oikos Launches Call for Cases 2014

oikos launches the call for cases for its annual Case Writing Competition 2014 together with Ashoka. The competition promotes the creation of high quality teaching cases on Corporate Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship and welcomes entries from all parts of the world. Submitted case studies should be suitable for use in management education and should be related to managerial issues faced by organisations and individuals. Written feedbacks are given to each case contributor.

For further information please refer to the call for cases and our Cases Programme. The deadline for submissions is Monday, November 11th, 2013.

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oikos International

posted July 30, 2013

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MBAs to meet the challenge of sustainability

Financial Times, 29 July 2013 – On the northern outskirts of Bogotá, Colombia is a small, private school with an entrepreneurial sideline. Each day from a classroom on campus the school runs a pizzeria and ice cream shop. The money raised is donated to a local grassroots organisation that helps children from six to 16 to remain at school by offering programmes that focus on language, communication and study skills. Read the full article on FT.com

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oikos International

posted July 29, 2013

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Enjoy the latest oikos Case Quarterly

The latest issue of the oikos Case Quarterly focuses on the sustainability practices and challenges of the beverage industry. Four cases are presented that depict a variety of common industry issues such as boycotts by customers and activists, challenges of operating in unstable political and social contexts and the industry’s heavy ecological footprint. …»

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oikos International

posted July 29, 2013

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oikos_Model_WTO_Image_1

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oikos International

posted July 22, 2013

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Reportage & Business

For some reason there is a field of photography that can assure you a good entry of money: it’s the paparazzi photography and it’s becoming more than just a mass phenomenon.

Actually, those photographers who take and sell shots of Hollywood stars and music singers are building a few techniques that are specific for this field of photography and this lets us understand the importance that today such shots may have.

Actually, our époque is characterized by the presence of magazines and gossip that are a sort of industry conveying messages, sometimes hidden messages, and images to the people.

Who is a paparazzi?

We think that only special photographers can be paparazzi, but the fact is that anyone can be: the important point is to be in the right place at the right time. Many shots are taken only by case by people who were just there with their camera.

In reality, the lifestyle of a paparazzi is really hard. They have to know where and when to catch their star Vip and this means to be waiting for hours and to be able to shot even in bad climate conditions.

A really valuable shot is the one only you have. It would be useless to go to events to take shots, because hundreds photographers will be there and your shot won’t be that different than theirs.

When a Vip star is caught in their intimate and personal moment, then you have a really exclusive shot to sell.

Business

He real business with paparazzi shots comes as you get a rare photo and you want to sell it. If you think it’s a sensational shot you can go directly to the tabloid publishers and it will be like winning a jackpot at lotteryplanet.org or if it’s a good shot but not so earth breaking, you can go to a middlemen agencies working as intermediate between photographs and magazines.  

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oikos International

posted July 19, 2013

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Explore Europe’s Energy Policy

If your heart beats for sustainable energy, it is the heart of Europe that will make your dreams come true. oikos Warsaw gives you a unique chance to explore the mystery of energy at the Sustainable Energy for Europe conference in Warsaw on 12-15th September 2013. …»

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oikos International

posted July 19, 2013

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Rethinking The Economic System

Does additional growth in the industrialised countries trigger increasing happiness? What societal and environmental impact results of our constant pursuit of growth? Is share economy just a fashionable trend or could it lead to more sustainable society? These and other intriguing questions have resonated in oikos Leipzig.

The academic year 2012/2013 is slowly coming to its end and oikos Leipzig could look back at some fruitful and inspirational events. Besides the regular movie nights, reading circles and talks on sustainability issues, Leipzig organised two major events, the two-day de-growth conference in fall 2012 and three “action weeks” on share economy in May and June this year.

The conference titled “Values, prosperity, well-being – (How) do we want to grow?” was held on November 29th and 30th and discussed questions such as “Is infinite growth in a physically finite world ever possible?”, “Does additional growth in the industrialized countries trigger increasing happiness?” and “What societal and environmental impacts result of our constant pursuit of growth?”. The two-day event was filled with lectures, panel discussions and workshops showing that commitment towards a sustainable development path exists on the political, corporate as well as societal level.

The next major project concerned the topic of share economy, a global trend that has recently been catalysed by new digital technologies. Initiatives such as car-sharing, community gardens or couch-surfing are just a few of various examples for this movement. In order to sensitise as many people as possible for this topic and to present (local) initiatives that already incorporated the sharing aspect in their activities, oikos Leipzig planned three action weeks on share economy from May 24th to June 17th. Furthermore, we also wanted to explore whether share economy can only be seen as a temporary trend or whether it has the potential to lead to a more sustainable society in the long-run.

Three weeks project was kicked by a “dinner hopping” called auf Haxe Leipzig that was organized in cooperation with Auf Haxe, a young Berlin start-up initiative establishing special, delicious and fun dinners in Germany. The main concept of auf Haxe is to build teams of two taking part in the dinner event with three courses (starter, main course, dessert), each of which is prepared and served in a different apartment of the team members. In the course of the evening, every team has eaten in three different houses and has met 12 different people. After dinner, the 45 participating teams (and many more sharing interested people) came together at our oikos party which was a great success and a good starting point for the interesting and inspiring following action weeks. In fact, everyone had so much fun, so that many more auf Haxe Leipzig are to come!

share_economy_leipzig_websiteThe next event was a movie night where we showed the movie “One couch at a time” by Alexandra Liss, a movie about the couchsurfing movement and the connection to the concept of share economy. A readers’ circle with the broad topic share economy followed. Different articles were read and discussed that shed light on the concept of share economy in a positive but also critical way. Our fourth event was the workshop day, which we planned in cooperation with the trade school Halle (TAAK Halle). Based on the trade school movement, the aim was to create a platform were people could meet and exchange their knowledge. Our participants could choose among nine fun and interesting workshops, from “laughing yoga” to “lamps from sandwich paper DIY” and “creativity techniques”!

We continued with a somewhat “different” bike tour through Leipzig where we visited various local initiatives that already implement the concept of share economy in their everyday work and actions. These included a self-repair café, nextbike (bikesharing company) and a community garden, among others.

The final action week was dominated by lectures. First, we were introduced to share economy from a scientific perspective by Maike Gossen from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Berlin. This more theoretical approach was followed by an evening with talks about share economy from a practical perspective. Representatives from Airbnb (an online platform where people can rent out their living spaces), from VisionBakery (the second-largest crowdfunding website in Germany) and from mamikreisel (an online platform where babyclothes can be bought, exchanged or sold), discussed the advantages and challenges of the share economy movement for their businesses. Similar to our kick-off event, we ended our action weeks with a lively and entertaining BBQ and swap party.

Both the de-growth conference and the action weeks on share economy sparked some lively and in-depth discussions, resulted in interesting cooperation and new ties with other initiatives in Leipzig and Germany and helped to further integrate oikos Leipzig as an association to be reckoned with. The overall feed-back was very positive, most events were well attended and even resulted in motivated and enthusiastic oikos Leipzig members and supporters.

We are therefore eagerly looking forward to the up-coming academic year, for which oikos Leipzig has already planned interesting new events through which to move the sustainability discussion forward!

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oikos International

posted July 19, 2013

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Alumni Debates: Panel Discussion on Growth and Sustainability

First Alumni Debate: Panel Discussion on Growth and Sustainability

The oikos alumni met on 19 September 2013 for an apéro and panel discussion on growth and sustainability. The event took place in Zurich at LGT Venture Philanthropy. Three alumni led the discussion:  Jan Amrit Poser (Bank J. Safra Sarasin); Irmi Seidl (Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL) and Christian Busch (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs)

More info: https://oikos-international.org/programmes/conferences/alumni-debates/alumni-debate-panel-discussion-on-growth-and-sustainability/

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oikos International

posted July 18, 2013

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Winter School

The 10th oikos Winter School is organized by students of the Witten/Herdecke University, Germany. This year’s central question is Green Economy or Post-Growth Society? – How can economics and businesses shift towards a more sustainable future and which way could be the most promising to do so?

We will discuss this year’s central question by thinking, debating and creating new ideas concerning the current energy supply situation, social entrepreneurship and the financial market.

The oikos Winter School 2014 will be held from February 21st till March 2nd 2014 in Germany. If you are enthusiastic about working with international peers as well as debating with our amazing speakers, you can apply starting august 4th(cet)! The early-bird application period (250€ participation fee instead of 300€) closes September 15th.

Register for the next oikos Winter School 2014 in Witten.

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oikos International

posted July 18, 2013

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oikos PhD seminar

oikos PhD Seminar is a 2-day event dedicated to the topic “Energy and Environmental Economics” and hosted by oikos Warsaw. It aims to increase quality of research and create networking possibilities among PhD students from various countries.  Selected contributions will be considered for publishing.

The project will take place from 12 September 2013 till 13 September 2013, simultaneously to oikos Central & Eastern Europe Regional Meeting in Warsaw.

The seminar is accompanied by essay competition for BA & MA students.  Inclusion of BA & MA students supports future cooperation between them and PhD students as well as with the faculty. The winners will have an opportunity to join selected sessions of the Seminar. Their essays will be considered for publishing as well.

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oikos International

posted July 18, 2013

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