Our Story

ABIS was founded in 2001 and launched at INSEAD in 2002 with the support of the leading Business Schools in Europe in partnership with IBM, Microsoft, Johnson&Johnson, Unilever, and Shell.

 

The companies challenged the business schools to rethink their mission in helping managers to better understand and manage the changing business-society-government dimension. Business ethics courses were only partially addressing the challenge, they suggested. The deans responded that more and better research was needed to underpin better education and learning. ABIS was founded to undertake this.

Since then, ABIS has been involved in numerous small and large research and educational projects for more than €10m. Overview of ABIS Research 2002-2012.
Since the financial crisis in 2007, ABIS has developed new initiatives in a wider scope of Business and Society. Overview of Current and Future ABIS Initiatives.  

 

Our expertise

EABIS provides thought leadership in four key domains:
1.    Sustainability, change, and innovation
2.    Purpose, ethics, and leadership
3.    Strategic management and economics
4.    Corporate and public governance

 

Our mission

SHARE INSIGHTS beyond existing silos.
The challenges of our current world require that scientists embrace a holistic approach beyond their academic silos, recognizing the fact that business leaders and public policy makers need unconventional solutions that can only be delivered by crossing borders between disciplines, institutions and geographies. The Academy aims to bridge the great divide between academics and business practitioners by stimulating business relevant research maintaining the highest levels of scientific rigour;

 

SHAPE THE DEBATE on responsible business by creating nuclei of change.
Change requires courage. It can only come about when authentic thinkers and doers take an independent route irrespective of the limitations of the current status quo.
The Academy takes an active role to stimulate the debate between academics, policy makers and business practitioners;

 

MAINSTREAM THE OUTCOME to profoundly change the role of business in society.
The Academy takes responsibility for the proliferation of insights towards a broad audience of business practitioners and public policy makers; 

 

TRANSFORM the leadership paradigm.
The Academy aims to positively impact the scientific and practical mind set on business management to adequately address the environmental, social and governmental challenges.

 

EQUIP LEADERS to realize their vision.
The Academy acts as a guide towards required tool set for inspired business leaders to realise their vision.

 

Our values

 

We develop thought leadership in research and education on sustainable business and public policy through our conferences, projects and programmes.

 

We do not see businesses as financial commodities to be acquired and sold on the financial markets, but as dynamic and purposeful communities of persons.

 

We are committed to open markets and free enterprise and we are concerned that markets and business need a sustainable framework of values, behaviours, governance structures and processes to flourish and last in a globally interdependent economy.

 

Our concerns are specifically about the finiteness of the planets resources, increasing social divide and poverty, inequality and exclusion, the erosion of community.  We believe that business has a leading role to play in addressing these challenges in partnership with others.

 

As a global network we develop and share knowledge in mutually supportive ways.

 

We engage in mutually beneficial partnerships, delivering real value which is fit for purpose and relevant to today´s global challenges in terms of impact and change.

 

Our value delivery is based on clear commitments and transparency.

 

We are a network of institutions and persons. Respect for persons and development of their full potential is as important as institutional advancement and organisational leadership of our member institutions.