We are all very familiar with the power of the individual . Rosa Parks, perhaps one of the best-known examples, was a black woman in a highly segregated Alabama, USA, who refused to give up her seat to a white person. Her actions inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott and she is regarded as âthe first lady of the civil rights movementâ. This was back in 1955. Interesting enough, the civil rights movement, together with other social movements of the 60sâconsumer, environmental and womenâs movementsâare intrinsically related to refinements and applications of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Carroll 2016). So, where are we now? Can the power of the individual change the way we deal with environmental issues? Can it impact the way corporations understand their obligations and responsibilities towards society? Can teachers and lecturers shape the managers of the future? Can entrepreneurship provide an answer to social problems?
David Attenborough, the English broadcaster and naturalist, exposed the damage plastic is causing to marine life in his BBC TV series, Blue Planet II. He urged the world to cut back plastic usage in order to protect the oceans. And, at least in the UK , he was listened to. The impact of Blue Planet was enormous. The âplastic issueâ has become a national and political talking point. It even caused the issue to be highlighted in the 2017 Budget speech and lead to change in the government environmental policy (BBC 2018). It also made a huge impact on society. After the final episode of the series, 62% of viewers surveyed wanted to make changes to their daily life. David Attenborough was also astonished with its effect, as he would not expect that the documentary could inspire so many people to want to change. He summarised the importance of the individual in leading change as follows:
The actions of any just one of us may seem to be trivial and to have no effect. But the knowledge that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are doing the same thing - that really does have an effect. (BBC 2018)
Super Size Me, the 2004 documentary by the American Morgan Spurlock impacted on McDonaldâs and whole of the fast food industry. To sum it up, Spurlock ate McDonaldâs food for 30 days, he had to try every item in the menu at least once and accept any âsupersizedâ items. This had an effect on the filmmakerâs health as he gained weight, experienced fat accumulation in his liver and began to feel depressed among other health-related issues. And how did the company react? Although McDonaldâs did not acknowledge the effect of Super Size Me, it changed the food menus, including more salads and fruits and it has eliminated the âsupersizeâ options. Consumers also became more aware about the repercussion of fast food on their health. More recently, a senior Vice President of McDonalds, Alistair Macrow, admitted the documentary had a serious impact on its consumer base. He stated that: âWe canât market our way out of this; itâs about fundamental changeâ (Barnes 2014).
These two examples illustrated the power of the individual to change the way we behave in relation to environmental issues, as well as the impact individuals can make on corporations. In the same way, universities and business schools can have a major influence on the ability to create a more sustainable business future. Higher education institutions inform business practice and shape the leaders and managers of tomorrow who, in turn, will have an important role in the development of regulation and change in business (Tilbury and Ryan 2011).
The single most important driver of the sustainability agenda (business ethics , CSR, sustainability) at higher education institutions is the individual faculty member (Matten and Moon 2004). These individuals might have been someone with a research interest in ethics , CSR or sustainability. This finding emphasises the importance of the individualâs initiative to drive sustainability education . After Matt and Moon published their research in 2004, sustainability became mainstream at Business Schools and Executive education centres. An important landmark for sustainable management education was the creation of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative in 2007. PRME is supported by the United Nations and aims to raise the profile of sustainability in schools worldwide and to provide business students with the understanding and ability to deliver change in the future. PRME also aims to draws attention to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and brings into line academic institutions with the work of UN Global Compact. PRME is based on six principles: Purpose (develop the capabilities of students); Values (incorporate social responsibilities values in academic organisations); Methods (enable effective learning methods for responsible leadership); Research (encourage advances in the creation of social, environmental and economic value); Partnership (interaction with business corporations) and Dialogue (facilitate and support dialogue among educators, students, business, government and civil society ).
Nowadays, Business Schools and executive centres provide students opportunities to build business skills but could also assist them to acknowledge the impact that business decisions can have on the environment and society, as well as the damage they may cause (LarrĂĄn Jorge et al. 2015). Incorporating ethics , CSR and sustainability into the programme is an important step to help students understand this balance (Kolodinsky et al. 2010) and provide them with tools to face these issues in the future. Ethics , CSR and sustainability are covered by the majority of the top 50 global MBA programmes , students seem to be very interested in these topics, especially in the top 10 school, and there is a tendency to teach the three topics together (Christensen et al. 2007). However, business ethics , CSR and sustainability courses are usually offered in only a limited number of postgraduate programmes, and are almost non-existent at undergraduate level (FernĂĄndez and SanjuĂĄn 2010).
There are signs that teaching about sustainability has reached a reasonable level of maturity (Branco and Delgado 2016) and scholars agree that business schools play an important place in developing ethical behaviour and shaping the future behaviour of business professionals (Tormo-CarbĂł et al. 2016). The industry is looking for business graduates who are able to demonstrate an understanding of ethics , CSR and sustainability. It appears to be that business schools are aware of this demand and are providing students with the education they need to find future employment (Nicholls et al. 2013).
Individuals can have a positive impact on society through entrepreneurship , more specific, social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is defined as the process of employing business and entrepreneurship principles to alleviate social problems (Cochran 2007). Social enterprises aim to make a positive social impact rather than to maximise shareholders profit.
Business people are incorporating their philanthropic agenda into their business, thus the new entrepreneurs are attempting to improve social and environmental issues through their enterprises. It is a new hybrid model that combines business with social organisations. Social entrepreneurs are tackling social issues at the same time as generating profits.
One example of a social entrepreneur is Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes. TOMS promised to donate one...