CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY ON THE CRANFIELD eMBA
2011
Welcome to Cranfield School of Management, where together with some 300 other management schools
across the world we have signed the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education, recognising the
importance of incorporating corporate sustainability into our teaching. We would want you, our the next
generation of business leaders, to develop these four key attributes:
Be adaptive, self-aware and practice ethical leadership, able to think independently, learn from events
in the external environment, and promote responsible governance
Adopt cutting edge managerial practices and business acumen – aligning performance objectives, reward systems, and employee engagement with core values
Develop entrepreneurial thinking, including elements of social entrepreneurship and innovative approaches
Understand the environment of business – how to manage in times where the need for an ethical and
responsible mindset is critical, when we are experiencing rapid change, uncertainty, complexity and
global diversity.
The eMBA programme is one of our key priorities for incorporating sustainability into our teaching. During
your time here you will have many opportunities to explore corporate responsibility and sustainability further – e.g. through case study teaching, conferences and seminars, our Sustainable Business elective, an
independent project, or even joining the global student led Net Impact group.
As a leading management school, we need to engage in this discourse today, which in turn will help us become a stronger and ever-relevant school of management tomorrow. I believe that the ‘business of business is sustainable business’.
Professor Frank Horwitz
Director, Cranfield School of Management
WELCOME TO CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AT CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
Will your Cranfield MBA be sustainable? You are investing a lot of time, money and emotional energy in your MBA. You rightly expect it to be a good life-time investment. One of
the central questions facing business and society nowadays is sustainable development:
meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their needs. Views differ on how climate change, pollution, resource depletion, burgeoning and ageing populations, social exclusion and other global challenges will affect business – and, therefore, the practice of management. You will hear some of those differences of view during your time at Cranfield.
We will not tell you what to think about these issues – we will, however, seek to challenge you to think profoundly and originally about what these issues will mean for you,
the organisations you go to work for or create, and for society locally and globally. We will
challenge you to understand the personal impact you want to create, what you want your
legacy to be.
In particular, through your year at Cranfield we encourage you to ask: is what we are discussing sustainable from a commercial, environmental, social and cultural perspective?
Every MBA course leader has been asked to say how sustainable development will affect
their subject. Challenge faculty on this, to get different perspectives. If you want to drill
deeper on issues of sustainability and corporate responsibility, there are a number of opportunities to do so. These are described in this booklet.
Cranfield is one of a small number of management schools across the world with a dedicated centre for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, focussed on research, teaching and practice. The Doughty Centre team are here to help you to explore these issues
critically as an integral part of your MBA. Even within the team we
have different perspectives, as well as different theoretical and
practitioner starting-points. Please use us. Above all, use this next
year to reflect deeply.
David Grayson
Director of the Doughty Centre, Cranfield SoM
January 2011
HOW CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY CONCERNS YOU
World problems of global warming, climate change, diminishing natural resources and human rights are well publicised and now accepted priorities for governments, societies,
businesses and individuals. However, a variety of other ethical and societal issues are less
well publicised and less accepted as risks and opportunities for businesses to manage.
Legislation has helped push the agenda on some of these issues into corporate mindset –
such as Health and Safety, diversity and equality in the workplace, transparency and reporting, and leadership accountability, carbon credits – however issues such as conditions
in the supply chain and responsibility for misuse of goods are still only proactively and
positively managed by a relatively corporations.
As leaders of tomorrow these are just some of the issues you will be
responsible for identifying and managing to success.
Corporate responsibility is the most common term used to encompass the efforts of business to manage all these issues (and more) – with an emphasis on proactively managing
for corporate, societal, and environmental success. These issues affect every aspect of a
business, from leadership to operations, supply chain, New Product Development, HR, to
marketing. They are not solely the responsibility of a bespoke set of people or department, but of everyone in business.
Throughout your MBA you will learn, and need to seek out, the answers to how you can
successfully help or lead your organisation become more responsible and sustainable.
The Doughty Centre defines a responsible business as one which is
committed to: minimising negative environmental and social impacts and maximising
positive environmental and social impacts; open and transparent business practices that
are based on ethical values and respect for employees, communities, and the environment
designed to deliver sustainable value to society at large, as well as to shareholders It is not
a bolt-on to business operations - it has to be built-in to business purpose and strategy.
Responsible and sustainable management mean managing impacts in:
1. Marketplace: e.g. protection of vulnerable customers, responsibility for misuse of its
products and services, sourcing sustainably
2. Workplace: e.g. creating a great place to work, managing diversity and equal opportunities, health and well-being
3. Environment: e.g. reducing carbon emissions, waste and use of non-renewable resources
4. Community: e.g. education, employability, economic renewal
How corporate sustainability impacts on your future
It is in our narrow economic interests as well as our broader economic, social and environmental interests to act now. The longer we wait the greater the costs of catch-up
(Vincent de Rivaz, Chief Executive EDF Energy)
Besides being the right thing to do…
95% of CEOs said society has a higher expectation of businesses assuming public responsibilities than 5 years ago
(McKinsey Quarterly: 2007 survey UN Global Compact)
…it is also because corporate leaders are increasingly recognising the importance of CR to
business…
93% of CEOs believe that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their
business (2010 Accenture UN Global Compact survey)
6 clear business benefits have been identified from being a responsible business: reputation management, risk management, employee satisfaction, innovation and learning, access to capital, financial performance (BITC/ADLittle report: Business case for CR)
Nearly 70% of CEOs say CR is vital to profitability (ADLittle)
DuPont saved over $2 billion from reductions in energy use since 1990
(M Porter, Harvard Business Review Dec 2006)
CASE STUDIES
MBA Alumni James Dorling
James took his MBA at Cranfield (2000-2001) and subsequently moved to Gemini Consulting. In
2002 he moved to Tesco where he led early environmental projects to develop low carbon technologies and environmental stores. He then established Tesco’s Environmental Centre of Excellence which works closely with suppliers and builders to develop technologies and construction
methods to deliver Tesco’s carbon commitments – halving the carbon footprint of all their buildings by 2020. This team developed the Environmental Store Blueprint which applies to all new
stores being built; Tesco’s own low carbon refrigeration system and other technologies that have
been fundamental in reducing Tesco’s environmental impact. James now runs the Environmental
Delivery function that is responsible for delivering the new technologies to the Tesco estate of
close to 2,000 stores.
“During my MBA at Cranfield I was interested in pure management and knew I wanted to eventually run
companies. I joined Gemini Consulting because I knew it would provide me with the best possible grounding to achieve that goal. Gemini were doing a lot of work for Tesco and a number of us were asked to join
their internal consultancy when it was set up by an ex-Gemini Vice President in 2002.
The environment in Tesco is extremely driven and delivery focussed. It is also very supportive of new ideas
that help the customer experience and you can therefore get things done. In my view a lot of the entrepreneurship is not about the idea – there are lots of great ideas out there – the important thing about entrepreneurship is the doing, getting the idea delivered. Tesco is all about that and one of the reasons why
its an exceptional place to work.”
Example of how you can get involved at Cranfield: MBA 2010 student Budhi Chilkoti
A particular proactive individual in the fMBA 2010 class made good use of his time here. Budhi
Chilkoti, recipient of 3 of our MBA awards (Tasman Cup, McFarlane Leadership prize and Best
Leadership Skills award), has a specific interest in renewable and sustainable energy. During his
time at Cranfield he set up an Energy Club where several speakers visited Cranfield, he arranged
visits to conferences and even organised a day-long conference at Cranfield in July entitled
‘Opportunities, Strategies and Challenges post-COP15 and in the wake of financial crunch, and
how the emerging leaders can address these pressing environmental problems that we face in
terms of energy dependence and climate change.’
Budhi also got involved with the Cranfield Trust, running in the London Marathon, and alongside
his coursework he even undertook independent projects to learn more and build contacts.
WHAT THE eMBA CAN OFFER YOU
The Cranfield eMBA is robust and well recognised for quality, innovation and practical application of classroom learning. However, the more you put into it, the more you get out
of it – the onus is on you to seek out opportunities.
We offer a variety of such opportunities. For example we have a CR network with seminars and opportunities to intellectualise; we sponsor some visits to conferences and external lectures; and Cranfield now has a chapter of the student-led group Net Impact. We
also run a Sustainable Business elective in part 2 of your masters, and organise and supervise independent projects on a related topic—if you are interested we publish a list of opportunities in February, or you can contact us with your suggestions. We are also working
with faculty to show how CR is reflected in their subject area, and you are encouraged to
ask more of them when, for example, you are being taught a case study or management
approach. Examples of some questions are below.
Accounting, financial management
Global competitiveness imperatives restricting
Triple bottom line: internal and external account-
capacity of government’s
ing mechanisms for non-financial performance as
Fiscal policy/deficit financing addressing domestic
legitimate corporate targets and in budget/ROI
social issues
(define, measure, report)
Where formal public governance is too weak to
Should liabilities include social/ environmental
address market failure, what role is reasonable to
costs the company is imposing on society and may
expect of business?
in future have to pay for?
HR management
Business law
Evolving ‘soft law’ on interests of other stakeholders and public expectations arising from it and
expectations of directors duties
Recent tort cases influencing opinion on rights of
redress of stakeholders with grievances
A company’s sphere of influence and exercise of
due diligence
Economics, globalisation
Scarce natural resources affect environmental
and social aspects of economic decision-making
Growth of GNP not equating with growth of gross
national happiness
How to embed global values and standards while
allowing for cultural relativism
Managing discrimination, freedom of association,
bribery and corruption
Is HR managing resource efficiency or managing
human relationships?
What role for HR in internal labour, human rights
policy and implementation?
Marketing
What connections between marketing, brand image, and corporate reputation?
How is trust built, maintained and destroyed -
why does it matter?
Which issues are strategically important for long-
Do marketing assets include positive stakeholder
term business success?
relationships?
Who is responsible for CR, is there an appropri-
How are intangible assets identified, measured,
ate accountability structure?
managed?
Responsible advertising.
Bottom of pyramid marketing opportunities
Supply chain management
A company’s degree of influence, legal and moral
responsibility over value chain
Operations management
How to leverage environmental and social per-
How to incorporate total responsibility manage-
formance by engaging value chain
ment into total quality management
Ethical and sustainable sourcing.
Implementing corporate health, safety and em-
Whole life-cycle design
ployee welfare policies
Managing environmental efficiency
Innovation management
Managing supplier relationships. Local site com-
Harnessing new world dynamics to find new mar-
munity relations issues
kets and changing consumer needs
Innovating the supply chain, production proc-
Organisational behaviour
esses and resource management with scarce re-
Understanding organisation’s purpose, values
sources
and behaviours in relation to stakeholders
Identifying new needs, markets, and products
How to build an organisation that harnesses val-
from social and environmental risks and opportu-
ues of its main stakeholders, especially its em-
nities scanning
ployees
What is the extent of your personal power and
Change management
responsibilities, not just those prescribed by your
Sphere of stakeholders and your responsibility to
position?
them (legal and moral)
Developing a change-ready organisation suitable
Project management
Doing environmental and social risk analyses
Stakeholder analysis, engagement and satisfaction tracking
Managing joint venture partnerships
Strategic management
Developing company vision, values, sustainability
policy and integration into business and decisionmaking globally
Analysis of social and ecological environment,
risks/opportunities by regions it operates in
for impending environmental, resource, and skills
restrictions
RESOURCES
You will find a continuing expanding range of resources, opportunities to attend our CR network events, and information on student projects at www.doughtycentre.info. For useful websites
please visit:
Net Impact
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
BITC
CSR Europe
Business for Social Responsibility
Instituto Ethos for BRIC perspective
European Academy for Business in Society
Corporate Citizenship Briefing
www.netimpact.org/
www.wbcsd.org
www.bitc.org.uk
www.csreurope.org
www.bsr.org
www1.ethos.org.br
www.eabis.org/
www.ccbriefing.co.uk/index.php/ccb
Beyond the classroom
Net Impact: global network of MBAs, graduate students and professionals using the power of
business to create a better world.
Doughty Centre Sustainability and CR student travel bursaries: to attend a student run sustainability conference apply to Doughty Centre via Thea Hughes: thea.hughes@cranfield.ac.uk
Cranfield Sustainability and CR Network: forum for Cranfield students and faculty to present
research and test out ideas, hear visiting speakers, explore new issues – monthly meetings. For
updates on events go to www.doughtycentre.info and click on Cranfield Corporate Responsibility Network (CCRN).
The Doughty Centre has also set up a specialist library for students to access books and reports
outside of the MIRC, specific to our subject area. The reports can be read in our Information
Zone and books/videos can be checked out. These are not core or elective class required reading, rather books for those students with an interest in CR and sustainability.
Doughty Centre project opportunities: each year we offer independent project subjects for
students, as part of your course, and also welcome suggestions from you for ideas of any projects you may have. We also occasionally get asked about students for intern positions after
graduation, small research projects, and we sometimes offer a short-term intern position for
those students wanting to learn more about the subject area. If you are interested, contact
the Centre Manager who can then update you if suitable opportunities arise:
nadine.exter@cranfield.ac.uk
www.doughtycentre.info