IVEY CROSS-ENTERPRISE LEADERSHIP RESEARCH CENTRE Building Sustainable Value
ANNUAL REPORT 2010
COVER The Mammillaria spinosissima ‘Pincushion Cactus’. Adapting to their environment over thousands of years, cactus spines are modified leaves serving a variety of functions: defending herbivores, acting as points of condensation for atmospheric moisture; shading the plant from UV radiation; providing a protected site around the base for young seedling establishment and functioning as a thermal blanket. Each function and characteristic working in collaboration to survive and flourish over the long-term. © Flowerphotos/Masterfile
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It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change. Charles Darwin Origin of the Species (1859)
IVEY CROSS-ENTERPRISE LEADERSHIP RESEARCH CENTRE Building Sustainable Value ANNUAL REPORT 2010/11
Managers, academics, and policy-makers are thinking. And sharing. And the insights on valuing business sustainability are rippling through influential knowledge streams across North America. And the world.
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Ivey’s Centre for Building Sustainable Value provides practitioners and students with the knowledge, tools and capabilities to manage both private and public interests effectively through organizational actions.
Challenge “Can nine billion people be fed? Can we cope with the demands in the future on water? Can we provide enough energy? Can we do it, all that, while mitigating and adapting to climate change? And can we do all that in 21 years time? We need to act now. We need investment in science and technology, and all the other ways of treating very seriously these major problems. 2030 is not very far away.” Professor John Beddington, UK Chief Scientist
Insight
Improved food distribution alone won’t be able to meet the world’s future food demands, particularly when agricultural lands are decreasing and consumption demands are expected to increase by as much as 70 per cent by 2050. Agricultural biotechnology has the potential to improve food security, but using it to defeat hunger will require a significant redistribution of resources. Report Genetically Modified Food Against Hunger: Can we feed the world without biotechnology? David Sparling, Chair, Agri-Food Innovation and Regulation, Richard Ivey School of Business, and Jenet Beauvais, McGill University
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Challenge “We have an economy that tells us it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time rather than renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet.” Paul Hawken Entrepreneur, Environmental Activist and Author (May 2009)
Insight
An organization’s stakeholders offer an opportunity to learn which can seed new innovative ideas. They offer opportunities for businesses to brainstorm new approaches to complex issues. Whereas the narrow focus on financial metrics elevates the importance of tangible solutions, such as energy efficiency, stakeholders can generate new insights that push the organization’s thinking to options that are more creative – that simultaneously deal with financial concerns and social concerns. Report Thinking Long Term: Climate Change and the Oil and Gas Industry Natalie Slawinski, PhD Candidate, Richard Ivey School of Business, and Tima Bansal, Director, Building Sustainable Value Research Centre
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Challenge “In the New Capitalism spawned from the global downturn those running our biggest commercial businesses will have to be more visible. They’ll have to manifest a genuine understanding not only of the anxieties of their employees but of all taxpayers. Those chief executives who succeed will be those who imbue in their businesses very simple, common sense standards of decency.� Robert Peston, BBC Business Editor
Insight
We do not accept that the excesses, misjudgments and inactions of the last few years are inevitable and must somehow be repeated. But we recognize they could and likely will be, unless concerted action is taken to learn and apply the lessons from the crisis. Cynics say this will never happen. Skeptics say it is unlikely. We say there is no alternative that makes sense for our future economic prosperity and social well being. Report Leadership on Trial: A Manifesto for Leadership Development Jeffrey Gandz, Mary Crossan, Gerard Seijts, and Carol Stephenson, Richard Ivey School of Business
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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
The Business Imperative Five years ago, Ivey established the Centre for Building Sustainable Value (BSV) as one of four critical cross-enterprise leadership research thrusts for the Richard Ivey School of Business. We view sustainability as a business imperative that will deďŹ ne the 21st century. The failure to accommodate public interests through their private actions poses real risks to corporations; it can lead to the loss of customer markets, limit access to financial capital and disrupt the supply of goods and services. Corporations must include the needs of society in pursuit of private wealth in order to be viable in the long run. Dr. Tima Bansal Director, Building Sustainable Value Research Centre, MBA ‘80 Faculty Fellow Richard Ivey School of Business
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The opportunities afforded by accommodating public interests can build resilience and longterm wealth for businesses and communities. Corporations that strive to satisfy both their private interests and public interests attract the best people, keep the best people, attract cheaper and more stable capital, and innovate to create new and more enduring products. The Ivey Centre for Building Sustainable Value focuses on the overlapping space between private and public interests. Our cross-enterprise leadership approach to research on sustainability uniquely positions the school as a bridge that links seemingly opposing forces to create powerful new knowledge. We bring to bear the power of a large group of talented, experienced researchers and teachers, collaborating across disciplines, perspectives and sectors to discover, innovate and communicate. This is how change happens. The Centre’s members strive to meet two objectives: 1 Research organizational issues that simultaneously build private and public value across the enterprise; and 2 Educate students and managers in the corporate, non-profit and government sectors to understand the intersection of the private and public sectors. Only in accomplishing both goals can we hope to meet the challenges of today’s – and more importantly – tomorrow’s world.
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
Demonstrating Leadership Since its inception and certainly well before climate change, off-shoring, health and other social issues peppered newspaper headlines, Ivey has made important contributions to the business world’s understanding of vital social and environmental trends. Ivey is leading the way in researching sustainable value and educating managers so they can put this research into practice. Our vision: to position the Richard Ivey School of Business as a global sustainability leader and a major force for positive change in Canada. Carol Stephenson O.C., Dean Lawrence G. Tapp Chair in Leadership Richard Ivey School of Business
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Making the Richard Ivey School of Business a sustainability leader and a major force for positive change in Canada. • First business school in Canada to include sustainability in its core MBA curriculum; • Created the Ivey Centre for Building Sustainable Value (BSV) in 2005 as one of four core strategic research thrusts; • First business school in Canada to join the United Nations Principles for Responsible Education; • BSV Centre Director named 2009 Faculty Pioneer by the Aspen Institute; • Ranked No. 10 worldwide on strength of its sustainability research; • More than 30 faculty members involved in sustainabilityrelated research, teaching or outreach activities; • Raised more than $5 million in government grants; • Founded the Network for Business Sustainability, with more than 600 researchers and 1,000 managers internationally.
Who We Are
They’re at the heart of building sustainable value. Notions, beliefs and hypotheses are only that without the energy and vision of those who understand, implement and make change. On the following pages you’ll encounter the faculty, students, and investors who are associated with the Centre and catalysts for sustainabilityrelated work at Ivey.
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FACULTY
“The challenge for most organizations is the need to build management capabilities. Firms with a strong triple bottom line often have restructured the management of social and environmental issues to benefit two areas: risk management and opportunity enhancement. But you can’t use short-term measures to assess the pay-off. Managing social issues requires a long term commitment. It involves people, and people take time to change and to see things in a different light.” Dr. Robert Klassen Chair in Business Administration, Magna International Corporation Inc.
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Over 30 faculty members at Ivey are involved in sustainability-related research in a broad range of areas, and more are joining forces each year. For the 2009-10 year, the following faculty were actively involved in sustainability research, teaching and outreach activities. FACULTY
RESEARCH AREAS
Bansal, Tima Bendle, Neil Branzei, Oana Compeau, Joe Conklin, David
Business Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Time and Space in Organizations Social Marketing, Business’ Role in Society Social Innovation, Social Enterprise, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, International Business Technology and Society, Green Technologies Global Environment of Business, Free Trade and Competitiveness, Managing Sustainable Development, Public Policy Social and Ethical Issues in Consumption Public policy, Government Regulation, Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Water Issues Electricity, Renewable Power, Organizations and the Natural Environment, Business-Government Relations, Public-Private Partnerships Changing Union-Management Relations, New Forms of Work Organization Consumption Emotions, Consumer Information Processing & Persuasion, Psychology of Money Telecommuting Renewable Energy, Stakeholder Management, Regulation Gender and Interpersonal Relationships in the Workplace, Stereotyping, Low-wage Work and Work-life Issues Consumer Relationships, Emotional Appraisal, Corporate Social Responsibility Ethics Environmental Management, Quality Management Gender and Diversity in Organizations, Inclusivity Initiatives, Affirmative Action/Employment Equity Programs, Work/Life Balance Initiatives, Accommodating Workers with Disabilities Organizational Diversity, Social Movements Value Creation in Emerging Markets Empirical/Data Driven Research, Statistical Analysis applied to Environmental Management Social Marketing, Addictive Consumption, Advertising, Global Business Non-Market Strategy, Corporate Political Activity, Political Economy, Globalization, Financial Regulation, Corporate Social Responsibility Leadership Crisis Intercultural and Stakeholder Communication Executive Compensation, Financial Economics, Carbon Valuation Agri-food Policy, Innovation and Commercialization, Value chains and Traceability, Bioeconomy Developing and Emerging Markets, Market Knowledge Management, Stakeholder and Sustainability Perspectives in Marketing Marketing Relationships, Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Entrepreneurship Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Inclusive Business Models, Social Enterprise, Complexity Theory, Food Systems Resource Allocation in Healthcare, Healthcare Systems and Operations Modeling
Cotte, June Cunningham, Dianne Fremeth, Adam Frost, Ann Goode, Miranda Higgins, Chris Holburn, Guy Hurst, Charlice Johnson, Allison Kachra, Ariff Klassen, Rob Konrad, Alison Maurer, Cara Mitchell, Bob Odegaard, Fredrik Pirouz, Dante M. Richter, Brian Seijts, Gerard Sider, Michael Southam, Colette Sparling, David Sridharan, Srini Thomson, Matt Thornhill, Stewart Valente, Mike Zaric, Greg
STUDENTS
“By harnessing the intellect, passion and creativity of students through Ivey Connects, the School has enormous potential to effect positive change. Ivey Connects inspires students to contribute their time, talent and treasure to their communities, but more importantly establishes a lifetime perspective on business as a member of society. As their inuence expands in their careers, so too does their positive impact on the world.â€? Fredrik Odegaard Assistant Professor Management Science
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09-10 Student Community Action Programs This is just a small sample of the many activities students engage in through the Building Sustainable Value Research Centre each year: • Community Consulting Projects – In partnership with Accenture, HBA students teamed up to provide pro bono consulting services for local non-profits; • Summer Internships – Sponsored by London Life, HBA students intern at local non-profit organizations; • Community Impact Challenge – In partnership with United Way, 350 HBA students teamed up with a local non-profit organization providing support in a variety of ways for eight months; • Thanksgiving Food Drive – The campaign raised approximately $10,000 in cash and non-perishable food; • Pro Bono/Ivey NPO Support Services (PINSS) – HBA students, together with students from the Law School, teamed up to provide free consulting and legal services to local non-profit organizations; • Net Impact – MBA students attended Net Impact Conference at Cornell University and established a Net Impact chapter, and; • Fundraising Support – Students organized blood drives and raised more than $11,000 for Haiti relief. LEADER Gives Students World View (May 2010) Melanie Thomas’ passion for international business development took her 7,108 km across the world to Moldova, one of the poorest and most economically challenged countries in Europe. Thomas, a 21-year old student, visited the country as part of Ivey’s LEADER Project, a student-driven overseas economic development program. Approximately 50 Ivey students go to emerging markets in Eastern Europe to teach business students and aspiring entrepreneurs for two weeks. Thomas challenged her students to think beyond the borders of their country’s ideologies. She focused on empowering her students to take ownership of their role in the economical, political and social system. Thomas said the LEADER Project is beneficial to everyone involved and is “by far the best thing I have done at Ivey.” Next year she takes on the role of HBA Executive Director with the LEADER Project.
Ivey Connects At a time when cutbacks and lean times are commonplace, London-area non-profit organizations receive a wealth of free resources from undergraduate students at the Richard Ivey School of Business. Through the Ivey Connects Community Consulting Project (CCP), a free business consulting program run by the students with financial support from RBC as well as management consultants from Accenture, eight area non-profit groups received help with projects, such as marketing, geared to boost donors. The six-week consulting project concluded with presentation by students and their non-profit partners. The Ivey Connects CCP was created in 2005 to help non-profit organizations to develop sustainable, long-term strategies while also allowing students to apply their classroom learning to real-world situations. Organizations such as the Canadian Diabetes Association, Craigwood Youth Services, Sunshine Foundation of Canada, Pillar Nonprofit Network, among many others, have been received vital resources that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive.
Inspiring Change
Innovation. The future belongs to those who are willing to break new ground, take risks, and seek new possibilities.
Š Visuals Unlimited/Masterfile
INNOVATION
“Even when activists, NGOs, and civil society groups exist to address issues, we find that business is typically brought in as part of the solution. Many unique business models seen in developing countries represent innovative responses, and business people are active players in the solution to these issues.” Dr. Mike Valente Assistant Professor Business Strategy and Sustainability
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Social Innovation Advance The BSV Centre and Ivey Connects collaborated on a half-day forum drawing on the local community to teach both Ivey students and leaders of non-profits how to manage a nonprofit. In March 2010, the first Social Innovation @ Ivey forum offered a range of interactions, including a “firing-up” introduction, a “brutally honest” Q&A panel and five parallel workshops on social finance, social movements, social markets, social operations and social innovation. Approximately 60 members of the Ivey and London communities attended the half-day session. Guest Speakers Each year, the Centre invites speakers targeting the entire Ivey community, including students, staff and faculty. Last year, the Centre welcomed a host of speakers including: • Farouk Jiwa, social entrepreneur, Senior Ashoka Fellow and senior regional technical advisor, Economic Development Unit, CARE USA, provided an interactive bootcamp on social enterprise, drawing on his work; • Eric Gales, Microsoft Canada president, spoke about his leadership and vision within his corporation; • Phil LaRocco, E+Co founder, led an energy bootcamp and spoke in the HBA Individuals, Corporations and Society course; • Bryan Gilvesy, HBA ’81, Y U Ranch proprietor, Ivey HBA alumnus, spoke to HBA students about sustainable agriculture; • Penelope Simons, University of Ottawa law professor, spoke with HBA students on “Governance Gap: Business and Human Rights in Conflict Zones” with a particular focus on Talisman Energy in the Sudan.
CASES WRITING AND TEACHING
At Ivey, our approach to addressing the issues of building sustainable value is to diffuse it throughout the organization. We believe issues related to sustainable growth are integral to all aspects of business, not separate and distinct. Ivey students are provided with opportunities to address and understand the complexity of these issues throughout all their courses, both through cases and activities specifically designed to address economic, social and environmental issues, but also through exploration of real-world events as they happen as well as many of the extra-curricular activities, consulting projects, and guest speakers.
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Case Studies The Centre funds sustainability-related cases not currently supported through Ivey’s Research Office. Last year, Michael Sider and Jana Seijts co-wrote a case study with writer, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar, titled, “RBC: Financing the Oil Sands.” Oana Branzei is also finalizing a multi-stakeholder, multi-media case study. The competition version of the case study, titled “Sarnia 2014,” was analyzed by all HBA1 students for their end-of-year Learning Through Action module in April 2010. In addition to the case studies funded by the Centre, Ivey Publishing produces a number of cases: 22 new cases were published with the key word sustainability. Non-profit and Sustainability Courses In 2002, Ivey became the first major business school in Canada to incorporate sustainability in its core MBA program. Although the courses offered have ebbed and flowed, the core content has risen steadily across all other programs. Last year, Ivey offered the following sustainability-related content: corporations and society; co-creating value in developing markets; and business ethics. For the first time, the EMBAs received a sustainability session, which was taught by Professor Oana Branzei. Rob Klassen taught the Sustainable Business Practices course for the Master’s in Environment and Sustainability program. But the reach didn’t stop there. Through the HBA Learning Through Action program, with financial support from RBC Foundation, all HBA1 students spent a day in Sarnia visiting 11 organizations to explore current business problems and strategies for future growth. Approximately 500 Ivey students shared their business skills and education with the Sarnia representatives. Oana Branzei organized and led this event, with support from a number of Sarnia-based organizations.
Building Partnerships
Collaboration is not just the best way; it is the only way forward. As Charles Darwin stated, “In the long history of humankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.â€? The businesses that will lead economic transformation of the 21st century will be the ones that are able to overcome the barriers to cooperation with all their stakeholders and balance social, economic and environmental wins with proďŹ t.
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COLLABORATIONS
“What we see today is a world of possibilities, where partnerships between formerly oppositional forces drive the future. When for profit and non-profit organizations get together, they can pull together resources and capabilities that neither organization can on their own.” Oana Branzei Assistant Professor, Strategy David G. Burgoyne Faculty Fellow
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CSR Report and Bulletins Each year, the Centre produces a report that describes the state of CSR in Canada in partnership with Jantzi Sustainalytics. In June 2009, Cara Maurer, Natalie Slawinski, Brent McKnight, Michael Wood and Tima Bansal compiled the second annual CSR report based on the Jantzi data. An article in the Ivey Business Journal resulted from this process, which was reprinted in the National Post and Globe and Mail. This CSR report will transition from an annual publication to a quarterly press release in future years. The Network for Business Sustainability The Network (NBS.net) enables business sustainability by fostering collaboration between industry and academia. Having built a community and launched several key activities the prior year (2008-09), last year’s efforts focused on ramping up outreach to and impact on practice. Among the highlights: • Developed a new brand identity and website; • Systematic Reviews – NBS funded two $25,000 systematic reviews on socially conscious consumerism and business adaptation to climate change. June Cotte and Remi Trudel led the consumerism project: two additional systematic reviews on embedding sustainability in corporate culture and measuring environmental footprint are in the works; • Research Insights – Produced more than 70 one-page executive summaries of academic research; • Primers – The first in a series of primers was completed on the general topic of business sustainability; • Leadership Council – The Leadership Council is comprised of 15 leading Canadian corporations, NGOs and governments. The Council defines research priorities; • Advisory Council – The Advisory Council has 12 representatives drawn from academia and practice from across Canada. These individuals are leaders in the field of sustainability. The Council met in Montreal in April 2010 to refine NBS strategy; • French office – A French office at l’Université du Québec à Montréal was established to engage the French community. SAP-Ivey Business Sustainability Awards Last year, the Centre partnered with SAP (business management software) to deliver the SAP-Ivey Business Sustainability Awards. Suncor Energy, RBC Financial Group, Celestica, Diproinduca, and Stewardship Ontario were all acknowledged for the valuable work they are undertaking in sustainability. Ivey independently adjudicated the award submissions. The judging committee was comprised of Allison Johnson, Tima Bansal and Ryan Raffety. PhD Sustainability Academy Ivey hosts an Academy for PhD students from around the world every Fall, co-sponsored with Alliance and The Great-West Life Assurance Company for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS), the Network for Business Sustainability and oikos. This year, fifteen PhD students from around the world explored how issues, capabilities, practices, organizations, markets and institutions can be (re)designed to promote more socially and environmentally responsible practices.
INVESTORS
We are pleased to recognize and thank the following donors who have given generously to the Ivey Centre for Building Sustainable Value and the Network for Business Sustainability.
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$1,000,000+ The Late Beryl M. Ivey $25,000 to $49,999 Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life RBC Foundation
Beryl Ivey, 1924-2007 In 2008, The Richard Ivey School of Business received a $500,000 donation from the Richard Ivey Family Foundation. It was Beryl’s wish that the funds be directed to the Building Sustainable Value Research Centre to support research, teaching and student initiatives that realize the School’s mission to develop leaders who contribute to the societies in which they operate.
$10,000 to $24,999 Canadian Pacific Railway Environment Canada Holcim (Canada) Ltd. Industry Canada Ontario Power Generation Research In Motion Limited SAP Canada Inc. Suncor Energy Inc. Syngenta Crop Protection Canada Inc. Teck Telus Corporation Tembec Inc. TD Bank Financial Group Unilever
Every effort has been made to ensure complete accuracy of this listing. If any errors are noticed, please contact annualfund@ivey.ca and accept our apologies in advance. Each and every gift makes a difference and is truly appreciated by the School.
www.ivey.uwo.ca/centres/sustainability Ivey Centre for Building Sustainable Value Richard Ivey School of Business The University of Western Ontario 1151 Richmond Street North London, Ontario Canada N6A 3K7