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Business and Society Program
Our Mission
The Business and Society Program is dedicated to developing leaders for a sustainable global society. Through dialogues and path-breaking research, we create opportunities for executives and educators to explore new pathways to sustainability and values-based leadership. BSP's websites, www.CasePlace.org and www.beyondgreypinstripes.org, are the leading sources of innovative curriculum in top business schools around the world. The Business and Society Program is an independently-funded policy program of the Aspen Institute.
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Click here for the Aspen Principles on curbing short-termism, created by leaders in the corporate and institutional investor communities.
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View the Aspen Institute's Spring '08 Book Talk Series in New York City.
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 The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (Aspen CBE) is publishing its first guidebook for MBA students seeking socially responsible business school programs. Based on research from Aspen CBE’s latest Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings, 130 global MBA programs are profiled in the guide and designated as "truly extraordinary," "excellent," or "good." In keeping with its environmental perspective, the guidebook will primarily be distributed digitally as an electronic download. Available starting Wednesday, June 25, The Aspen Institute Guide to Socially Responsible MBA Programs 2008-2009, published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, can be purchased digitally ($14.95, 272 pages) at or in print form ($37.95, 272 pages). Although prospective students represent the primary market for the guide, it is also useful for hiring managers seeking today’s best, brightest and most socially conscious business school graduates, as well as for business school administrators seeking to benchmark their offerings against other leading MBA programs.
 Business students in 2007 are thinking more broadly about the primary responsibilities of a company. They are expressing more interest in finding work that offers the potential of making a contribution to society. That said, business schools and companies have not convinced MBA students that environmental and social responsibility contribute to corporate financial success. Where Will They Lead? MBA Student Attitudes About Business and Society is the third survey conducted by the Business & Society Program in the past nine years, exploring how students in 15 top-ranking schools in the U.S., U.K. and Canada perceive this enduring relationship. Read more headlines from the survey in our press release; a full report is also available for sale.
 The Aspen Institute's Corporate Values Strategy Group (CVSG) is pleased to present its latest In Focus paper. This edition continues CVSG's examination of quarterly earnings guidance as it contributes to overly short-term perspectives. The paper highlights the investor communications practices of Johnson & Johnson, which does not provide quarterly EPS guidance, in light of a broader discussion of how companies can better discuss their future with investors and analysts, without focusing on short-term measures like quarterly EPS forecasts.
 Closer Look at Marketing. (Aspen Institute, March 2008). “You can be as conscientious as you are competitive” is the message under a hydrogen fuel cell bus. Could anyone a generation ago imagine this as a full-page advertisement for UTC in the most recent edition of BusinessWeek? While advertising is only one aspect of marketing, it’s certainly convincing evidence that decision makers in a wide range of for-profit firms are using social impact management issues to differentiate themselves in the market. Read this month’s Closer Look at Business Education to see how business schools, too, are beginning to differentiate themselves in the ways they integrate these issues into marketing curricula.
 The Aspen Principles: Guidelines for Long-Term Value Creation in Business. An influential group of CEOs, business organizations, institutional investors, labor unions, corporate lawyers, accountants and consultants convened by the Aspen Institute have signed off on a set of guiding principles that commits them to encouraging and implementing long-term management and value creation strategies. The signing of the four-page document by twelve members of The Aspen Institute Corporate Values Strategy Group is the culmination of a two-year process spearheaded by the Business and Society Program in collaboration with the Council of Institutional Investors and the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees.
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