The New Business of Social Responsibility
While it used to be that business school graduates were primarily after finance and consulting jobs, msnbc.com writer Roland Jones reports that MBA programs are now responding to a new student demand for social enterprise programs. In his article, Jones highlights MBA students who have taken on the challenge to respond to this new sense of social responsibility.
Global Awareness, Social Responsibility a New Focus for MBA Programs
Jones opens his article with a story about a recent business school graduate who began his studies as a "profit-driven student" aiming to land a career in the financial services sector. After participating in his school's social enterprise program, he changed course and as a recent graduate now applies his business acumen as a marketing manager for Moms and Jobs, a social venture in Boston. Students like this one are driven by a business philosophy of social responsibility, global awareness, and the opportunity to make a significant impact.
Jones explores two primary reasons for the shift in focus by MBA students today. As well as being a generation driven by social responsibility, students also watched the economic crisis eliminate jobs in the financial sector and they turned their eyes to the non-profit world. Jones questions whether the trend will reverse when the economy resumes growth, but projects that MBA programs will again respond to student demand in whatever direction that takes.
