Monthly Archives: April 2010
A decade of business education – GIBS celebrates 10th anniversary
6 April 2010
Established in 2000, the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) was established to be a business school for and from the local business community, a place of hard work, inspiration, insight and hope – all aimed at building its students’, and our country’s, competitiveness.
Tshikululu partners with GIBS in collaboration with its Network for Social Entrepreneurs; co-hosting the annual Serious Social Investing workshop and the quarterly Development Intelligence Series breakfast briefings; and in presentations to the GIBS Executive Leadership Programme.
Celebrating the Institute’s 10th birthday, GIBS founding director Professor Nick Binedell talks about the dynamism of the South Africa in which we work.
Low HIV prevalence among students, says study
South Africa’s student population recorded an HIV prevalence of 3,4% in the first comprehensive study to survey the scope and impact of HIV and AIDS on the higher education sector in South Africa.
The Higher Education HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) study revealed that the prevalence among students, academic and administrative staff was substantially lower that national prevalence levels while the prevalence among service staff was similar to estimated from other studies.
The purpose of the study was to enable the higher education sector to understand the threat posed by the epidemic to its core mandate.
Read more about the results of the survey on AllAfrica.com.
McKinsey Global Survey tracks how companies manage sustainability
1 April 2010
A recent survey conducted by McKinsey reveals that the lack of a fully defined and unilaterally agreed-upon definition of sustainability may be what is discouraging executives from making it a conscious focus within their companies.
It might also be the singular reason behind the few that report initiatives in sustainability, but lack any real credibility.
The study shows that while more than 50% of executives consider sustainability””the management of environmental, social, and governance issues”””œvery” or “œextremely” important in a wide range of areas, including new-product development, reputation building, and overall corporate strategy, companies are not taking a proactive approach to managing sustainability. Only around 30% of executives say their companies actively seek opportunities to invest in sustainability or embed it in their business practices, for example.
Just over 6% of executives say that sustainability is a top-three priority in their CEOs’ agendas, that it is formally embedded in business practices, and that their companies are “œextremely” or “œvery effective” at managing it.
These engaged companies actively seek opportunities to invest in sustainability and they do more than others to communicate externally the impact of their sustainability programmes.
Read the full article here. The website may require free registration before allowing access to the article.
It would be interesting to compare these numbers with those derived just from South African companies – how do you think they would compare? As far as a working, cohesive and relevant definition of corporate sustainability goes, the debate remains open.
