"Either we have a sustainable and responsible business or we will not have a business at all."​

There is a generalized conception that being a “Responsible Business” has become an unstoppable Macro Trend, where there is a general acceptance of the importance of companies to include, more and more, their social and environmental concerns in the definition of their business strategies.

If it is certain to assume that without economic sustainability hardly there is social and environmental sustainability, it is too more and more certain that without the social and environmental concerns of the companies, hardly they will be able to preserve their economic sustainability. There are no sustainability strategies. Sustainability is The strategy.

A “Responsible Business” goes way beyond the Environment, being a subject that covers areas that go from Ethics to Local Communities; from the way companies treat their employees to the existing Diversity of gender and racial discriminations to the way suppliers treat their own employees, from the interaction with the Media to the way Clients are treated.

To correctly balance all these “stakeholders” will continue to be a competitive advantage to companies, and the “business case for action” is increasingly more obvious. In this program, participants will be provided with the necessary tools to empower them to define the best strategies to face all these challenges.

 

Institutional Partner:

Key Benefits / Main Advantages

• Increase consciousness of this Macro Trend;
• Prepare participants for the internal debates in their companies, about the best strategy to follow in order to tackle these challenges;
• Be introduced to processes and tools that can lead to the definition of these strategies.

Themes covered

• Meaning of “Responsible Business”. The need to be understood from a strategic and holistic (economic, social and environmental) point of view, that affects all Company’s “ecosystem”, always out in view for value creation for the company and the society;
• What is the meaning of Purpose and why is it important;
• Which is the context and why did we get here;
• “Responsible Business” as a strategy. The “Business case for action” and the impact more and more clear in the financial performance of the companies;
• Shared Value and Key Stakeholders’ Notion;
• Big trends (ODS, Employability, Metrics ESG and Impact Accounting);
• Which are the big questions and the implementation process to “think” Responsible Business inside the companies?;
• The vital role of the Social Innovation within mind this more responsible “new world”;
• How we should understand the Business Ethics in these new challenges. Does it changes anything?;
• The challenges of the circular economy in the Sustainable Business Models;
• Which are the duties and responsibilities of the “modern corporation”?;
• What is leadership with a purpose? Which leadership practices really matter?

Methodology

All themes will be addressed with successful (and unsuccessful) real cases of companies such as Unilever, Walmart, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Apple, Ford, Microsoft;

There will also be other videos regarding the main players in the development of “Responsible Business” strategies.

CEO's participation

• CEO’s from three relevant companies in Portugal will share with participants their experiences and the strategic challenges that come with this new trend.

Support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation:

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation supports this program through the assignment of 5 scholarships equivalent to the total amount of this course’s fees. The objective of this project is to promote the green skills of professionals with high transformation potential in their organizations, being specifically aimed for PMEs collaborators, microenterprises, startups and portuguese social companies.

Due to the high number of requests received, the applications for these scholarships were closed on March 12th. You can still apply to participate in the program "Responsible Business: Next Source of Competitive Advantage" through the normal form.

Contact us for more information.