Abstract:

The latest scandals of the banking and finance sector that have shaken the economies of all countries and the widespread bad practices of most companies have created a feeling of great mistrust towards organizations.

Thanks to Internet and the ease of circulation of content through social networks, consumers, and the society in general can reach, or be reached, by all kinds of information related to companies’ good or bad practices.

This enormous amount of information available in internet to any citizen is changing the relationship between companies and society.
The behaviour and values of a company are increasingly open to public inspection. The growth of social networks give to people the possibility to talk about institutions, products and brands in terms of their functional performance as well as their social performance. The new generation of consumers is much more linked to social and environmental issues and concerns.

After years of economic growth caused by strategies whose sole objective was the achievement of spectacular financial results, the onset of the crisis, and, above all, its duration over time, has demonstrated the non-sustainability of this model and has made evident the need for change.

In recent years, all business sectors have experienced the need to define their relationships with society in terms of sustainability and value added not only from the point of view of pure economic benefit.

Companies have responded to this demand for values by developing the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, commonly known as CSR.

In this environment, Business Schools (BS) are experiencing a lack of acceptance and reputation between their stakeholders. Society considers BS as the responsible for training the professionals which caused the global financial crisis that oppresses economies worldwide.
BS, especially the most renown, are reconsidering their role in the society, developing new strategies based on CSR and sustainability.

This paper is aimed to define a theoretic framework about the relationship between Business Schools and CSR and sustainability taking into consideration: institution management, communication strategy, programmes’ curricula, research and social action.

Keywords:

CSR, Business Schools, sustainability, social networks.