Topics such as corporate governance, corporate responsibility and sustainability have traditionally had an important role in the Amsterdam Business School’s educational programmes, research endeavours, engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and every day operations. We are proud of the progress we have made in all these fronts. Ethics, responsibility and sustainability themes are fairly integrated in our teaching programmes, with several specialised courses available for deeper knowledge.
The large number of scholars focusing or interested in these topics makes Amsterdam a hub for relevant research talent. Furthermore, our business school engages in a range of partnerships in this area, with the aim to link to emerging technological developments such as big data. We have signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Education, an initiative that aims to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally.
The Academy of Business in Society (ABIS), is a network of global companies and leading business schools committed to mainstreaming sustainable enterprise in business and policy research, executive learning and management education.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international multi-stakeholder organisation that promotes the use of sustainability reporting as a way for organisations to become more sustainable and contribute to sustainable development.
The Network for Business Sustainability connects international academic experts and business leaders through research. Its community brings together business schools from around the world with an interest in corporate social responsibility and a belief in the value of research-based practice and practice-based research.
The Partnerships Resource Centre is built up as a flexible (virtual) learning network of professionals, academics and practitioners around the world, that share and collect information on selecting appropriate partnerships and increasing their efficiency, impact and effectiveness.
With regard to sustainability & corporate responsibility, our approach is embedded in the generic policies and procedures adopted at the level of the university, sometimes as part of national agreements.
Corporate responsibility has been an area of specific interest at Amsterdam Business School for several years, both as specific expertise of researchers who are also embedded in their disciplinary areas and, for others, as one of the topics of interest within a wider portfolio.
Please find an overview of faculty members whose research interests are conneted to ESG:
Sustainability & corporate responsibility are important elements of the programmes we offer. They are included in the exit qualifications of programmes. These topics are also encompassed in the research of many of the faculty teaching in our programmes. In addition to dedicated courses in some programmes, ethics, responsibility and sustainability are often integrated in other courses.
Our research on sustainability & corporate responsibility encompasses people, planet and profit. It covers environmental, social as well as economic aspects, and their governance. Topics of research include i.a. companies and climate/energy (innovation, emission trading), consumers and sustainability/CSR, green innovation and product development, ethical leadership and CSR communication, branding and advertising.
Most of our sections have researchers with an interest in these topics, but the sections Accounting, Leadership & Management and Strategy & International Business give them more structural attention.
The George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis Award is a collaborative initiative between KPMG and Amsterdam Business School and has been awarded annually since 2017. The award is in honour of Dr George Molenkamp, a pioneer in business sustainability, and a professor at the University of Amsterdam. Besides this, he held many other positions of responsibility in society and business.