NEWS RELEASE: 19 March 2009

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***       

CONTACT:

Emily Drew, Communications Manager
The Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit
The Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University

• Office: +1.216.368.1535
• Mobile: +1.917.346.1756
• E-mail: emily.drew@case.edu

GLOBAL FORUM WILL UNITE BUSINESS, DESIGN, SUSTAINABILITY

Online registration has opened at www.globalforum2009.org

CLEVELAND, OH – Design concepts and artistic thinking can accelerate business innovation and can drive profit—even in a recession.  The Second Global Forum for Business as an Agent of World Benefit will show participants why and how during the June 2-5 event, to be held at Case Western Reserve University. 

Companies including Ford, Cisco, Patagonia, Herman Miller, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, and Dow Chemical will be involved in the action-oriented Global Forum, themed “Manage by Designing in an Era of Massive Innovation.”

Professor David Cooperrider of the Weatherhead School of Management will facilitate the summit and says the 600+ participants will establish new, productive relationships between the fields of design, business, management education, and sustainability—which he calls one of the greatest innovation drivers of the 21st century.

In between plenary sessions and large-group work, the forum theme will be examined further by expert speakers from a wide range of disciplines: economist Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute, cradle-to-cradle architect Bill McDonough, biomimicry expert Janine Benyus, and Interface CEO, Ray Anderson.

This multi-disciplinary approach to the marriage of management and design is necessary, Cooperrider says, to see opportunity in the onslaught of great economic, environmental, and social challenges that today’s businesses face.  In fact, he predicts, business schools of the future will look more like design studios, with interactive workshops, rapid prototyping, and the creative applications of other disciplines.

“Managers must see today’s unprecedented challenges as great opportunities for sustainable profit-driving innovations and game-changing discoveries,” Cooperrider says.

Cooperrider is a global leader in a movement that is calling business leaders and management scholars to recognize design thinking and sustainability work as necessary ingredients of successful enterprises.  In fact, a major outcome of the First Global Forum in 2006 was the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME), the United Nations’ initiative to champion responsible management education, research, and practice globally.  It has been signed by more than 200 organizations worldwide.  Cooperrider expects the 2009 Global Forum will produce equally impressive outcomes.

David Cooperrider is the Fairmount Minerals Professor of Management at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve.  He is also the co-founder and co-chair of the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Weatherhead.

THE SECOND GLOBAL FORUM IN BRIEF:

• What: “Manage by Designing in an Era of Massive Innovation”

• Why: To unite design thinking with sustainable business practice and education

• How: A three-day interactive summit with large-group interactive change methods, break-out sessions, and expert-led discussions

• When: June 2-5, 2009

• Where: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

• Participating companies: Ford, Cisco, Patagonia, Herman Miller, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Dow Chemical, and more.

• Participating business schools: Weatherhead, Wharton, Kellogg, Rotman, Copenhagen, Haas, Said, Rotterdam, McGill, and more.

Special sessions: A one-day Executive Sustainable Value workshop with Sustainable Value author Chris Laszlo.  An evening session designed by McGill’s Professor Nancy Adler.