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| UPCOMING EVENTS |
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| KIN Talk Lydia van Schaik - 18 January |
The concept is simple. KINTalks is an event where inspiring practitioners are invited to talk about their work experience in the field of innovation, digital technology, business and/or design. Key here is sharing knowledge and firing up debate. It seems that there are (too) little moments where academics and practitioners meet. KINTalks helps: 1) to encourage a conversation around shared interests; 2) to learn from each other and 3) to network and nurture lasting relationships. Overall, it is an opportunity to get inspired and energized.
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In our upcoming KINTalks on January 18th we invited Lydia van Schaik, Manager Mobile Apps and Capabilities at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to give a talk about innovation and mobile apps at KLM.
Please register here when you would like to join the KIN Talk on January 18. If you have further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us (kintalks.sbe@vu.nl). |
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| NEWS |
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| Niki Konijn appointed Operations Coordinator of Executive Education |
| As of January 1, Niki Konijn has been appointed Operations Coordinator of Executive Education at the Department of Management & Organisation. |
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After more than five years as a Policy Officer at the Amsterdam Business Research Institute, Niki will now focus on coordinating existing and new initiatives related to executive education within the management domain.
Niki is very grateful to all the colleagues at SBE, in particular the ABRI team, the ABRI Board and the SBE Research Office, for the great collaboration and support over the last five years. The ABRI team wants to take this opportunity to thank Niki for all his contributions and wish him all the best in his new role. |
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| ARCA Researcher José Hernández interviewed by CNN |
Researcher José Hernández recently published a book ‘Broken Business’. He was interviewed about this on CNN. Hernández is working for 'Amsterdam Research Center in Accounting' (ARCA) the research center in Accounting at the department of Accounting from the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of VU Amsterdam.
Watch the interview here.
In his book ‘Broken Business’, José Hernandez shares the decades of experience he has gained during his consultancy work for large international companies in crisis. Broken Business outlines how a company can reach the breaking point and climb out of the valley to come back stronger than ever. |
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This book not only provides a clear analysis of the problem, but also makes clear which seven steps a company has to go through to tackle the crisis and to adjust the structure, culture and strategy, so that integrity and ethical conduct are firmly anchored in the business model to become.
What do we read in the book?
ING, Volkswagen, FIFA, Wells Fargo, Oxfam Novib, Lehman Bros., ABN-AMRO, Southwest Airlines, Shell, Rabobank, Enron, Deutsche Bank, Panama Papers. Why do good companies go wrong, why are company scandals commonplace? Are corruption and misconduct in business inevitable and what can the top of a company do about it? What can executives do to save their company if a scandal comes to light, or better, what can they do to prevent such a scandal? These are the questions that form the motive for Broken Business.
About José Hernandez
José Hernandez PhD is besides ARCA the founder and CEO of Ortus Strategies, a consultancy with international clients and offices in Switzerland and Canada. He is a well-known leader, entrepreneur and strategic advisor, and his work focuses primarily on supporting multinationals that are involved in high-profile and complex regulatory and white-collar crime cases. |
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| How CSR managers can Inspire other leaders to act on sustainability |
How can CSR managers inspire other leaders to act on sustainability? Four different tactics are found to be most effective at mobilizing others, say ABRI Fellow Christopher Wickert and Frank G.A. de Bakker in their article that has been feautured on 10 January in the Harvard Business Review.
In 2013 the authors interviewed a cross-sectional sample of 54 CSR managers in German multinational corporations. The sample included companies such as Bayer, BMW and SAP, and we typically spoke with the Head of CSR in each company. Creating momentum for sustainability and social change still remains a major challenge that requires further examination. |
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| Christopher Wickert |
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The first tactic is to Build a network of internal allies. “If you want to successfully integrate CSR topics in the company, you need to build up a network of people who know the company, and whom you know,” said one respondent.
The second tactic: make sustainability resonate. Rather than promoting an overwhelming vision of a “better world” that was incomprehensible for most people with regard to their daily routines, the focus was on establishing business relevance for specific job environments.
Identify adequate incentives. The CSR managers we interviewed also said that shop-floor employees and blue-collar workers were more motivated by presenting CSR as the “right thing to do”, independent of how it might enhance profits. At the other hand employees in managerial functions are more likely to be convinced if CSR can be quantified and a strong business case can be presented.
Use external and internal benchmarking. Creating benchmarks against which progress of CSR projects can be measured is another important tactic. One interviewee said he established an internal competition among factories across the globe for the most environmentally sustainable production, based on a set of commonly agreed indicators. This CSR performance challenge led to sharing of best practices within the company. External benchmarking allows for comparing the CSR performance of an entire company against that of its competitors, for instance wit the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
The article in the HBR can be read here. |
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| Arianne J. van der Wal successfully defended her thesis |
On 18 December Arianne van der Wal successfully defended her thesis titled "Harnessing Ancestral Roots to Grow a Sustainable World".
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| Arianne is Assistant Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Leiden University. She holds a cum laude Research Master's degree in Social Psychology from Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and obtained her PhD at the Center for Marketing Leadership, a collaboration between the VU’s Marketing Department and consulting agency VODW. This fruitful collaboration enabled her to disseminate the obtained knowledge into practice and translate it into relevant strategies for marketers interested to promote sustainable behavior. |
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| EVENT OVERVIEW WINTER 2019 |
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