MSC VELUX Endowed Chair and CBS World Class Research Environment - coming to the end of a five-year period of collaboration

MSC VELUX Endowed Chair and CBS World Class Research Environment -
coming to the end of a five-year period of collaboration

(Photo: CBS President Nikolaj Malchow-Møller speaks at the closing event of the two research initiatives, Governing Responsible Business and the VELUX Endowed Chair in Corporate Sustainability, on 20 June 2019)

The beginnings
In 2014, two major research initiatives were established at CBS to explore and strengthen research in corporate sustainability and responsible governance: a VELUX Endowed Chair in Corporate Sustainability was created thanks to a generous grant from the VILLUM FOUNDATION, and Governing Responsible Business (GRB), a CBS ‘World Class Research Environment’, came into existence as part of an internal, five-year funding scheme at CBS.

Activities
During the ensuing five years, the two initiatives have cooperated closely on research projects and sustainability initiatives under the respective leadership of Jeremy Moon, the VELUX Professor of Corporate Sustainability, and Professors Andreas Rasche and Dan Kärreman, Co-Directors of GRB.

From their base at MSC, the two initiatives have functioned as a channel for research collaboration and teaching initiatives across CBS; together, they have contributed to increasing the visibility and impact of sustainability-related research internationally; and through numerous seminars, conferences, and other forms of outreach, they have provided a valuable forum for discussion of sustainability issues with practitioners in businesses and organisations.

(Photo to the right: GRB Co-Directors Andreas Rasche and Dan Kärreman, on either side of Professor Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen, who was a co-founder of GRB)

Results
Main research themes have included core areas of Corporate Sustainability and CSR (such as international supply chains, sustainable business models, sustainable consumption, CSR communication, anti-corruption, CSR and gender, and human and labour rights), as well as the exploration of multiple aspects of governance and responsible business (such as the roles of Multi-stakeholder initiatives, cross sector partnerships, private authority and public policy, and national government and international CSR).

This has resulted in numerous publications in leading business and management journals and other social science journals. Furthermore, the projects led to the production of a new senior text Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, Communication and Governance (Cambridge University Press) edited by Andreas Rasche, Mette Morsing and Jeremy Moon.
Click here for more information about the research of GRB and the Velux Endowed Chair.

A particular area of focus has been the training of junior scholars. The grant from the Villum Foundation has funded two PhD students and three postdocs since 2014. GRB gave special support to more junior scholars through grants for research trips and specialist workshops and courses, and through paper development workshops.

Together they have thus enabled the two initiatives to make a significant contribution to the development of new knowledge and competencies within the field.

(Photo above: The two PhD students funded by the Velux Chair, Erin Leitheiser and Luisa Murphy, on either side of Velux Professor Jeremy Moon. Louise Thomsen, Project Manager of the initiative, on the far left)

Legacies
Although the two research initiatives are formally coming to a close now, their research focus and many of their activities continue. In particular, two new research grants have emerged from the work of the VELUX Chair: a Danida grant to study the regulation of international supply chains from Bangladesh, and a Carlsberg grant to study models of sustainable supply chains from Ethiopia.

The CBS Sustainability centre (formerly cbsCSR), also located at MSC, carries on as the hub for the new research projects and teaching output at MSC and across CBS, and it will continue to host the fellowship programmes and collaboration with scholars around the world, as well as the Business of Society (BOS) Blog and other outreach activities. Professor Jeremy Moon was appointed Director of CBS Sustainability as of 1 July 2019.

More information about:

The Velux Endowed Chair in Corporate Sustainability

Governing Responsible Business

CBS Sustainability

The closing event on 20 June 2019 (From Global Goals to Local Impact)

Read an interview with Professors Jeremy Moon and Andreas Rasche in CBS Wire
 

For further info., please contact Jeremy Moon, jm.msc@cbs.dk, or Andreas Rasche, ar.msc@cbs.dk.