CREATING A FAIRER WORLD
100K ON OFFER TO MBA ENTREPRENEURS COUNTRY: Switzerland SCHOOL: IMD A grant of 100,000 CHF (c. $103k USD) is on offer to MBA entrepreneurs at IMD each year as part of the School’s new startup competition. Having submitted proposals over the summer, the winner of the inaugural IMD MBA Venture Award is set to be announced this month, September 2022. At the time of writing, 11 current MBA candidates (from an enrolled class of 104) had submitted their intent to apply across nine projects. The new annual grant comes courtesy of Thierry Maupilé, a serial entrepreneur and MBA alumnus of IMD’s predecessor institution, IMEDE, who is currently Chief of Business and Product Strategy at Japanese venture company, Rakuten Symphony. ‘The last thing that you want to do as an entrepreneur is to worry about money,’ said Maupilé, who has previously played key roles at US tech startups that include IPWireless and Altiostar as well as at Motorola. In addition to the prize fund on offer in the new MBA Venture Award, the winning candidate(s) will receive mentoring from Maupilé, as well as two IMD professors, Jim Pulcrano and Benoit Leleux, for a period of 12 months. Selecting the final winner, meanwhile, will be a jury of Maupilé, Pulcrano, Omar Toulan – Dean of the IMD MBA programme – and at least one external venture capitalist. ‘IMD provides a lot of tools and skills but more importantly the right mindset. In a startup venture you have to be ready for the roller coaster ride. There will be phases of excitement and of depression. It’s not just a linear trajectory. I’ve really learned and used what I’ve experienced at IMD,’ said Maupilé. For the last 24 years, IMD has run a rather different startup competition, in which Swiss ventures from outside the School are selected to work with either the IMD MBA or one of its EMBA classes as part of their programme learning. Around 40% of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups 2021 were found to have worked with IMD MBAs or EMBAs, according to the School. / TBD
THROUGH GAMIFICATION
COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
Doing business in a more responsible manner has often been shown to come with the added perk of also being good for business, but so many companies still fall short. In the UK, paying the Living Wage is a case in point. The Living Wage differs from the UK’s National Minimum Wage, which is the legally required amount that workers have to be paid. It is, instead, a voluntary scheme, where companies pay workers based on a figure suggested by the Living Wage Foundation that is designed to allow workers to meet their basic needs. Companies that commit to paying a living wage have been found to gain benefits that include employees taking fewer sick days, higher employee retention and reduced recruitment costs. Employees are more likely to upskill, have upward mobility, be more productive and have higher job satisfaction. It seems like an obvious win-win, so why does the UK still have 1.6 million workers that are not being paid the Living Wage? The University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School and University of Edinburgh Business School have partnered with EAWOP (European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology) and ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) to raise awareness of the importance of paying a living wage. They have, for example, created a game, called SuperbMarket, in which players follow four characters in experiencing how different conditions at work impacts staff, their workplaces and society. Its aim is to highlight the consequences of companies not paying a living wage. ‘A living wage is one that enables workers to meet their everyday needs and to meaningfully participate in society beyond just “surviving” financially,’ said Rosalind Searle, from the Adam Smith Business School and Director of the EAWOP Impact Incubator. ‘A living wage gives workers choices to allow them to change their lives and move out of poverty, meaning they can develop their capabilities for future employability – from learning to drive a car to undertaking other forms of education and skills development,’ Searle added. / EB
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