a 7,5 ECTS core course and a 3 ECTS method course, emphasizing theoretical positioning
of research.
The core course "Perspectives on Sustainability" will run on the following dates: September 10th, 17th, 18th and
19th, 2012; with bi-weekly reading seminars running from September 27th, 2012, to February 7th, 2013.
The method course will run from October 29th until October 31st, 2012.
Both courses focus on sustainability research and it is voluntarily if you want to follow one or both. An excellent
blend of national and international professors have been mobilized to teach the program, including Andreas
Rasche (Warwick University - from August 1st, a CBS Professor), Steen Vallentin (CBS), Eva Boxenbaum
(Copenhagen Business School and Mines ParisTech), Jean-Pascal Gond (HEC Montreal), Søren Jeppesen
(CBS) and Mette Morsing (CBS).
For more information on the Ph.D. Cohort, please contact Katja Høeg Tingleff: [email protected]
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Green Week, September 24th to 28th, 2012
Every year CBS Goes Green hosts Green Week, which engages and incorporates all students on campus. CBS
Goes Green demonstrate best practices through inspirational presentations and show the students how they will
be able to apply their core skill set when working with sustainability.
The headline for Green Week 2012 is Sustainability 2.0. At Copenhagen Business School students are becoming
increasingly interested in sustainability. As future leaders they are opting for classes, minors and research projects
that emphasize the sustainability perspective in creating smarter businesses.
Companies that demonstrate leadership in the era of Sustainability 2.0 will not just inquire about the quantity of
resources they use but will seek to learn whether what they offer actually enhances the lives of their customers,
stakeholders and planetary communities.
CBS Goes Green believe that for the business leaders of tomorrow, it is essential to link vision with purpose. As
business leaders we need to look at how we can use our core business, not only by doing better for society, but by
making smarter businesses.
For more information please contact Kathrine Johansen, [email protected]
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40
CBS Sustainability Platform Porcelænshaven 18A, office 0.141 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Tel.3815 3286 [email protected] www.cbs.dk/sustainabilityplatform
CBS Sustainability Platform Leadership and Staff
Director, Professor Mette Morsing (Ph.D., MSc.)
Mail: [email protected]
Tel.: 3815 3205
Project Manager, Kristina Walker Pedersen (MSc.)
Mail: [email protected]
Tel.: 3815 3286
Communications Officer, Lars Wermelin Aarestrup (MA.)
Mail: [email protected]
Tel.: 3815 3231
CBS
The CBS Sustainability Plat-
form look forward to wel-
coming Professor Stefano
Ponte (DBP) as the new
Academic Co-Director.
A detailed description and a
thorough welcome and
presentation will be part of
the next issue of CSQ.
cbs.dk/stefanoponte