Institute for Business in Society

Too often, well-meaning aid programs meet bare-minimum standards of quality — just “good enough” for the world’s poorest people. But by addressing “wicked problems” through the lens of design thinking and a social business model, one public-private partnership has been able to improve the health and livelihood of residents in eastern Congo.

Noncommunicable diseases lead to over 90 percent of all deaths in Ukraine, many of them preventable. With technological advancements and the removal of financial barriers, one public-private partnership is working to deliver essential services to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment and medicine to patients at little to no cost.

How Jeep and Bill Murray responded to a pandemic: a popular Super Bowl commercial for an SUV reincarnated as a message encouraging consumers to stay home and off the road. Here are an expert marketer’s observations of how brands shifted when faced with an integral shift in the way the world did business and people lived their lives.

A revolution in the way we understand business: It can and should seek to improve the state of the world. In an excerpt from their forthcoming book, Darden Professors R. Edward Freeman and Bidhan L. Parmar, experts in stakeholder theory, discuss models for businesses not solely driven by profit maximization.

Faced with limited customer flow, forced shut down of operations and a looming economic recession, the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic leaves small-business owners to make decisions with little idea of what the future may hold. What lessons can they take from the success and resiliency of businesses that have survived crises in the past?

Increasing urbanization can prove challenging in the era of COVID-19 social distancing, particularly given the dependence on essential services and the unique health concerns of high-population density. A new study clarifies the tradeoffs between city and suburban patterns of consumption and how different areas fulfill essential daily functions.

Professor Ed Freeman and Joseph Burton, Executive Director, Institute for Business in Society, discuss purpose driven business and the effects of COVID-19.

The questions we find ourselves asking in response to COVID-19 are complicated and colossal. But the act of asking questions together is a powerful activity for any community — and creates new possibilities for starting to overcome chaos. It is a crucial form of action that helps us creatively solve the problems before us.

The actions taken by retail health clinics — small primary care clinics located within retail outlets like Walmart’s Care Clinics or CVS’ MinuteClinic — will have a significant impact on public safety, and their actions may prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from overwhelming the U.S. health care system. Darden Professor Dennie Kim explains.

Minority-owned banks offer a valuable function in providing equitable support to minority communities and small-businesses. While they receive some government benefits, they also receive criticism for the support and a perception they’re “risky.” Is that criticism founded? Research analyzes actual outputs and inputs.