Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/201447
FOR GOOD What we can achieve when we teach at the intersection of international business and sustainable development. BY JANE HUGHES DAVE CUTLE R T raditionally, the worlds of international business and international development have been so far apart that they sometimes seemed like the Capulets and Montagues of the economic sphere. Business types thought of sustainable development advocates as left-wing tree-huggers; development types viewed businesspeople as evil destroyers of earth and people. These attitudes stemmed largely from diametrically opposed educational approaches. Business students learned that their ultimate goal was to maximize shareholder value; development students learned that businesspeople will trample on social and environmental interests in pursuit of profit. During the past two decades, however, traditionally narrow views on both sides have been giving way to more nuanced perspectives that allow for a partnership between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Even Michael Porter, writing in the January 2011 Harvard Business Review, has advanced the principle of shared value, "which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. … Shared value is not social responsibility, philanthropy, or even sustainability, but a new way to achieve economic success." BizEd November/December 2013 43