Rick Bunch of the Aspen Institute Calls for Social Responsibility in China's B-School Curriculum

Beijing, April 28, 2007 - Speaking to an audience gathered at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing, Rick Bunch, director of the China Business Education Initiative with the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program, noted that the phrase "Business as an Agent of World Benefit" is gaining in prominence globally.

"If we can train tomorrow's business leaders to see not just responsibility, but opportunity in providing the solutions that society needs, we can have reason for optimism," said Rick Bunch,

"Today's MBA students will be running the companies of tomorrow. The decisions they make will have significant impacts on the lives of their employees, their suppliers and customers, their owners or shareholders, their communities, and the natural environment." Bunch continued, "Arguably, decisions made by business people will have more influence in the everyday lives of people than decisions made by the government."

Social responsibility, Bunch explained, is not something corporations should do once they have made their money, rather it should be incorporated into the business process itself. Business education is an opportunity to instill this principle into business leaders.

An important next step, commented Bunch, is to get ethics intelligently integrated into the business school curriculum, not as moralizing or as a standalone topic, but as an integrated part of business education that is relevant to business practice.

Bringing more than a decade of experience in the areas of business education and social responsibility, Bunch shared his views with approximately 40 people gathered in Beijing primarily from international and local NGOs operating in China.

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About the Aspen Society Business and Society Program
The Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program is dedicated to developing leaders for a sustainable global society. Through dialogues and research, it creates opportunities for executives and educators to explore new ways to achieve sustainability and values-based leadership.

About Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
Founded in Beijing in November 2002 with backing from the Foundation of global top-10 billionaire Mr. Li Ka-shing, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business generates world-class insight on management theory and practice, and develops world-class business leaders for China and beyond. Headquartered in Beijing with campuses in Shanghai and Guangzhou, CKGSB offers MBA, EMBA, and Executive Development (EDP) Programs.