Discovery – The world after COVID-19: how we can do business better

Many months on, the prospect of viable vaccines gives us all hope. However, there’s a long way to go yet, with BioNTech’s Prof. Ugur Sahain, co-developer along with Pfizer of what might well be the first effective vaccine, suggesting that we should not expect to see a return to anything like normality before next winter – a full year away, and close to two years on from the WHO’s pandemic hammer blow.

Looking optimistically towards that hopeful future, which will not be without its own challenges, what will we have learned? For one, COVID-19 has taught us that large-scale change is possible in our societies. At the same time, it also makes fighting challenges, such as unethical company behaviour and climate change, harder – primarily because it might take years for societies to overcome the huge economic shock caused by the necessary defensive response against the pandemic, thus making it harder to invest in tackling these challenges.

Contents:

• Facing social transition challenges in the time of COVID-19
• Transitioning towards sustainable investing
• Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals to navigate global risks
• It’s time to start tackling grand challenges systemically
• Why pandemic state aid should drive sustainable business
• The rise of social enterprises in a post-COVID-19 world
• Corporate social investment: leveraging corporate resources for bold and transformative social impact
• How business ethics can drive positive change
• Justice enactment: why some managers treat employees fairly while others don’t

RSM Discovery is a gateway magazine for business leaders to access fresh management research from RSM faculty members, aiming to bridge academic management research and the practical business practices necessary for executive management in industry. Each quarterly issue provides a short summary, typically two pages, translating a selection of impactful research publications from academic papers to practical business articles for senior executives. Previously known as RSM Insight, the magazine has been renamed RSM Discovery. It combines challenging articles with videos and interviews.