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October 30, 2008
Alexander Orme, IMBA 2008
We are excited to be welcoming Jeremy Leggett as this year's keynote speaker at the SR Forum. Mr Leggett will share his views on the potentially disastrous repercussions of reaching peak oil production - a subject on which he is a world expert. Here is a snippet of his thoughts from a recent article published on The Guardian
"Today, eight British companies are warning of a ruinous oil crunch five years from now. We warn that the global peak of oil production will arrive unexpectedly early, resulting in not just a global energy crisis, but potentially the withholding of exports by oil producers and energy famine in oil-importing countries. Previously unimaginable policy interventions in financial markets have suddenly become imperative, and similar interventions in energy markets today may be worth their weight in gold tomorrow, in terms of economic and social damage avoided, especially as this would also help tackle climate change."
Read more here.
Come and hear him for yourself on 15 November. Be warned! His views are not going to make you feel comfortable but there is a good reason why business leaders and government ministers around the world are taking him extremely seriously...
October 27, 2008
Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management
For third straight year, the Social Responsibility Forum will be taking place at IE Business School, November 14 and 15. This is our annual main event which brings together experts who engage in social and environmental issues, be it through corporate social responsibility, starting their own social enterprises or through business endeavours in the environmental arena. Led by IE Students, this years program is fantastic! From social entrepreneurs such as Jonathan Robinson, Barry Colemand and Dr. Andreas Heinecke, who design novel business ideas to tackle social and environmental problems, to trendsetters who work inside today's mature companies as advocates of policies that take into account the whole range of stakeholders and the environment.
This year we will welcome Mr. Jeremy Legget, chairman of Solar Century and climate change specialist as our keynote speaker.
See the full program.
See the list of speakers.
Take part on the career fair and networking event on Saturday.
Compete at the Social Entrepreneurship Buiness Plan Competition, by Sumaq.
Save your spot! We have limited capacity and it promises to be a blast.
October 11, 2007
Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management
Madrid, October 10, 2007. IE Business School is No.10 in the world and No. 1 in Europe in the biennial MBA ranking published by The Aspen Institute's Center for Business Education. The Aspen Institute ranking, known as “Beyond Grey Pinstripes”, is considered the most prestigious of its kind and evaluates how social and environmental issues are integrated into the MBA programs of 100 top international business schools.
“In the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, success is measured not by how much new MBA graduates earn or how many offers they get,” said Judith Samuelson, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, “but by how well prepared they are to guide a company through the complex relationship of business and society, where issues relating to the environment or the well-being of a community can impact a company’s performance and reputation.”
The ranking’s authors highlight the fact that IE Business School offers an extraordinary number of courses with relevant social or environmental content in comparison with other schools. IE Business School’s longstanding commitment to society permeates every one of its initiatives, to the extent that IE now has a dedicated social impact management department that plays a pivotal role in the school’s day-to-day activities.
“At IE we are acutely aware of the need to generate knowledge about responsible leadership. This concern translates into initiatives like our seminars on ethics, the IE Alumni Chair in Corporate Ethics and IE research centres dedicated to eco-intelligent management, diversity and corporate responsibility,” says Joaquín Garralda, Vice Dean of IE Business School and Director of the PwC-IE Centre for Corporate Responsibility. “We know how important it is to have an integral vision of how business decisions impact the environment.”
Download a Pdf of the 2007-2008 Report
See the Global 100 List
See the Top Ten Lists
August 31, 2007
Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management
We’re back from the summer break and eager to continue the conversation on corporate responsibility and sustainability. As last year, I include a list of events and topics which took place in the month of August:
The winner’s of the “Disruptive Innovations in Health and Health Care” have been announced.
5 new Ashoka fellow’s in Mexico
Echoing Green has announced their 2007 Fellows
Cemex is considered as one of the leaders in BoP space both through Construmex and Patrimonio Hoy
Harvard Business Review’s article on the dangers of Microcredit
GE Money and their Earth Rewards credit card
The 2007 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition is now open
$100 laptop production launched
Take a look at people who live in Manhattan and yet receive agricultural subsidies from the US federal government
Interesting initiative of “Executives Without Borders” shared by Pablo Halkyard
Snapshot at Global Migration
Upcoming Social Venture Conferences
Social Enterprise Competitions
July 19, 2007
María Soledad Pons Caruso, MBA 2007, Net Impact Chapter Leader
Wednesday, the 4th of July, the Global Village event took place at Instituto de Empresa. It was organized by Net Impact, but we would like to thank everyone who helped out in any manner. These people include the organizing committee, the country stand coordinators, those who prepared food or presentations, and all those who attended and helped support this cause.
The event raised around 2000 euros which will be split between four NGOs: ONGs: Koinonia (Kenya), Skip (Perú), Un Techo para mi país (Latinoamérica) y la New Gate to Peace Foundation (Jerusalem). Below you will find information on each. The money will be transferred next week. If you would still like to elect among them you may send an e-mail in the next few days.
At about 3 in the afternoon, many people left their classes early and began the preparations, led by Stephane who took charge of the logistics. At the door, the rest of the people were met by Guillermo, Lau, Sole, and Brent. More than 200 people attended! They were not only IMBAs, but also MBAs from September and February intakes, the master in Telecom and Digital Business, master in Finance y and Marketing.
The regions and countries represented were: Arab (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon among others), Brazil, Central America (Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panamá), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, México, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and USA.
The Global Village had a dual purpose: to raise money for the NGOs and to celebrate the diversity of countries at IE. IE has a very international student body, so we should take advantage to learn about the cultures of others in all aspects, not just the work – related.
Continue reading 'Global Village, Second Edition'
March 26, 2007
Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management
Philipp, Tobias, Guillermo and Blagoja have come up with the grand prize of the Sustainable Innovation Challenge competition at Thunderbird, which challenges the teams to come up with the most innovative solution to a real-world business issue that reflects corporate social responsibility.
“The Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit is a clear recognition that we can no longer separate a business’ financial success from its responsibility to society and the planet,” says Gregory Unruh, director of Thunderbird’s Lincoln Center for Ethics in International Management. “Future business leaders will have to find innovative solutions that create simultaneous value for both the company and the world at large. And there is no better group to challenge than those MBAs from around the world that will have to create and implement ideas for a sustainable and prosperous future.”
German students Philipp Pausder and Tobias Schirmer, Macedonian Blagoja Hamamdziev and Mexican Guillermo Ortega presented their work called “Disruptive Thoughts” to a jury integrated by experts in innovation and CSR, including entrepreneurs, business men, consultants and academics. Among other 85 business schools and 10 finalists, they have won a cash prize of $20,000 as well as the title “2007 Global Champions of Sustainable Innovation”. IE Students won at the same competition last year, which was named Global Citizenship Challenge back then, an outstanding 3rd Place.
“Too often, the tools of innovation are deployed in the pursuit of riches and the cost of failure is seen as simply foregone fortune,” said keynote speaker Michael Raynor of Deloitte Consulting LLP and the bestselling author of “The Innovator’s Solution” and “The Strategy Paradox.” “By injecting the concept of sustainability, this event recognizes that failure has a real cost, and innovators that ‘swing for the fence’ and dismissively accept the cost of ‘striking out’ are taking an irresponsible approach to risk.”
Congratulations to you all!
Take a look at all the Business Schools which took part on the challenge.
March 13, 2007
A standout team of IMBA students steps up to the challenge and claims a spot among the top ten teams in contention for the grand prize in the thunderbird sustainable innovation challenge competition
Driven by their smarts and appetite for success, the team of four IE protégés await their chance to present their work in front of the judges panel at Thunderbird’s Sustainable Innovation Summit, which will be held later this month in Phoenix, Arizona.
Madrid, Spain (March 9th, 2007) – As if going through an intensive and rigorous one-year MBA program of the caliber of the IE’s International MBA weren’t enough, a group of students took up the challenge of competing in the Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Challenge and now find themselves among an elite circle of forward thinking teams vying to win the contest’s top honors. What’s more, the four-member team that will be representing IE Business School at the Thunderbird’s Sustainable Innovation Summit in late March will also be the only team from a European business school.
Camino de Paz, Program Director of MBAs at IE Business School, expressed the school’s support for the student-led team and stated, “At this point in the game, these four students have already demonstrated an incredible amount of drive, vision, and commitment – all qualities that resonate strongly with our institution’s core values. It is an honor to have them represent IE Business School name in such a prestigious and high profile competition”.
The contest, which put 85 post graduate teams on a head-to-head competition to see who delivers the most compelling and ground-breaking piece of work, aims to create innovative solutions to real world business challenges that reflect a commitment to economically, environmentally and socially sound business practices. Competing teams come from the most highly regarded business schools in the United States, Europe and Asia, including MIT Sloan, HEC, IMD, CEIBES, among others.
Continue reading 'IMBA students at Sustainable Innovation Challenge Competition Finals'
March 07, 2007
Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management
How about a real space that fosters social innovation? A space where social entrepreneurship can be breathed on every corner. This has been The Hub in London experience. Their core product is flexible membership of inspirational and highly resourced habitats in the world’s major cities for social innovators to work, meet, learn, connect and realise progressive ideas. It is now present in London, Bristol, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo and Cairo. But the conversation is ongoing and advanced in the Netherlands, Mumbai, Berlin, Belgium, Halifax, Mexico and has several synergies with the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto, which is a “convergence facility” for the social mission community, The Melting Pot in Edinburgh and others.
The market need is expressed by social innovators whose ability to thrive requires access to highly resourced, flexible and safe spaces within which to scale up, change gear, take risks and make mistakes. Over time, social innovators need access to a range of just-in-time resources and market-facing opportunities to thrive: knowledge, capital and networks. The Hub provides channels to such resources and opportunities, without crushing the innovators initial spark and ingenuity.
We are engaging on a couple of action led conversations, one of which includes the openning of a hub like space in Madrid. If you want to be part of this conversation contact me.
September 21, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The 2006 Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting, wich is truly designed to inspire action, is taking place September 20-22. You can watch it ALL through LIVE Webcasts.
I have just seen the "Building a Sustainable Future" session, moderated by Peter C. Goldmark Jr.
Program Director, Environmental Defense with panelists such as:
John Chambers, President & Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Systems Inc.
Al Gore, Chairman, Generation Investment Management
Klaus Kleinfeld, President & Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank
Business accountability on sustainability issues, social enterprises as an engine of change, global warming and the impact we can all make in order to face the crisis were some of the subjects covered in the session. Al Gore makes reference to the global warming issue with brilliant symbolism, evoking the chinese symbol of crisis, which holds the meanin of both Danger and Opportunity. His closing speech was remarkable, I truly recommend it. Not only has he become, as we've stated before on this blog, a great and moving public speaker, but I'm still impressed by his "Impact and influence on the audience" capability, making you not only believe his message, but most importantly, making you commit to solving the crisis of our generation.
Just to understand his "moving" ability, Sir Richard Branson commited $3Billion to renewable energy initiatives. This implies the investment of 100% of profits from Virgin's transportation businesses over 10 years to combat global warming. This is an impressive announcement, not just monetarily, but actually comitting ALL your profits to this stake is something I still can not grasp.
If you have time, go into the live webcast of the remaining sessions and if not, I truly recommend leaving a couple of hours of your weekend to do so.
Some of the more than 100 commitments, amounting nearly $2.1 billion only on the first day are:
Abraham's Vision. Gadi Kenny commits to fund summer 2006 Vision Program, where Abraham's Vision educators took Jewish & Palestinian American students to the Balkans to engage in analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Learn more here.
Mobilize $500 Million To Benefit 50 Million People. To leverage Opportunity International's 35-year microfinance experience to mobilize $500Mby 2010 for financial services for 50 million poor, providing a better future for themselves and their communities. Learn more here.
Laboratory Services Strengthening. Working with the Ugandan government, FIND will create a model for reliable diagnosis of poverty-related diseases by identifying deficiencies in current services and addressing them through social franchising. Learn more here.
Watch all the Web Casts here.
July 07, 2006
Madrid, July 6th, 2006.
5 of IE’s Net Impact members have awarded Ashoka for “their achievements on building a competitive citizen sector, being a reference on social entrepreneurship for the past 26 years”. This symbolic monetary award was granted to Maria Zapata, Director of Ashoka Spain, who shared a very interesting conversation with Imke, Alex, Van, Russ and Alberto, the team who won 3rd place on the Global Citizenship Challenge.
At that same event, the Net Impact members presented a Partnership Proposal to Ashoka, which is intended to build a stronger win-win relationship between both organizations. Several possibilities of collaboration have been proposed, such as Pro-bono projects, through which young, enthusiastic MBA students can collaborate with Ashoka Fellows by sharing their skills and business expertise, as well as through guest speaker collaborations, benefiting form both extensive networks of incredible individuals which are dealing with socially-related issues.
Conscious of the hard work and perseverance of building a long and lasting partnership, this proposal is just the beginning of this conversation. We look forward on building upon it and we are confident that it will be a win-win partnership, based upon our common goal to make the world a better place.
May 22, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, an alliance of 212 multinationals destined to support the corporate commitment against HIV/AIDS, has just given the GBC Awards for Business Excellence. These awards, which recognize outstanding contributions from individual businesses and business leaders fighting HIV/AIDS, where granted this year to the following companies:
• Unilever, Business Excellence in the Workplace
• L’Oreal, Business Excellence in the Community
• National Basketball Association, Business Excellence using Core Competency
• Xstrata, Business Excellence in Counseling and Testing
• Merck, Business Excellence in National Action
• American Express, Business Excellence in Leadership
Richard Holbrooke, and Mark Moody-Stuart, both members of the GBC have just written an article on the Financial Times on which they argue how companies attitudes are starting to change in regards to the fight against HIV/Aids.
Therese Lethou, Director of GBC Europe will be at Instituto de Empresa on June 29th in an event organized by IE’s Net Impact Chapter. In order to attend this event or further information, please contact Imke Buttkus, 2006 IMBA candidate.
May 17, 2006
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
SustainAbility is looking for an Associate Director who will be a "Core Team member supporting senior management in development and delivery of the company’s research and advocacy (R&A) strategy. The AD will play a key role in shaping R&A strategy, assisting in R&A program development and implementation, undertaking fundraising and sponsorship outreach and developing metrics to assess R&A impact. The AD will also play a central role in delivery of the three-year Skoll Foundation-SustainAbility Social Entrepreneurship Program."
SustainAbility is a strategy consultancy and independent think tank specialising in the business risks and market opportunities of corporate responsibility and sustainable development.
The deadline for applications is 31 May 2006.
Full Job description and Pdf here.
May 05, 2006
Van Culver, IMBA 2006 Candidate
President of Instituto de Empresa's Net Impact Chapter
I'm pleased to report to you that one of our own has been selected to compete in the second round of the Business in Development Challenge 2006. To give you an idea of the magnitude of his achievement, Alex Corrie's plan is one of 75 chosen from over 1600 plans from 90 different countries. If I paid proper attention in my Quantitative Methods class, Alex's plan is in the top 5%. His proposed business aims to help achieve two of the UN Millennium Development Goals (eradicate poverty/hunger and improve environment/housing) by importing and selling fashionable clothing and handicrafts from established artisan groups in the developing world.
What's next for Alex? He will work on his plan with a personal coach until June 20th. Then a jury will select 25 finalists who will be invited to the Netherlands for the BiD Challenge week, September 25-29. In that week they will be personally assessed by the Jury and get the opportunity to present their plan to Dutch based companies and organisations. The jury will select the winners in that same week, on the basis of the business plan and personal assessment.
Once the plan is complete, Alex will present it to IE's Net Impact Chapter. Congratulations Alex and best of luck in the next round!
See Alex's Business Plan Summary.
See the Bid Challenge Round 2 Results.
See the Round 2 Participants.
April 28, 2006
The Social Responsibility Club at the Instituto de Empresa (IE) transitioned to a Net Impact Chapter on 26 April. Net Impact’s mission is to improve the world by growing and strengthening a network of new leaders who are using the power of business to make a positive net social, environmental, and economic impact. With over 120 chapters across the world, a central office in San Francisco, and partnerships with leading for and nonprofit organizations, Net Impact enables members to use business for social good in their graduate education, careers, and communities.
For more information click here.
