Mikkel Larsen new Adjunct Professor at MSC

MSC welcomed its new Adjunct Professor in sustainable finance, Mikkel Larsen, on 23 October, when he gave his inaugural lecture in Dalgas Have.

In his lecture, ‘Measuring what matters’, Mikkel Larsen discussed the challenges of establishing credible measuring systems capable of capturing and communicating the impact of Sustainability initiatives, with a particular focus on the role (and potential) of the financial sector.

About Mikkel Larsen

Mikkel Larsen is the Chief Sustainability Officer of DBS – the largest bank in South

Mikkel Larsen between Head of Department Dorte Salskov-Iversen and Dean of Research Søren Hvidkjær.

East Asia. As such,he is responsible for the strategic initiatives relating to sustainability in the bank. He holds a Master of Science in Auditing and Accounting from CBS (1999) and is a State Authorised Public Accountant (2001). He has an Executive MBA from London Business School (2010), supplemented with executive education at Harvard.

The trajectory of Mikkel Larsen's distinguished career in London, Hong Kong and since 2012 in Singapore is noteworthy for the way he has gradually become an internationally recognised expert in green finance of high standing, both in the financial sector, with financial regulators and in the global organisations and networks that address sustainable transitions.

From the vantage point of his current position in DBS, Mikkel Larsen is uniquely poised to inspire and support CBS’s efforts to further develop its edge in research and teaching related to Corporate Sustainability and Responsible Business & Management. He is the author and co-author of a large number of reports and articles on different aspects of green finance and integrated reporting (including a recent report on forest restoration & the role of finance). Moreover, Mikkel Larsen is also a frequent speaker and panelist at Singapore’s foremost universities, NUS, Nanyang and SMU on topics ranging from the purpose of companies to creating sustainable outcomes at scale.

Further information about the new Adjunct Professorship: Dorte Salskov-Iversen, dsi.msc@cbs.dk.

MSC VELUX Endowed Chair and CBS World Class Research Environment -
coming to the end of a five-year period of collaboration

The beginnings
In 2014, two major research initiatives were established at CBS to explore and strengthen research in corporate sustainability and responsible governance: a VELUX Endowed Chair in Corporate Sustainability was created thanks to a generous grant from the VILLUM FOUNDATION, and Governing Responsible Business (GRB), a CBS ‘World Class Research Environment’, came into existence as part of an internal, five-year funding scheme at CBS.

Activities
During the ensuing five years, the two initiatives have cooperated closely on research projects and sustainability initiatives under the respective leadership of Jeremy Moon, the VELUX Professor of Corporate Sustainability, and Professors Andreas Rasche and Dan Kärreman, Co-Directors of GRB.

From their base at MSC, the two initiatives have functioned as a channel for research collaboration and teaching initiatives across CBS; together, they have contributed to increasing the visibility and impact of sustainability-related research internationally; and through numerous seminars, conferences, and other forms of outreach, they have provided a valuable forum for discussion of sustainability issues with practitioners in businesses and organisations.

(Photo to the right: GRB Co-Directors Andreas Rasche and Dan Kärreman, on either side of Professor Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen, who was a co-founder of GRB)

Results
Main research themes have included core areas of Corporate Sustainability and CSR (such as international supply chains, sustainable business models, sustainable consumption, CSR communication, anti-corruption, CSR and gender, and human and labour rights), as well as the exploration of multiple aspects of governance and responsible business (such as the roles of Multi-stakeholder initiatives, cross sector partnerships, private authority and public policy, and national government and international CSR).

This has resulted in numerous publications in leading business and management journals and other social science journals. Furthermore, the projects led to the production of a new senior text Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, Communication and Governance (Cambridge University Press) edited by Andreas Rasche, Mette Morsing and Jeremy Moon.
Click here for more information about the research of GRB and the Velux Endowed Chair.

A particular area of focus has been the training of junior scholars. The grant from the Villum Foundation has funded two PhD students and three postdocs since 2014. GRB gave special support to more junior scholars through grants for research trips and specialist workshops and courses, and through paper development workshops.

Together they have thus enabled the two initiatives to make a significant contribution to the development of new knowledge and competencies within the field.

(Photo above: The two PhD students funded by the Velux Chair, Erin Leitheiser and Luisa Murphy, on either side of Velux Professor Jeremy Moon. Louise Thomsen, Project Manager of the initiative, on the far left)

Legacies
Although the two research initiatives are formally coming to a close now, their research focus and many of their activities continue. In particular, two new research grants have emerged from the work of the VELUX Chair: a Danida grant to study the regulation of international supply chains from Bangladesh, and a Carlsberg grant to study models of sustainable supply chains from Ethiopia.

The CBS Sustainability centre (formerly cbsCSR), also located at MSC, carries on as the hub for the new research projects and teaching output at MSC and across CBS, and it will continue to host the fellowship programmes and collaboration with scholars around the world, as well as the Business of Society (BOS) Blog and other outreach activities. Professor Jeremy Moon was appointed Director of CBS Sustainability as of 1 July 2019.

More information about:

The Velux Endowed Chair in Corporate Sustainability

Governing Responsible Business

CBS Sustainability

The closing event on 20 June 2019 (From Global Goals to Local Impact)

Read an interview with Professors Jeremy Moon and Andreas Rasche in CBS Wire
 

For further info., please contact Jeremy Moon, jm.msc@cbs.dk, or Andreas Rasche, ar.msc@cbs.dk.

The Department of Management, Society and Communication

The department came into existence on 1 January 2017 as a result of the merger of the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management and the Department of International Business Communication. Read about MSC's research profile here.

MSC moved into its new premises in Dalgas Have in August 2017. As one of CBS' largest department, it occupies most of the second floor of the building.