Teaching Innovation Program

The USB's proposal represents a three-pronged approach:

• The launching of a Ph.D. program in leadership, governance and ethics;
• the establishment of a Center for Development Partnership and Sustainable Business; and
• the design of a specialized MBA program in sustainable business and corporate social responsibility.

The USB proposal has an Africa focus; an emphasis on training the trainers; a research component; and a curriculum reform component.

The Ph.D.-program in leadership, governance and ethics will integrate the aforementioned knowledge fields as well as the important concepts of sustainable business and corporate social responsibility. The program will focus on leadership theories and practices required to lead organization successfully in a rapidly globalizing and changing world; how to lead organizations strategically to achieve continued strategic advantage and stakeholder value, but also how to provide leadership that will promote sustainable business globally and locally. The program will also expose students from African countries to the challenges of environmental degradation, poverty and inequality, the creation of sustainable livelihoods, developing countries' unequal access to markets, the effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the creation of sustainable business in lieu of the business scandals, corruption etc, and the importance of ethically and financially sound business practices. This program will be in line with the goals of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAF).

The second project entails the establishment of a "Centre for Development Partnership and Sustainable Business in Africa" and the design and introduction of an MBA in sustainable business and social corporate citizenship. The social, economic and environmental problems in developing countries are tremendous. In this context sustainable development is more urgently required than ever before. Due to mutual mistrust and conflicting interests, it is unlikely that these problems can be solved without strong interaction of all parties involved. Co-operation is required and partnerships (international and domestic) are a must, since they create leverage in the development process. For some time, African governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are changing their approaches to development in the direction of good governance. Multinational companies (MNCs) focus on local community development, and on building local enterprises and economies with corporate sustainability in mind. In fact, responsible entrepreneurship of corporations extends towards suppliers, sub-contractors and other ways of co-operation within global commodity chains.

The role of developing countries in global supply chains is scattered over a range of institutions. The aim of this partnership center is to co-ordinate the collection and analysis of this information in the framework of business and development co-operation in order to draw up guidelines for best practices, develop partnership concepts and assist new partnership initiatives. In summary, the partnership center is to focus on the crossroads of sustainability, partnerships and supply chains. The core activities of the proposed center and the new MBA in sustainable business and corporate social citizenship in Africa include consultancy, research and training activities. The objectives of the proposed center and MBA are to attract developmentally sustainable business investments and to position African industries and business within the NEPAD framework of good governance and sustainability.