Corporate & Social Responsibility

Many of today’s b-schools aren’t looking for the next Top 10 richest businessmen and women—they’re looking for applicants who possess an ardent commitment to making the world a better place.

Across the globe, graduate management students are committed to positive social change to address concerns that will have an impact in the future. More than half of the graduates that participated in the 2009 Global Management Education Graduate survey indicated that emphasis on community and inclusion was of great importance. In addition, 87% of 2009 graduates consider achieving something they personally value to be extremely or very important.

An MBA gives you a broad understanding of how business endeavors work. The skills you build in b-school are easy to apply to helping others—you’ll know better how to organize people, how to allocate resources, and how to plan for and measure results…but these results may be more rewarding than a simple “bottom line.”

Stories of corporate greed have continued to surface in recent years, particularly in light of the current economic situation. Although ethics has long been a component of b-school curriculum, many b-schools have expanded their course catalogs to include “social enterprise” and “global entrepreneurship” concentrations—their programs are growing to meet the need of students who have no interest in business as usual.

Outside the classroom, b-schools encourage students to give back to the local community and to take on service projects with local and global reach. Schools and programs band together for larger projects, and many participate in TeamMBA, the GMAC initiative to help strengthen the relationship between b-school and society. TeamMBA celebrates and supports the efforts of MBA students to make a positive impact in their communities and beyond.

B-school students committed to corporate and social responsibility take what they learn in the classroom and work together to apply it to projects that address everything from the local soup kitchen to global climate change. Learning in cohorts not only builds a professional network—it also creates a team of motivated individuals who could build a house, raise money for cancer research, or develop a sustainable business plan for small business owners in a developing country.