Contradictions inherent in the management of natural and industrial disasters

These days people keep wondering whether the world is more dangerous now than it was before. Do natural disasters really happen more frequently or is it just that the damage they cause that has become greater? The situation is not quite clear. As a result of the globalizing world and advanced communication infrastructure, the number of known / reported catastrophes is relatively high, but that does not necessarily mean there has been an actual increase in frequency. The red mud spill in Hungary was a special combination of industrial and natural disasters. This is one of the reasons why it is very hard to pinpoint who is responsible for the event. Natural disasters tend to raise questions about responsibility that are different from those concerning industrial catastrophes. Interestingly enough, however, nature often plays an important role in industrial disasters. The present article is concerned with how the issues of responsibility are handled in the case of industrial disasters

Education 2.0: Exploring the challenges of Corvinus University in the long tail economy of global higher education

Our basic storyline is how the business and economics higher education landscape has changed with the introduction of the Bologna programs. We borrowed the fashionable long tail concept from e-business, and used it for modeling the new landscape of internationalization of universities. Internationalization, mobility, and the appearance of the internet generation at the gates of our universities in our opinion has brought us to a new e-era which, appropriately to our web analogies we might as well call Education 2.0.In our paper first we show the characteristics of the long tail model of the Bologna-based European higher education and potential messages for strategy making in this environment. We illustrate that benchmarking university strategies situated in the head of the long tail model will not always provide strategic guidance for universities sitting in the tail. For underlining some key concerns in the Hungarian niche, we used Corvinus University as a case study to illustrate some untapped challenges of the Hungarian Bologna reform. We explored three areas which are crucial elements of the “tail” strategy in our opinion: a) the influence of state regulation, b) social situations and impacts and c) internal university capabilities

Some aspects of European climate policy

Being heavily energy dependent, it is not much of a surprise that Europe pays special attention to reducing the use of fossil fuels. Each one of the ten new member states is characterized by relatively low per capita energy consumption and relatively low energy efficiency, and the share of renewables in their energy mix tends to be low, too. The paper examines the problem, when the policy measures create a decrease in environmental capital instead of an increase. In this case it hardly seems justified to talk about environmental protection. The authors describe a case of a rapeseed oil mill which would not be of too much interest on its own but given that almost all similar plants went bankrupt, there are some important lessons to learn from its survival. The enterprise the authors examined aimed at establishing a micro-regional network. They completed a brown-field development to establish a small plant on the premises of a former large agricultural cooperative. By partnering with the former employees and suppliers of the sometime cooperative, they enjoyed some benefits which all the other green-field businesses focusing on fuel production could not. The project improved food security, energy security and population retention as well

A fenntartható fejlődésről válság idején

A gazdasági növekedésnek a válság miatti megtorpanása gondot okoz az embereknek, de furcsa módon „ajándék” a természetnek, mert a gazdasági növekedés lassulásával együtt csökken a környezetpusztítás sebessége is. Az utóbbi évtizedben annyit már elérték, hogy legalább az egy főre jutó, naturáliákban kifejezett anyag és energiafelhasználás nem növekszik Európában. Ez eredménynek tekinthető, bár ennél többet szerettek volna. De ha elérték volna a különféle világkonferenciákon eddig kitűzött célokat, az sem volna elég ahhoz, hogy a Föld kellemes élőhely lehessen 9 milliárd embernek

Contradictions Inherent in the Management of Natural and Industrial Disasters

These days people keep wondering whether the world is more dangerous now than it was before. Do natural disasters really happen more frequently or is it just that the damage they cause that has become greater? The situation is not quite clear. As a result of the globalizing world and advanced communication infrastructure, the number of known / reported catastrophes is relatively high, but that does not necessarily mean there has been an actual increase in frequency. The red mud spill in Hungary was a special combination of industrial and natural disasters. This is one of the reasons why it is very hard to pinpoint who is responsible for the event. Natural disasters tend to raise questions about responsibility that are different from those concerning industrial catastrophes. Interestingly enough, however, nature often plays an important role in industrial disasters. The present article is concerned with how the issues of responsibility are handled in the case of industrial disasters

Keletre tart a "társadalmilag felelős vállalat" koncepció

Még az elméleti válasz sem egyértelmű, vajon van-e a vállalatnak társadalmi felelőssége, vagy akkor segít a legjobban a társadalomnak ha a gazdasági eredményekre és nyereségességére koncentrál. Ahány iskola, annyi különböző válasz létezik. Kelet- és Közép-Európa az a régió ahol 20 évvel ezelőtt a társadalmi felelősség emlegetése „közhelynek” számított, bármi furcsa de nehéz ettől a közhelytől management filozófiához jutni. A régióban működő menedzserek még a gondolatától is rettegnek, hogy puszta frázisnak tekintik a legóvatosabb közeledésüket is a társadalmi felelősség irányába. (...

Does management education create responsible managers? Viewpont

The integration of sustainability and responsibility into management education is a widely discussed issue in the literature and in practice. As a result of a lifelong experience of teaching sustainability, environmental management and further related courses at university level, the authors aim to give their viewpoint about Responsible Management Education (RME). The concept of RME relies on the basis of several similar categories, used in today’s higher education but is aimed to mean more than just another slogan for the same content. Three issues are discussed in the paper. (Q1) Should we limit the focus of management education on the classical business targets like profit and growth, as well as the preconditions to achieve those targets – or should we establish a different philosophical background for business thinking and teaching: the Responsible Management? (Q2) Should the concept of Responsible Management be integrated in the classical business courses or should it be a specific, independent course? (Q3) How to combine teaching methods to reach the ultimate goal of creating responsible managers via management education? The literature review is aimed to give a profound background to the relevance and development of the term Responsible Management Education, followed by the explanation of sceptical and positive arguments regarding the introduction of the concept into the existing course structure. The authors also elaborate a potential methodology for teaching Responsible Management

How to Teach a Complex Discipline in a Changing Learning Environment: The Example of Sustainability

In the “electronic age” our teaching profession is faced with new challenges. Normally, educators tend to spend a significant amount of time updating the content of what they teach. They spend less time changing their methods of teaching. Today, this no longer works. A lot of content is delivered through Google and similar partners and what is now critical is that we make the necessary changes in our teaching methods to reflect this and to have some impact on our audiences. Based on more than forty years of teaching experience we feel qualified to underline the importance of the form and the method of teaching. Traditional teaching methods require that more time is spent transmitting the target information than would be spent if Google or relevant videos were used instead. Some forms of interaction can be substituted by some e-learning technologies as well. The only benefit of using traditional methods, if any, is the benefit to the students from the personal charisma and creativity of professors. It is certain that the right style of teaching can create a special atmosphere in the classroom. In this paper we would like to highlight our experiences. We take as our example – not to be too general – the concrete courses on Sustainability and CSR (Corporate social responsibility) that we have taught. These topics tend to divide both students and teachers. There are a lot of questions and data about these issues but few clear and definite answers. Science is habitually late in delivering answers to such fuzzy questions, which creates a lot of freedom regarding the taught content and requirements of the methods applied. In the first part of our paper we summarize five basic approaches to teaching. Then, using the example of Sustainability, we introduce step by step why and how complexity should be structured and then simplified. The third section concerns the concrete question of how to structure sustainability. The fourth describes how facts can be substantiated with analysis. The authors believe that parables can sometimes lead to deeper understanding than reliance on conventional methodological approaches. We are use famous parables and strategic grids to put across a simple message to students: you have to develop your own ideas about sustainability. We all are responsible for doing this — there is no given framework! We have tried to learn as much as possible from our colleagues and peers from all over the world. We would now like to offer something back, although we know that the methods described here are very personal to us. We hope that some of you can benefit from our experiences. Please share yours with us