It is with pleasure that we share with you the launch of the Network for Business Sustainability South Africa (NBS:SA), an affiliate of the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS). NBS is an award-winning, internationally recognised initiative linking research and practice. Established as a non-profit, NBS is a powerful and growing network of international academic experts and business leaders. NBS produces authoritative resources on important sustainability issues – with the goal of shaping management practice and research.
NBS:SA has adapted the NBS model to respond to the South African context, in order to better make use of and to build the considerable business, public-sector, non-profit and academic resources in the region. The primary focus is on South Africa, though an expansion of scope to the southern African region is likely in due course.
NBS:SA activities centre on the development and facilitation of a Leadership Council, which consists of representatives of leading South African companies demonstrating a willingness to develop innovative responses to social and environmental problems facing the economy. The members of the Council meet once a year to determine key sustainability challenges and opportunities facing business, translated into a Business Challenges Report to inform the national research agenda. The 2013 Business Challenges Report, The Value of Vision, can be accessed from here.
From this, the top two challenges are selected for systematic review in a practitioner-friendly format by NBS:SA. We are also therefore pleased to announce a Call for Proposals for two research projects valued at ZAR 250,000 (or ~ USD 25,000) each. Applications for the two respective projects, Strategic Planning and Shared Vision (see here for details) and Valuing Social Capital (see here for details) are invited before October 20th, 2013.
In the meantime, we welcome you to join the NBS network – an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners alike to access rigorous, relevant and applicable research for business sustainability. Visit nbs.net/community to see how you can access these resources and get involved.
Should you require any further information, please feel free to contact our Director of Strategic Partnerships, Jess Schulschenk at jschulschenk@nbs.net.
