ESMT founds Center for Sustainable Business

• Center unites research, teaching, and thought leadership to promote sustainability in business
• Prof. CB Bhattacharya, Pietro Ferrero Chair in Sustainability, heads new center

ESMT European School of Management and Technology has founded the Center for Sustainable Business at the international business school in Berlin. This center is the third center at ESMT, following the Center for Leadership Development Research (CLDR) and the German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC). CB Bhattacharya, Professor of Marketing and Pietro Ferrero Chair in Sustainability at ESMT, will lead the center.

The Center for Sustainable Business focuses on research, teaching, and thought leadership in areas surrounding sustainability in business. Research will address best practices, such as how to engage all employees in sustainable business and how to balance the diverse goals of a business, taking into account employees and customers, the environment, and finances. The center's executive education will have an interdisciplinary approach, tapping into resources from many fields, including development economics, marketing, and ethics. The center will also provide a platform for discourse with prominent scholars, business leaders, and NGOs.

"This center is a natural evolution after the success of the Sustainable Business Round Table," said Jörg Rocholl, President of ESMT. "Company members of the roundtable have voiced the need for deeper research, a larger platform, and education that brings relevant concepts, tools, and practical answers into the company." The Sustainable Business Roundtable (SBRT) was initiated at ESMT in 2011 by Prof. CB Bhattacharya and will continue as a pillar of the center. The SBRT is a unique partnership between business and academia. It connects sustainability managers from leading companies with their colleagues from other departments such as HR, investor relations, or marketing, as well as with other company partners, NGOs, or regulators. The 22 company members of the SBRT are Accenture, Aegon, Allianz, BASF, Bombardier, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Deutsche Telekom, E.ON, Fragomen Worldwide, Fraport, IBM, Intel, KBC, Lufthansa, MAN, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Osram, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Siemens, The Walt Disney Company, and UniCredit.

CB Bhattacharya commented, "Change is brewing in the corporate world regarding sustainability and its impact - also on the company's bottom line. The Center for Sustainable Business at ESMT will address how sustainability affects all aspects of the business and support its integration throughout the company."