Now is the most appropriate time for business schools to be involved in the discussion about sustainability because the issue has moved on from being just about the environment, to encompassing all aspects of modern life and development.  The social, environmental and commercial all have an interconnected role to play in ensuring that humankind spreads the benefits of progress “….without compromising the needs of future generations….”

So why do business schools, such as Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, have an important role to play in not just the debate about sustainability, but about the implementation of sustainable practices?

Business is the cornerstone of the standard of living enjoyed by so many of the world’s population, and the vehicle by which the overall standard of living has progressed continuously for many centuries.  Whereas the attitude was so often “profit at any cost”, this has changed with the realisation of the environmental and social consequences that this has brought.  

Without willing and informed input from business, not only will further progress not be possible, but many of the gains that have been made could very well be lost.   Some would see it as a positive to “rein in society”, but it would condemn those presently living in poverty to remain there, while others will join them: a poor basis for securing the present-that-will-be for future generations.

So what does the Rotterdam School of Management, and Erasmus University more generally, contribute to a better and sustainable future?

Research is the foundation of all successful efforts in sustainability.  Not research aimed at defining the problems, but in understanding the fundamental processes in play and offering insights into how and where these processes may be changed.  These insights must then be communicated in ways that students and society in general can understand.

 1 2 3 Next >