The responsibility of companies

Can tomorrow’s leaders be taught corporate social responsibility? It’s a tough question, but one that participants in a conference at York tackled last week.

More than 250 students from 27 business schools across Canada were involved in a national leadership development conference sponsored by AIESEC, the world’s largest international student-run, non-profit organization. (AIESEC is a French acronym for Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, and today only the acronym is used.)

One of the highlights of the conference was a panel discussion on corporate social responsibility. Keynote speakers for the event included Dezsö Horváth (above, right), dean of York’s Schulich School of Business, and Brenda Gainer (right), director of Schulich’s Nonprofit Management & Leadership Program.