Business 2.0: Envisioning Business for Sustainability and Development

The new millennium, though young, has already witnessed many revolutions in its wake: social revolutions, economic revolutions and ecological revolutions in various forms have rocked many parts of the world. Many chapters were added to the voluminous history of mankind in a relatively short span of time. Few anticipated the Arab Spring or the Occupy Wall Street Movement or the Anna Hazare movement in India -- and 2012 is promising to be no different.

We think that there is a common thread in all of the above movements in that there is a large section of humanity who feels that they are ‘disengaged’ and ‘disenfranchised’. In these uncertain and rapidly changing times like these, our rapacious growth, therefore, needs to be steered towards a development model that is truly engaging and sustainable. Sustainability is sometimes defined as managing the triple bottom line, that is, people, planet and profits; by incorporating elements and factors towards making people relevant and businesses relevant. But sustainability should also incorporate resilience over time. Business 2.0 tries to capture this initiative to envision businesses to create economic value and contribute to healthy ecosystems and strong communities. To build a business model for a better future it is necessary for companies to work on collaborative solutions and innovations to decouple the abuse of natural and human resources from economic prosperity.

Business 2.0 thus is a proactive effort by businesses to stay ahead of the game by developing and redesigning new business models taking into account the various factors towards becoming sustainable and successful. IMT, being a thought leader in management education and development, has taken this initiative to highlight the various challenges and opportunities that come with adoption of Business 2.0 by the public and private entities alike. This initiative comes alive through CRICKET, alliances with world class institutions like the CRTI at the Kellogg School of Management, revamping the curricula to promote a broader worldview with deep mooring in the realities of the Indian context, collaborating and co-creating with like-minded leaders in the industry to list a few. It is in keeping with this spirit of change at (and around) IMT in mind that the convocation 2012 theme has been drawn up -- Business 2.0: Envisioning Business for Sustainability and Development.