CEIBS and Mars Catalyst Partner on Economics of Mutuality Project

SHANGHAI, April 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) has been selected as the Asian partner for the Mars Corporation's Economics of Mutuality (EoM) initiative being implemented by its Catalyst team. The collaboration will be Catalyst's first partnership with an academic institution in Asia. Under the agreement, CEIBS will engage in academic research into the practical application of EoM in a Chinese business context, conduct related case studies, deliver classroom lectures, and host an annual forum. The partnership comes at a historic moment in CEIBS' history; this year is the school's 25^th anniversary. 

"We are pleased to partner with Mars, through Catalyst, on this very important initiative. It comes at a time when there is a major push towards corporate social responsibility, both from the school's leadership and its alumni who are looking for new ways in which to positively impact and shape the global economic environment. EoM is in line with CEIBS' goal of educating socially responsible business leaders who seek to go beyond financial success to achieve global significance," explains CEIBS Vice President & Dean Professor Ding Yuan.

The CEIBS faculty who will work on generating academic research for the initiative are Professor of Marketing Lydia Price, Associate Professor of Strategy Peter Moran and Assistant Professor of Management Byron Lee. The entire project is being led by CEIBS Professor of Economics and Finance and Associate Dean (Research) Xu Bin.

Since its inception in the mid 60's Catalyst has worked closely with scholars and academic institutions around the world (including in Asia). However, according to Bruno Roche who is Chief Economist at Mars Incorporated and Managing Director at Catalyst, they felt the time has come to be more purposeful in their efforts to "move East", taking the Economics of Mutuality concept to China and wider Asia through an institutional partnership with an academic institution in China. "We selected CEIBS because we need to ensure that we are partnering with the right academic partner with both rich academic research and academic education as well as a strong practical business application mindset. We also believe that partnering with CEIBS will help us build a bridge between the Western culture, shared by many of us at Catalyst, and the Chinese culture where CEIBS is very present. The partnership will also provide us with access to a network of high-powered alumni to speed up the spreading of EoM in businesses in Asia, and particularly in China," says Roche.

CEIBS' more than 22,000-member strong alumni network is the largest among business schools within mainland China. It also includes graduates from more than 80 countries and regions, the majority of whom are in leadership positions within their organizations. As Roche explains, EoM is a management innovation that can help companies operate more effectively by expanding their KPIs for success to go beyond looking at merely "profit and loss" and include the overall impact they are having on society and the environment.  

The Catalyst team's goal is to organize a coalition of business and management schools around the world, with a "bridgehead" in each continent. "We hope CEIBS will be that bridgehead, that head of the network not just for China but also for Asia," says Roche. "Over time, we hope to develop something similar in Africa and also in India." Management schools already involved with the EoM initiative include Oxford Said in the UK and Sciences Po in France.

For more about EoM visit https://economicsofmutuality.com/

About CEIBS

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is among the top international business schools in Asia, where it is the only one to have simultaneously made it to the Financial Times' top 5 list of MBA and EMBA programmes.

CEIBS has more than 22,000 alumni from over 80 countries worldwide, and over the last 25 years has provided a broad range of management programmes to more than 160,000 executives both at home and abroad. It also offers a Finance MBA, Hospitality EMBA and a wide range of Executive Education programmes. With a faculty team that has extensive China knowledge and global insight, CEIBS is uniquely equipped to nurture business leaders, at every stage of their careers, preparing them to make a global impact. An unrivalled China expert, CEIBS is guided by the concept of China Depth, Global Breadth. This is tangibly reflected in the school's activities and operations at its 5 campuses across 3 continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen in China, as well as Zurich in Switzerland, and Accra in Ghana.