THE 1st IESE-LUISS Business School Conference on Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship
This year, more than 100 international scholars came to Rome on 18th and 19th April to participate at THE 1st IESE-LUISS Business School CONFERENCE ON RESPONSIBILITY, SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Inspired by the beauty and harmony of the new LUISS Business School campus: Villa Blanc, participating scholars from different continentspresented their work, debated, and shared their ideas. The focus was ‘Hybrid Organizations’; organizations that create social and environmental impact through profit-making market mechanisms.
"The idea is to try to understand how we can create organizations that are able to achieve different kind of objectives at the same time. The same activity you do to survive economically should generate a positive impact on the social side and the environmental side." explained Prof. Francesco Rullani, Assistant Professor at LUISS Guido Carli University and Academic Director and Coordinator of LUISS Business School ERSHub - Ethic and Social Responsibility Hub.
Until recently, the prevalent economic models offered few solutions to many long-lasting social and environmental problems affecting our societies. Poverty and exclusion in the social sphere, climate change and water shortage in the environmental sphere, are just some of the most visible examples. In such a context, hybrid organizations have begun to play a crucial role. "In the last ten years we have observed emergence of an increased numbers of hybrid organizations, social enterprises, cooperatives andorganizations that are playing a double role in our societies. On one hand, they are contributing to the solution of social problems; on the other hand, they are providing jobs, and acting as professional and competitive participants in the market" commented Antonino Vaccaro, Associate Professor and Academic Director of the Center for Business in Society at IESE Business School.
"Creation of economic, social and environmental value would not be possible without three important pillars - Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability – which are not only the skills good managers must possess, but also represent the core of our school's strategy”, added Prof. Paolo Boccardelli, Dean of the LUISS Business School. “We want to contribute to the development of a new class of leaders who are able to create solutions for a better world."
