oikos just launched the call for submissions on the first annual oikos Young Scholars Entrepreneurship Academy (Aug. 22-27, 2010). The academy is hosted by oikos foundation at the University of St. Gallen in cooperation with The Hub (a global Social Entrepreneurship incubator) and WWF.

This year’s theme is “Institutions, Entrepreneurship and Organisational Change” – and we would welcome submissions within the field of (institutional and social) entrepreneurship, strategy, organizational behavior and related disciplines.

Please find more information on the website: www.oikos-international.org/projects/phd/academy20100.html, which also includes some photos and memories from last year’s participants. Further information on the call for papers can be found on the link below.

The 2010 EABIS Colloquium will explore how Corporate Responsibility is understood and applied in Emerging Market contexts and cultures - by old and new multinationals - and if it is viable as a framework for tackling critical challenges ahead. The Colloquium takes place on 20-21 September 2010 hosted by St. Petersburg State University GSOM. EABIS and St. Petersburg State University GSOM are calling for contributions that advance CR and Emerging Markets knowledge at a global, national or company level and encourage especially presentations of collaborative work between companies and research institutions.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, 28 May. Please download the Full Call and Submission Guidelines using the link below.

By training current and future leaders in their home markets, business schools in Africa play a critical role in laying the groundwork for private sector development, as a critical component of African sustainable social and economic development and welfare in a globalised world. The Association of African Business Schools (AABS) aims to enable business schools in Africa to contribute towards economic growth and development in the continent by promoting excellence in business and management education through capacity building, collaboration and quality improvement. PRME is proud to welcome AABS to the PRME community and look forward to forging a stronger alliance and role in management development in Africa.

For more information on AABS please visit: www.aabschools.com

United Nations Lends Support to ‘Hippocratic Oath’ for Business Managers

(New York, 1 March 2010) – The Oath Project, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Principles for Responsible Management Education today announced an alliance to support the cause of a professional oath of honor for managers worldwide.

The Oath Project was first announced in conjunction with the launch of the Global Business Oath, an initiative of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. The Young Global Leaders initiative added a strong voice to a global movement that includes similar efforts in business schools around the world, including at Thunderbird School of Global Management which adopted a professional oath of honor in 2005, and a group of Harvard MBA students launched in 2008 a grassroots effort (MBAOath.org) that has been supported by hundreds of MBA graduates around the world already.

The Oath Project was established by Thunderbird President Ángel Cabrera and Harvard business professors Rakesh Khurana, Rob Kaplan, and Nitin Nohria in an effort to coordinate the efforts of these multiple initiatives into one voice. The UN Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Management Education join a group of founding Partners that includes the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders, the MBA Oath, the Aspen Institute, and the Association of Professionals in Business Management.

In an effort to help facilitate and support the practical applications of a professional oath for managers, the United Nations Global Compact is advancing the Oath Project in partnership with the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an engagement platform supported by nearly 300 business schools and other academic institutions worldwide to promote responsible management education.

"The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative endorses the process of the Oath Project because it is an important issue to explore in management education as we seek ways to develop the values of sustainability and good corporate citizenship,” said Manuel Escudero, Head of the PRME Secretariat. “An Oath, as a personal commitment of students to uphold ethical values in their future careers, may be a logical result of the mindset created by the PRME approach to business education. Both PRME and the Oath reflect the same urgent global need for a new generation of leaders committed to serve society from their future position as managers.”

The Oath Project forges an important link between individual ethics and corporate responsibility,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “Aligning business strategies and operations with universal values such as those advanced by the Global Compact requires sincere personal commitments to responsible leadership. The Oath Project represents a critical effort to embed management education and training in a broader context of business ethics.”

“For business to fulfill its promise and responsibility to society and to serve the public interest, we need to address root causes of less than satisfactory, and even socially damaging, behavior by individuals and institutions,” Cabrera said. “The global financial crisis demonstrates the enormous responsibility business leaders hold, not only in their companies, but in society at large. Managers are entrusted with incredible power to create or destroy value, and in so doing, affect the lives of thousands if not millions of people. This is a power that should not be taken lightly and, as with medical or legal professionals, requires professional standards and ethics that govern its use.”

It is the intent of The Oath Project to serve as a platform or “hub” that supports and enhances the work of the many individuals and organizations who have committed themselves to advancing the concept of the Oath worldwide...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 9:00 am - 5:00 pm 113 West 60th Street, NYC Hosted by: Fordham University, Graduate School of Business Administration Sponsored by: Aspen Institute CBE, United Nations PRME, The HUmanistic MAnagement NETwork

Even before the financial crisis, management education and specifically MBA education has been in the line of fire. Scholars and external observers alike blamed business schools to educate the wrong people in the wrong ways, paving the way for a slew of irresponsible management practices. Many business schools are under pressure and react with seemingly cosmetic changes to their curriculum. If the critics are right, however, it is time to reevaluate MBA education more seriously.

Honoring its Jesuit roots, Fordham Graduate School of Business provides an opportunity for all concerned stakeholders to discuss ways out of the crisis. Together with Aspen Institute’s Center for Business Education and the United Nations PRME initiative Fordham GBA is holding a 1 day conference on May 11, featuring a distinguished group of speakers including:

• Michael Jensen, Harvard Business School, a leading scholar of agency theory and proponent of shareholder value maximization

• Ed Freeman, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, a leading scholar of stakeholder theory and stakeholder management

• Rakesh Khurana, Harvard Business School, Author of “From Higher Aims to Hired hands- the social transformation of Business Schools..”

• Henry Mintzberg,* McGill University/INSEAD, a long time critic of the MBA, author of several best-selling books, including “Managers Not MBAs”.

You are invited to join the conversation. The format of the conference will allow for ample interaction and high-level discussion. For more information on the conference please click on the link below.

Seats are limited. Early registration ends March 30th.

*confirmation is tentative at this point.

The II Global Forum for Responsible Management Education will take place on 23rd June 2010. Deans and high level administrators of signatory institutions, as well as Directors of Centers advancing PRME within signatory institutions are invited to register. The Forum will have as overriding goals to get traction for the initiative and to attract leading business schools that are not signatories of PRME as yet. The overall design of the agenda, speakers and panels will be prepared by the PRME Secretariat and Coordinators of the Steering Committee members. Within the context of the Global Forum, a special side event will be organized, as a working session with the UN Secretary General, including Deans of the 100 FT global schools that are not signatories of PRME.

Please, mark your calendar: March 1st registration will open in the PRME webpage.

Fordham University has kindly offered to host the Global Forum at their Lincoln Center Campus and also sponsor a reception the evening before on June 22nd. This location will hold 250 people in their McNally Auditorium. It is therefore, important to register as soon as possible, since seats in the Forum are limited to 250.

United Nations Leaders Summit: 24 and 25 June 2010: save the date!!!

The two consecutive days after the II PRME Global Forum takes place, the United Nations Global Compact will convene its triennial UNGC Leaders Summit. The UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 will be a historic gathering of approximately 1,500 leaders from business, Government, civil society, labour, the investment community, academia and the United Nations. Due to capacity reasons, only a group of 50 PRME signatories - at the highest executive level - can be invited to attend the Leaders Summit. PRME participants willing to participate will be accepted on the basis of quotas from the different regions of the world. Registration for the Leaders Summit will be included in the registration page for the Global Forum. The Global Forum registration website will be live on 1 March 2010.