5th Annual Sustainable Enterprises of the Future Conference

The Sustainable Enterprises of the Future is pleased to announce its 5th annual conference which will be held on September 26-27, 2013 in Moon Township,Pennsylvania. The conference will bring scholars and practitioners interested in Sustainable Enterprises’ role in the creation (destruction) of social profit (Sπ) together.

If organizations exist to coordinate the resources and capabilities of society, then those that perform better than average create greater gains for society than others. This is not to say that the ‘other’ organizations failed to create value but if the market were to allocate the underachieving organizations’ resources to those that performed greater then society would have, presumably, witnessed greater impact. This will be demonstrated differently depending on the domain:

1. FOR PROFIT – while it is easiest to conceptualize the premise in the for-profit model where the total economic gain might be the measure of relative social performance (i.e. Friedman’s“the business of business is business”) it is generally accepted that current reporting, quantification, models are insufficient and fail to consider social ‘good’.

2. NOT-FOR-PROFITS – while some may claim that nonprofits are net-zero organizations, they still contribute to society. Where in the for-profit model, the market might rely on some performance measure to evaluate relative performance / social gain, it is much more difficult to do this within the nonprofit arena.

3. STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – National and corporate investment through research and development, education, and policies constitutes a significant social investment of resources and capabilities. Improvements in quality of life, reduction in consumption / use of natural and human resources, changes in yield and defect rates, and other output measures all demonstrate gains (losses) to society.

In line with the conference theme, the President, Co-Chairs, and governance board invites papers and symposia in all areas concerned with S(π). All manuscripts and symposia suggestions will be double-blind reviewed.

Please visit the Sustainable Enterprises of the Future’s website, rmu.edu/susentconf, for program outline, conference registration fees, tracks, travel information, hotel accommodation, and other information.

If you have any questions, you may contact:

Dr. Patrick Litzinger, Robert Morris University, litzinger@rmu.edu

Dr. Steven Clinton, Robert Morris University, clinton@rmu.edu

Dr. Marcel C. Minutolo, Robert Morris University, minutolo@rmu.edu

Post by Ian Munroe