The Business School Accountability Project engages companies to simultaneously improve corporate and academic sustainability practices, pushing companies and schools to carry out their sustainability goals. The project works to hold business schools accountable to prospective student interest and public demand for sustainability-minded business managers. The needs of corporate recruiters drive many curricular decisions within the business schools. WRI works with the partner companies to integrate their sustainability goals into their corporate hiring practices through building connections between different groups in the organizations and educating the front line recruiters about sustainability and its relevance to their company’s performance. The project thereby works to signal the need for MBAs who are equipped to bring companies into a sustainable future.

Phase 1 of the project, an audit process of business schools and companies to determine whether corporate recruiting and philanthropy are aligned with corporate sustainability goals, was completed in 2004. The Phase 1 partner companies (Alcoa, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, and Johnson & Johnson) have shown that they are committed to enhancing corporate hiring practices to signal the need for MBAs who are skilled at bringing companies into a sustainable future. Results indicated that schools have made some improvements, but are still not producing the kind of managerial talent who can deal effectively with today’s complex sustainability challenges.  Results indicate that firms continue to struggle to align admirable sustainability goals with their day-to-day operations and hiring practices.

WRI is preparing to launch the project’s second phase.  WRI together with our partner companies are poised to communicate the audit findings to other companies and schools to affect broader change in corporate practices and management education. This could include the development of a tool kit that allows managers and educators to focus on the gaps that exist between teaching and practice and explore ways to fill them.  Already, we worked in concert with the partner companies to develop the Sustainability Skill Set for human resource staff to use in recruiting and interviews. Additionally, we hope to expand our data collection efforts to make sure our findings continue to identify ways in which business schools can better meet the needs of firms pursuing sustainable practices.  In Phase 2, we plan to also target deans, faculty and staff to ensure they recognize and understand the changes that are occurring within the business world, and the need for managers skilled in sustainability.  At the conclusion of Phase 2, the project will work to promote our findings and methods through The Business Roundtable, The Global Environmental Management Initiative, Business for Social Responsibility, The Conference Board, and any other forum where we can work with top management to better articulate their needs to the business school community.