oikos FutureLab 2018: Applications are now open

The theme for this year’s FutureLab is “Building Lasting Change”, with an interactive program focusing on oikos’ goal to make change both in the classroom and in the broader world.

The oikos FutureLab 2018 will bring together a diverse representation of the oikos community and will allow in-depth discussions and exchange. We cordially invite active student members from oikos Chapters, alumni, faculty, advisors and partners to join us in October in Geneva.

Please, learn more and register here: https://bit.ly/2rnuMaO

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oikos International

posted May 28, 2018

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Winners of the 2018 oikos Case Writing Competition

We are proud to announce the winners of the 2018 oikos Case Writing Competition. We would like to thank all the participants for their outstanding case submissions and congratulate to the winners of the competition.

In the Sustainable Finance track, the first prize goes to Debapratim Purkayastha, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, Trilochan Tripathy, XLRI, Jamshedpur, and Benudhar Sahu, ICFAI Business School (India). The first prize in the Social Entrepreneurship track is awarded to Syeda Maseeha Qumer and Geeta Singh from the ICFAI Business School Hyderabad (India). In the Corporate Sustainability track, the first prize goes to Syeda Maseeha Qumer and Debapratim Purkayastha from ICFAI Business School Hyderabad (India).

Extended abstracts of our winning and runner-up cases are published online in our oikos free case collection and will be also available at the Case Centre.

The list of all the the prizes and runners-up is below. Please, follow the links to view inspection copies of the winning and runner-up cases.

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2018 oikos Case Writing Competition!  

Winners of the 2018 Competition

Corporate Sustainability:

1st Prize: Eliminating Modern Slavery from Supply Chains: Can Nestlé Lead the Way?

By Syeda Maseeha Qumer & Debapratim Purkayastha, ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, India

2nd Prize: Volkswagen’s Emissions Scandal: How Could it Happen?

By N. Craig Smith & Erin McCormick, INSEAD; France

3rd Prize: Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business, and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry

By Laura Heely & Pierre Chandon, INSEAD; France

Runner-up: ecostore – the Carbon CaptureTM Pak decision

By Michaela Balzarova & Pavel Castka, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Runner-up: Employee Diversity at High Beam Global: An Inclusive Approach

By Reshmi Manna, Richa Bajpai (ICFAI Business School-Gurgaon, India) and Ankit Singh (Pantaloons, India)

Social Entrepreneurship:

1st Prize: Jaipur Rugs –Empowering Communities at the Bottom of the Pyramid through Social Innovation

By Syeda Maseeha Qumer & Geeta Singh, ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, India

2nd Prize: Preserve: Growing a Sustainable Consumer Goods Company

By Sinan Erzurumlu, Babson College, USA

Runner-up: Sustainability International’s Alliance with ConsenSys – Leveraging Technology for Social Impact

By Shwetha Kumari, Amity Research Centers, Bangalore, India

Runner-up: Babban Gona’s Agri-Franchising Model: Scaling up Challenges

By Manish Agarwal & D Satish, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, India

Sustainable Finance:

1st Prize: Can Barry Callebaut Attract Sustainable Investment with its ‘Forever Chocolate’ Strategy?

By Debapratim Purkayastha (ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, India), Trilochan Tripathy (XLRI, Jamshedpur, India) and Benudhar Sahu (ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, India)

2nd Prize: Saudi Aramco

By Alok Kavthankar & Indu Perepu,  ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, India

3rd Prize: Regulations for a Sustainable Finance Sector

By Gaya Branderhors, Harvard University, Extension School, USA

We want to thank our outstanding Academic Reviewers for the 2018 oikos Case Writing Competition, who come from top academic institutions all over the world. Alexander Wagner, University of Zurich (Switzerland); Angelo Camilo, IGI Global (U.S.A.); Anil Gupta, IIMA (India); Barbara Porco, Fordham University (U.S.A.); Carlos Romero-Uscanga, EGADE (Mexico); Carlos Vargas, University of Zurich (Switzerland); Daniel Tulloch, University of Oxford (U.K.); Delphine Gibassier, Toulouse Business School (France); Ewald Kibler, Aalto University (Finland); Gabriel Berger, Universidad de San Andrés (Argentina); Ioannis Oikonomou, Henley Business School, (U.K.); Jennifer Clifford, University of Massachusetts Boston (U.S.A.); Joerg Hofstetter, KEDGE Business School (France); Madhukar Shukla, XLRI Jamshedpur (India); Martin Kupp, ESCP (France); Moritz Loock, University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Nardia Haigh, University of Massachusetts Boston (U.S.A.); Raymond Paquin, Concordia University (Canada); Sebastien Pouget, University of Toulouse (France); Stefan Schaltegger, Leuphana University (Germany); Stefano Pogutz, Bocconi University (Italy); Tessa Hebb, Carleton University (Canada); Thomas Dyllick, University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Timo Busch, University of Hamburg (Germany) and other leading faculty.

We also want to make an especial acknowledgment of our three Track Chairs, Dror Etzion from McGill University (Canada), Lars Hassel from the School of Business Umea (Sweden) and Thomas Dyllick from the University of St. Gallen, (Switzerland) who supported the organization and review of the 2018 oikos Case Writing Competition. And finally, we also want to recognize the important contribution of our program manager Carlos Vargas from the Institute of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) who made the 2017 and 2018 oikos Case Writing Competitions possible.

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oikos International

posted May 25, 2018

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Climate Change Simulation

oikos Graz will host a Climate Change Simulation on June 11, 2018

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oikos International

posted May 24, 2018

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Sustainability Forum

LSESU oikos London will host Sustainability Forum with speakers from research, sustainability and social careers background.

Speakers include:
-James Edney, Senior Consultant at Corporate Citizenship
-Qayum Mannan, project coordinator at Uprising Leadership Programmes
-Mariana Granziera from Global Canopy project (LSE alum)
-Griffin Carpenter from New Economics Foundation (LSE alum)
-Daniel Ford, Sustainability Strategist at Forum for the Future

Learn more here

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oikos International

posted May 21, 2018

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Guest lecture on The Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 Emissions

oikos NYC will host Professor Martin Wagner’s guest lecture on ‘The Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 Emissions’ on April 23, 2018.

Learn more here 

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oikos International

posted May 21, 2018

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Workshop on Pluralist Economics

Join oikos NYC this Friday on April 20 for an Introduction to Pluralist Economics, by the oikos Pluralist Economics Associate, J. Christopher Proctor, working inside the oikos international network to help invigorate economics with a more pluralist approach!

Learn more about the event here

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oikos International

posted May 21, 2018

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CSR 65.0 – Corporate Social Responsibility in an Aging Society

The world’s population is aging and growing daily. As health services improve and communities develop their economic and social infrastructures, infant mortality rates are declining, the population is becoming healthier, and life expectancy is increasing dramatically. According to the WHO, the number of people aged 60 years or older will increase from 900 million in 2015 to two billion in 2050, rising from 12% to 22% of the total global population (UN, 2015).
The economic system is dominated by a key player – the business corporation, which is the most significant profit-driven entity in the economic system. Yet, it seems that with regard to aging, corporations fail to fully grasp the consequences of the coming demographic change, not only in terms of its core operational perspectives (workplace, marketing, sales, and so on), but also in terms of its ethical ones (corporate social responsibility). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term commonly used to describe the overall social, environmental, and governance efforts undertaken by business entities. It entails various activities such as the engagement of stakeholders, public relations, political lobbying, risk mitigation, community involvement, and financial contributions. One of the features of CSR is the requirement for transparency of non-financial information (usually termed “environmental, social, and corporate governance” [ESG] disclosure). The disclosure of these aspects of businesses has been neglected in traditional financial reporting methods, but is needed in order to make businesses accountable for their social and environmental effects.
This PhD research aims to study the complex interrelationships between two major social issues: the aging of society and corporate conduct via CSR as a managerial approach. The former is a developing social and demographic situation with major ramifications for communities and economies, while the latter links the business sector to its environmental, social, and governance challenges, responsibilities, and expectations. More specifically, this research will focus on questions such as the following: What, if any, responsibilities do corporations have regarding the social issue of aging population? How is this issue being addressed by CSR tools and guidelines? How is this topic being reported in non-financial reports?
The close interdisciplinary examination and analysis of these two realms, aging society and CSR, will advance our understanding of the social construction of each of them separately and both of them synergistically. The interdisciplinary discussion will contribute to the theoretical understanding of this issue by presenting a new theoretical framework, Corporate Gero-Responsibility, which will conceptualize both the social functions fulfilled by corporations and the significance and contribution of their responsibilities in an aging society.
This doctoral thesis is based on a series of focused studies designated for publication in peer-reviewed papers. The thesis is constructed in three stages, from a very general perspective to a very specific one. The first layer consists of an extended theoretical discussion, based on a systematic literature review in which I lay down the theoretical foundations through which I will present the discursive framework for the following, “downstream” studies. The middle layer (the second study) will compare and evaluate current CSR methodologies in relation to their approach and guidance for addressing aging. The last layer (the third study) will examine corporations’ actual performances, managerial approaches, and reporting on the topic of aging. It will be conducted through an in-depth analysis of formal published documents known as sustainability reports or non-financial reports.
The overarching goal of this research is to contribute simultaneously to the evolution of the social responsibilities of business corporations and to corporations’ awareness of and preparedness for the approaching era of aging population.

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oikos International

posted May 12, 2018

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Climate Extremes, Space and Time: A comparative exploration of techniques to estimate the influence of climate on economic growth

This dissertation empirically estimates the impact of climate variables onto economic outcomes by expanding existing models in three dimensions: Climate Measures, Space and Time. First, a range of extreme climate and drought indicators are introduced into a global panel dataset to evaluate their influence onto annual country-level GDP per capita growth beyond annual averages of temperature. Second, to assess the value of increasing the frequency of measurement, the analysis is conducted quarterly rather than annually. Third, to avoid country-level aggregation, nightlight imagery is used as a proxy for local economic activity at a higher spatial resolution, allowing local climate impacts to be estimated. Results suggest that the addition of extreme weather indicators adds significant information to the econometric analysis at both country and gridded level, although at the cost of increased complexity. These results can help to empirically calibrate Integrated Assessment Models and
provide more realistic climate damage projections.

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oikos International

posted May 12, 2018

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oikos Newsletter May 2018

Welcome to our latest newsletter!

We are delighted to announce that FutureLab 2018 will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on October 26-27. But before we kick off our flagship event, we have planned a packed summer full of interesting developments. So stay tuned and follow our updates.

In just a few weeks, on June 6, we will host a LEAP-KEE webinar on Cross Cultural Management. The LEAP Advanced Track participants will also come together for their last webinar with Dr. Marshall Goldsmith.

oikos Alumni network is getting stronger as we welcomed new alumni ambassadors in India and France. You can learn about how Indian alumni network is set to become more dynamic and meet Fanny Bancourt, new French Alumni Ambassador.

In the “30 seconds with…” segment meet two exceptional oikos members Justyna Urbaniak from oikos St. Gallen and Mariyem Sqalli from oikos Barcelona.

Enjoy this May edition of our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter to stay updated!

Read the whole newsletter here

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oikos International

posted May 10, 2018

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oikos Germany Meeting 2018: Let’s Talk about Tex

Over 20 oikos members from Reutlingen, Tübingen, Witten, Paderborn, Bayreuth and Köln,  as well as alumni and oikos Executive Board Member, Tiphaine Rouault, came together in Reutlingen, Germany to participate in the annual Germany Meeting. This year the Meeting titled “Let’s Talk about Tex” revolved around the topic of sustainability in the textile industry.

The participants visited a local textile production facility to see and learn how cotton blossoms are transformed into a piece of textile. Presentation from a company producing bio cotton enabled the participants to gain insight into the business characteristics of sustainable production.

Some of the participants stepped in and organized workshops for their peers on topics such as zero waste, challenges and opportunities of the textile fashion industry at the international level, and climate action.

The oikees had an opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences and share their concern regarding textile industry with the like-minded people. In addition, they were able to discuss oikos and our activities at the international level.

Moreover, couchsurfing organized by oikos Reutlingen members enabled the participants to get to know better each other and make new friendships.

The meeting was all about sustainability and was a great opportunity for generating a high level of input in the field.

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oikos International

posted May 9, 2018

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