It was a great Honor for the Humanistic Management Center's Ernst von Kimakowitz to give a lecture on humanistic management at the Global Ethic Institute at the University of Tuebingen on the 30th of January 2013.
The Lecture, titled Business as Agent of Systemic Change was focused on three dimensions. When looking for Businesses making a positive impact beyond their direct business relationships it is first necessary to know what kind of impact might be desired. To this end the lecture began with an introduction to development theory positioning the capability approach as the most fitting development framework to analyze systemic impact of business on societal change. Subsequently the lecture dealt with the tool set that business has to learn about and implement impact oriented measures which is stakeholder engagement and dialog. On the basis of knowing what the desired outcome would be and which tools are at hand the lecture concluded with examples of businesses making systemic impact through innovative structuring of backward linkages as well as a public private partnership mediating development-conducive backward linkages and a civil society organization working towards the same end.
Those examples follow an enlightened view on corporate responsibilities where businesses do not only pursue a do no harm or a doing well by doing good strategy but they move beyond their direct business relationships and aim to make systemic impact to change the rules of engagement in the global economy.
The lecture took place on January 30th on the premises of the Global Ethic Institute in Tuebingen, Germany.