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New Member Spotlight: Geneva School of Economics and Management

Institutional Profile

Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva

Switzerland

Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM) of the University of Geneva is more than a leading Swiss business school. Building on a history of over 100 years, GSEM’s mission is to educate responsible leaders for a diverse and changing society. About 2,000 students are enrolled in GSEM’s state-of- the-art undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs in management, economics, finance, business analytics, statistics, and information systems. Focusing on the interdisciplinary areas of analytics/digital, governance, and sustainability, GSEM benefits from a “Geneva Advantage” – its unique location in Geneva, a region that is home to many international organizations, non-profit organizations, multinational corporations, and financial institutions, together with its dedicated staff of about 200, including 60 internationally recognized faculty members.

Current and Pending Accreditation(s):
AMBA (since 2006), AACSB (in initial accreditation process)

Dean:
Marcelo Olarreaga

GBSN Ambassadors:
Professor Dorothée Baumann-Pauly, Director Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights; Professor Markus Menz, Vice Dean

Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights

The Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights (GCBHR) is the first Human Rights Center at a business school in Europe. The Center works with companies to identify business models that enable profits and principles to co-exist. We offer companies a safe space to discuss pressing human rights challenges and train future leaders to develop and integrate human rights standards in their respective industry contexts.

The GCBHR collaborates with the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights to promote human rights in business education through the Global Network of Business Schools for Human Rights. The GCBHR is supported by an Advisory Council, whose members are listed here.

Network Engagement

Ways the institution will support the GBSN mission to improve access to quality management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world:
GSEM’s Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights is developing case studies and other teaching material that is published open access. For example: Manufacturing in Ethiopia: Decathlon’s Partnership Model (2020). Available here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3724583.

“The Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights hopes to connect and work directly with GBSN members on joint research projects in countries relevant to our work streams.”

Institutional Contributions to the Network Platform in the First Year:
GSEM’s faculty is highly motivated to contribute to the GBSN network platform. Professor Dorothée Baumann-Pauly already gave a keynote speech with her colleague Michael Posner (NYU) about Business and Human Rights at the Annual Meeting in Lisbon in 2019. She also participated in the GBSN Capsim Microsimulation competition, which was part of the 2020 Annual Conference GBSN Beyond. In 2021, Professor Baumann-Pauly plans to again actively participate in the Annual Conference and other GBSN events. In addition, GSEM has organized a webinar, Human Rights in Business: Practical Challenges of Conducting Research with Impact, on March 25, 2021 for GBSN members with a focus on conducting research with impact.

Institutional Engagement with Fellow GBSN Member Institutions
GSEM’s Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights hopes to collaborate directly with other GBSN member institutions in its research projects. In 2021, the Center will conduct a project focused on human rights and supply chain resilience of agriculture supply chains in India and hopes to identify a partner that can support on the ground research.

“All programs at the Geneva School of Economics and Management are based on principles for responsible management and we are excited to join a network of business schools that share this vision for business education. Our school is part of International Geneva and as such, we are ideally positioned to advance research with global development impact. To this end, our Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights (GCBHR) collaborates with international organizations and global businesses to promote human rights in corporate practice. We look forward to collaborating with GBSN members to impact sustainable development worldwide.” –Marcelo Olarreaga, Dean of the Geneva School of Economics and Management

The biggest challenge facing management in your community and how the institution addresses this challenge:
Geneva is a hub for key Swiss industries (Finance, Commodity Trading, Luxury Goods) and it is also hosting many UN organizations and humanitarian NGOs. GSEM’s research has a lot to offer for both, international organizations (IOs) and businesses that are part of what is called “International Geneva.” Connecting the GSEM as an academic institution with “International Geneva” and forming collaborations between business and IOs has been a challenge for the University of Geneva in the past. GSEM has actively addressed this challenge by creating educational programs that integrate business and IOs, such as the Executive MBA Program’s specialization in “Effective Leadership of International Organizations.” In addition, GSEM has launched Competence Centers that build on the collaboration between the School and “International Geneva,” including the “i2i Hub: for Innovation and Intrapreneurship”, the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, and the Geneva Center for Corporate Governance. For example, the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights created a research work stream on Business and Human Rights in the Security context, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) to develop a Toolkit for companies that operate in complex environments.

Program Highlight: Master of Science Program in Responsible Management

GSEM is launching a new Master of Science program in Responsible Management in the fall 2021. The program’s objective is to educate future leaders on responsibility and to contribute to the development of business with purpose that creates value in and for society. Students will be equipped to tackle an organization’s toughest strategic challenges, lead with greater confidence, inspire performance at all levels, and contribute to an organization of responsibility and integrity. The program’s specialization in “Sustainable Business and Human Rights,” it the first of its kind in a management program at a European business school.

About the Program

The Master of Science in Responsible Management educates our future leaders on responsibility and contributing to a business with purpose that creates value in and for society. Students will be equipped to tackle an organization’s toughest strategic challenges, lead with greater confidence, inspire performance at all levels, and contribute to an organization of responsibility and integrity.

The Master program equips our students with state-of-the-art knowledge about the management tools, techniques, and best industry practices to pursue a successful professional career. It offers a curriculum that is centered around, and fully integrates, relevant aspects of responsible management in its courses. The program’s focus is on teaching how to manage effectively in pluralistic environments in which the needs of multiple stakeholder groups have to be balanced. In addition, the Master offers students the option to specialize in Sustainable Business and Human Rights in their second semester.

For a brief overview of the program, click here.

For more information, please visit: https://www.unige.ch/gsem/en/programs/masters/responsible-management/


GBSN promotes the expertise and interests of our members by providing a platform to communicate news and open opportunities to global audiences and share how they are innovating in management education to the benefit of their colleagues around the world. The New Member Spotlight series serves as a way for new member schools to introduce themselves to the network.