Inside@Ivey – ARCS PhD Sustainability Academy

LONDON, ONTARIO, CANADA - Oct. 24th, 2012

PhD Sustainability Academy looks at new approaches to researching and sustainability.

The ideas, connections and learning formed at the upcoming PhD Sustainability Academy will help set a new direction for how academics and business think about sustainable business. And, with the world’s top schools and researchers present, the event will confirm Ivey’s leadership role in the global community of business and business schools.

The Academy, an annual event of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) and hosted by Ivey’s Building Sustainable Value Research Centre, will be held Oct. 25-30, 2012, at Ivey. The theme of Theories and Paradigms for Sustainability will feature Ivey faculty host Oana Branzei, Tima Bansal, Director of the Centre for Building Sustainable Value; Bobby Banerjee, University of Western Sydney; Joshua Margolis, Harvard Business School; Andy Spicer, Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina; and Madhu Viswanathan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Read more about the attendees at this year’s PhD Academy.

You can also be part of the discussion throughout the Academy by following @arcsacademy on Twitter using #arcsa, or by visiting the ARCS PhD Sustainability Academy on Facebook and Google+.

Two events are open to media and the public.

Madhu Viswanathan, a globally-recognized thought leader on subsistence marketing from the University of Illinois, will show how to improve the conditions in subsistence marketplaces such as Africa by understanding their current conditions; answering their need for consumer and entrepreneurial knowledge; and, stepping up to the implications for research and business.

Viswanathan’s research on subsistence marketplaces provides an on-the-ground understanding of what life is like for the buyer and seller and on marketplace behaviors. The goal of his work is to enable subsistence marketplaces to move toward being ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable.

The event will be an eye-opening view of the challenges of business in subsistence marketplaces and the steps required to help them prosper.

Event Details:

Spencer Leadership Centre

London, ON

Oct. 27, 2012

7-9 p.m.

Joyce Sou, Ivey’s Executive in Residence for the Sustainability Certificate Program and Manager of B Corporation and Social Impact Metrics at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, will host a panel of B-Corporation Canadian executives who place as much emphasis on social outcomes as on revenues.

“Entitled IMAGINE, the theme for the event is for the panel to help re-vision the world as sustainable, rather than trying to fix what we know doesn’t not work,” said Host Oana Branzei.

Certified B Corporations are a new type of corporation that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. These companies – a list that includes food and apparel companies, attorneys and office supplies – must meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards. Corporations like these are an important way to support a better way of doing business.

Companies participating in the event include:

• Jason Robinson, FMA, Founder and CEO of Sustainability Television Inc.
• Kanika Gupta, Founder of SoJo, an online resource for turning ideas into social change
• Natalie McFarlane, of Positive Impact Law Group, a legal firm specializing in law for social change
• Tim Masson of the Ian Martin Group, a socially responsible contract firm
• Bruce Taylor, Founder of Enviro-Stewards, a company that provides a broad range of services to assist facilities and organizations on their path to sustainability

The discussion will lead to valuable insights into the business strategies of socially-conscious companies.

Event Details:

The event will be streamed live, beginning at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.
Visit go.ivey.ca/IMAGINE to view the webcast.

Media contacts:

Cam Buchan
Communications Manager,
Richard Ivey School of Business
519-661-4157
cbuchan [[AT]] ivey.ca

Ivan Langrish
Senior Manager, Media Strategy
Richard Ivey School of Business
416-203-0664
ilangrish [[AT]] ivey.ca