IMD elea Center for Social Innovation
Through our research and educational work with social innovators from across the world, we have gained some extraordinary insights into the dynamics that can drive systems change and accelerate the pace of social innovation. With the ongoing support of the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization, we have published a large number of articles, cases, reports, books, chapters, and academic articles in top international academic journals.
By Vanina Farber
In this interview, Vanina Farber reflects on why there is a growing need to provide executives with the right tools to take a more integrated approach to impact and business – and to change mindsets when it comes to financial decision making.
By Vanina Farber and Patrick Reichert
As new EU regulations around sustainable finance come into effect, organizations should embed sustainability into their decision making to finance the transition to more just, inclusive, and sustainable business models.
By Vanina Farber and Patrick Reichert
As we pass the one year mark of the pandemic, it is clear that its effects have hit women harder than men across much of the world. How can we adapt the ecosystem to suit them more?
By Vanina Farber and Peter A Wuffli
Social entrepreneurship and impact investing contribute to a more inclusive capitalism and bring innovative solutions to global challenges, such as fighting poverty and protecting Planet Earth.
By Vanina Farber
Changing leadership mindsets to build innovative partnerships and adopt unusual ideas from diverse sources in science, the humanities, and social innovation would help companies find effective solutions and capture opportunities for future growth.
By Vanina Farber
Women are under-represented in the impact investment sector, and women sometimes shy away from finance. However, we cannot blame everything on women themselves for this under-representation – there are also structural barriers.
By Vanina Farber and Natalia Olynec
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent the world we want to live in. It’s a world without poverty or hunger where health, wellbeing, and quality education are no longer the privilege of a few.
By Vanina Farber, Patrick Reichert, and Peter Wuffli
Impact investment is a rapidly growing phenomenon that has sparked enthusiasm across a wide range of actors, including investors, policy-makers, entrepreneurs, and citizens – and an important element towards building a more inclusive capitalism.
By Vanina Farber and María Helena Jaén
Founder and CEO of Nia Impact Capital (Nia) (Oakland, California) Kristin Hull brings the logic of impact investing to public markets, exercising active ownership, and engaging with portfolio companies including Tesla, IBM, and Apple.
By Vanina Farber and Shih-Han Huang
Angaza’s story is not a typical solar light story, but the story of a female social entrepreneur with a for-profit Silicon Valley mindset transforming a social enterprise from a hardware to a software business model.
By Vanina Farber, Stéphane JG Girod and Lisa Simone Duke
How Chloé CEO Riccardo Bellini, along with Sustainability Director Aude Vergne, accelerated the Maison’s purpose-led sustainability transformation in an industry that materially contributed to the planet’s environmental and social problems.
By Vanina Farber, Stéphane JG Girod and Martin Králik
In a short span of five or six years, CHANEL embraced CSR (corporate social responsibility) and ESG (environmental, social, governance) initiatives that stretched far beyond its established comfort zone of artistic direction and creative output.
By Vanina Farber and María Helena Jaén
In 2020, Triodos Investment Management (Triodos) was a globally active impact investor. It believed the true purpose of investing was to generate social and environmental impact alongside a healthy financial return.
By Vanina Farber and María Helena Jaén
This case provides the opportunity to perform a real but simplified ESG research analysis and portfolio investment decision of Yamaha Corporation, Tesla and Philip Morris International (PMI) from the perspective of an impact investor.
By Vanina Farber and Head of Sustainability Natalia Olynec
Philip Morris International (PMI) CEO André Calantzopoulos announced in 2016 a radical pivot in the Marlboro cigarette manufacturer’s strategy: the company would shift to “smoke-free” products in more than 180 countries around the world.
By Vanina Farber , María Helena Jaén and Universidad de los Andes Professor María Helena Jaén
Triodos Investment Management took a comprehensive view of the companies following the “4P” approach: Product, People, Process, and Planet. Senior Investment Analyst Henk Jonker needed to evaluate Tesla’s inclusion in the investment universe.
Media & Events
Led by Vanina Farber, IMD elea Professor of Social Innovation and Dean of IMD’s Executive MBA program, we host a webinar series that explores how philanthropists, investors, entrepreneurs, corporations, and foundations are using the spectrum of capital to address the key social and environmental challenges of our time.
We are very fortunate to benefit from the support of the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization to study and support social innovators across the world.
The IMD elea Center for Social Innovation is pleased to announce the appointment of Katherine Milligan, Maximilian Martin, and María Helena Jaén as its first Senior elea Fellows.
Social innovation is a highly complex topic that relies on an interdisciplinary approach. Our team of faculty experts is committed to focusing on the characteristics and challenges unique to social innovation.
Social innovation creates new solutions (products, services, markets, models, processes) for a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous society by addressing social and environmental needs more efficiently and effectively than current policies and businesses.
The IMD elea Center for Social Innovation was launched at IMD Business School in 2018. We develop and share research, pedagogical content, and educational programs that help leaders in business, government, and civil society navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social innovation.
Through these core activities, we convene entrepreneurs, executives, investors, philanthropists, researchers, and other change agents to accelerate the speed, scale, and effectiveness of social innovations across the spectrum of capital that address the key social and environmental challenges of our time.