It could only be called CONCRETE
I am living on the New Zealand time at this moment after paying a short trip to the states. I'll be heading off to Stockholm this Thursday - another whole day's flying and waiting in the airport plus changing of time zone really scare me now. I am getting old for such things. Or I have been exploited (hehe...I love the word) last year. Finally, I can pull my arse together to update about the conference I attended - BAWB Global Forum (Cleveland, Ohio).
The conference is a cooperation between the Case Western Reserve University (whose b-school is doing pretty well in the states) and global compact talking about how business can benefit the entire society and how b-school education can transform the next generation of business leaders. With and without surprise, most of the delegates are professors of American universities who have at least 1 PHD degree if not several and spent all their life teaching and researching on economic models which enable business to do more good to the society. Plus jetlag, I felt like a dummie at the conference. ;-) Nevertheless, when people like Ray Anderson, C.K. Prahalad coming up to the stage using concrete examples to show case how business can be an agent of world benefit, together with 400+ research papers from the academics, I was completely convinced that:
1. There are more than one way for business to be profitable and do good to the entire society. We just need to document all the practices and spread them around.
2. There are a lot of people believing in the concept of CSR. It is a matter of knowing the HOW.
3. Surely education is going to make a huge difference.
4. USA finally is catching up on this concept whose economy and business are being so powerful.
To my greater surprise, I also got some understanding how the mentality of Asian societies on CSR: doing good is doing good which doesn't have to be associated with financial bottomline - which is something hard to understand from a western perspective.
Yet I don't have a clear idea of how I am gonna pursue my career under such a concept - a direct way or a mediate role - not sure! No doubt that this conference has made me very hopeful also more aware of the state of the world today - environmentally and socially.
The conference is a cooperation between the Case Western Reserve University (whose b-school is doing pretty well in the states) and global compact talking about how business can benefit the entire society and how b-school education can transform the next generation of business leaders. With and without surprise, most of the delegates are professors of American universities who have at least 1 PHD degree if not several and spent all their life teaching and researching on economic models which enable business to do more good to the society. Plus jetlag, I felt like a dummie at the conference. ;-) Nevertheless, when people like Ray Anderson, C.K. Prahalad coming up to the stage using concrete examples to show case how business can be an agent of world benefit, together with 400+ research papers from the academics, I was completely convinced that:
1. There are more than one way for business to be profitable and do good to the entire society. We just need to document all the practices and spread them around.
2. There are a lot of people believing in the concept of CSR. It is a matter of knowing the HOW.
3. Surely education is going to make a huge difference.
4. USA finally is catching up on this concept whose economy and business are being so powerful.
To my greater surprise, I also got some understanding how the mentality of Asian societies on CSR: doing good is doing good which doesn't have to be associated with financial bottomline - which is something hard to understand from a western perspective.
Yet I don't have a clear idea of how I am gonna pursue my career under such a concept - a direct way or a mediate role - not sure! No doubt that this conference has made me very hopeful also more aware of the state of the world today - environmentally and socially.
posted by Jingwei @ 8:26 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
It was great to see you in Chicago, Jingwei. Do you have some links of the case studies you saw at the conference? Would be great to understand more of the "How" you saw & learned at the conference.
I usually find it difficult to see if I want to create something myself (e.g. - business) or if I want to join a large movement. Hmm... you give me some food for thought.
One NGO org that may interest you is BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) http://www.bsr.org/ - they are currently hiring project managers who can speak Mandarin and do ethics training at factories. My friend (& @ alumni) works there. Let me know if you are interested.
Saki
Thanks for the Victoria's Secret Jingy! (hehehehe) My god, can't believe you will fly so soon to Sweden!!! Hope our Tibet/China conversation does not get depriritized hehehhehe
Yes, can't wait til the world catches on that bottomline and social good can go hand-in-hand. It's all about the method of doing things! Still achieve the same end product without the social hazards ;)
why are you living in NZ time??
You should be in Sweden soon!! Does that mean less time for blogging?
Talk about freezing one's ass off! Sweden isn't exactly the first place you'd go to be warm in the winter you know! :)
Hope you're having a blast!!!
Hi Jingwei,
Where are you these days? Read with great interest your post on BAWB conference, - you are right about the practices sharing. Check http://www.csreurope.org/marketplace - a collection of 450 cases from Europe.
However, it is oh so hard to change individuals within companies. Even with the repositories as CSR Europe has, it is still not clear if companies are indeed honestly interested in learning from others and taking on board base case practices. Or they are interested only in inventing something new while not pursuing something that actually worked. On one hand - innovation and responsible competitiveness, on other - wasted efforts.
If you are looking for jobs in the area - subsribe to csrchicks@yahoogroups.com - it is a point of reference in the are (and started by an @cer some 10 years ago :)
Good luck and best wishes!
Volodja
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