Please forgive cross-postings.
Dear Colleagues:
We are pleased to share with you the fourth issue of the Research
Network for Business Sustainability newsletter, which can be found at
www.sustainabilityresearch.org/index.php?fa=Newsletters.showNewsletters.
This issue features the following stories:
CONNECTING INDUSTRY AND RESEARCHERS
The Network has organized two events that will bring together managers,
consultants, academics, and policy-makers to engage in high-impact
dialogue on two pressing sustainability issues: valuing business
sustainability (25 Jan 08) and engaging the community (29 Feb 08). For
more information or to register, please visit
www.ivey.ca/centres/building/outreach/conferences.htm.
UNLOCKING BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY KNOWLEDGE
The Network is funding projects on two of our most crucial
sustainability issues: valuing business sustainability and engaging the
community. These projects will marry the usefulness of practical tools
with the credibility of research evidence to create knowledge that is of
clear value to managers, policy-makers, and researchers.
CAN RESEARCH IMPACT PRACTICE?
The knowledge generated by academic research is often lost on management
practice and government policy. Researchers Debra Shapiro, Bradley
Kirkman, and Hugh Courtney recently asked academics, managers, and
consultants to comment on the causes of, and solutions to, this problem.
Their findings have implications for all Network members.
EYE ON NEW PROJECTS: WHAT'S NEW IN RESEARCH
Read about your colleagues' research activities and find out what their
projects might mean to your work. Learn about social capital theory and
firm-consumer interactions in subsistence markets (Robin Ritchie and
Srinivas Sridharan), CSR programs as dialogue spaces for the Latin
American centre-left regimes and the private sector (Julia Sagebien),
community participation and decision-making in the new forest economy
(Annie Booth), and the effect of corporate social actions on reputation
(Carol-Ann Tetrault Sirsly).
HOT ISSUE: SECTOR-BENDING ORGANIZATIONS
The recent phenomenon of for-profit philanthropy raises many questions,
both theoretical and practical. Marlene J. Le Ber
highlights the key issues with the examples of Acumen Funds, AltruShare
Securities, and Google.org.
NETWORK MEMBER PROFILES: DR. JOHN PELOZA AND MR. RON YACHNIN
Dr. John Peloza and Mr. Ron Yachnin are spearheading the Network's
project on valuing business sustainability. They are systematically
reviewing recent international academic and practitioner publications to
catalogue the tools managers can use to value business sustainability,
and the contexts in which these tools have been applied.
SUSTAINABILITY TIDBITS: EXPERTS IN STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
This short, provocative story on stakeholder engagement accompanies an
extensive list of Network members who have expertise in some aspect of
stakeholder engagement.
UPCOMING LEARNING AND NETWORKING EVENTS
Connect to the business sustainability community at upcoming events.
Please feel free to contact Tom if you would like to have a story
reported in a future issue.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Tima Bansal
Executive Director and Associate Professor
tbansal@ivey.uwo.ca
Tom Ewart
Managing Director
tom@sustainabilityresearch.org
The Research Network for Business Sustainability
www.sustainabilityresearch.org
'Bridging Business Sustainability Research with Practice'