A positive approach to business
Organisations are under pressure to reduce environmental harm and ensure social justice. Edhec dean Emmanuel Métais argues that management education must lead the way in developing a net‑positive business model
T here was a time when society looked to political, military or religious leaders to improve the world. But today, society is urgently looking to the corporate sector to develop bold new ideas to tackle environmental and social challenges. This means that business schools, as the purveyors of management and finance education, are also under pressure to step up and do significantly more than they have in the past. How should business schools respond to this challenge? How can we lead the way in this new era of corporate responsibility? The answer, I believe, is to teach our students how to tear apart the existing business model and create a new, net-positive one. Here’s why: traditional corporate social responsibility focuses on reducing negative externalities but fails to transform business. This doesn’t help us decrease carbon emissions or pull millions of people out of poverty; neither does it repair past environmental damage. ‘Impact’ businesses focus on having a positive impact, but too often that impact is specific, not systemic, and the overall results of these businesses are still negative. ‘De-growth’ models, meanwhile, raise thorny social and political questions at a time when much of humanity’s core needs are still unmet.
Exploring the net-positive solution What is a net-positive business? In their 2021 book, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take , Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever and sustainability expert Andrew Winston reframe corporate success and reveal key lessons from pioneering companies about how businesses can profit by fixing the world’s problems instead of creating them. They explain that net-positive businesses eliminate more carbon than they produce, use 100-per-cent renewable energy and renewably sourced materials, create no waste and clean the water they use in production. Net-positive companies also provide a living wage and respect racial and gender equity. Their mission is to give back more than they take to both stakeholders and the environment. This is not a utopian dream. When I talk to students about net-positive business, I give two examples of companies that are already making a difference: Interface uses recycled and bio‑based materials to make carpet tiles that store carbon, reducing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, while M2i Life Sciences is a company that manufactures organic pesticides. Here are some other examples of how net-positive businesses could solve problems instead of contributing to them. Food and agriculture companies could embrace regenerative practices, enrich the soil and boost biodiversity. Lumber and mining
30 | Ambition | OCTOBER 2024
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online