What is the Centre for Sustainable Business Practices?

The Centre for Sustainable Business Practices (CSBP) aims to encourage, facilitate, capture and promote research and consultancy into business sustainability. In this context sustainability is being defined as “an ultimate objective of maintaining indefinitely the viability of our economies, the societies in which they exist and the physical environment on which they all depend.” (Jenkins, 2009 p.21). The impact of sustainability is being felt across all business activities. It is a consideration with any stakeholder relationship, whether it is adopting a corporate social responsibility approach with customers, defining environmental regulations with suppliers or exploring ways to protect shareholders. The intended impact of this centre also links closely with the University’s Social Impact agenda, particularly Challenge 4: Make Northamptonshire the best county in the UK to start, build and run a business.

This Centre creates an interdisciplinary platform for research activity across the Faculty of Business and Law through the development of four research groups within the Centre. In addition to this, CSBP work closely with colleagues across the University and with external partners to produce valuable research with demonstrable impact.

Areas of interest

The Centre for Sustainable Business Practices has a wide range of research interests. Four main themes have been used to create four research groups within the Centre. Below are only some selected topics currently under study with these groups:

• Entrepreneurship and small Business Development
  • Corporate Social Responsibility and SMEs
  • Measuring Social Value
  • Empathy in Social Enterprise
• Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Advertising ethics and regulation
  • The ethics of business gifting
  • Politics and consumption
• Economies and Markets
  • Takeover regulations to protect shareholders
  • Supply chain management
  • Public-Private business collaborations
• Legal Frameworks and Regulated Markets
  • Trafficking of illegal commodities
  • Empowerment and oppression in higher education
  • Discrimination and equality

Recent projects

Social Innovation project

This joint project between University of Northampton and Ambedkhar University Delhi, funded by the British Council Social Enterprise Education Programme, has been instrumental in the development of the MA Social Innovation and the increased internationalisation of the programme.  Through joint workshops and a national colloquium held in Delhi the AUD Centre for Incubation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship was launched and is now established as a not for profit company supporting entrepreneurs in Delhi and developing sustainable businesses.

The project, which was coordinated by the CSBP’s member Gill Gourlay, brought in dialogues and deliberations as well as successful initiatives in entrepreneurial education and practice and it is envisaged that the personal and institutional networks that have been created will be further explored in the coming months, to enhance programmes in both institutions.

Entrepreneurial Education project with Kazakhstan

This Erasmus+ funded project on Entrepreneurial Education has facilitated  staff mobility between University of Northampton and Almaty Management University in Kazakhstan with the aim to strengthen the institutional links of educators in entrepreneurship in both institutions and develop a joint understanding of what is required  in entrepreneurial education at Masters level in an international content. The framework has facilitated five trips between the two countries. It is hoped that this experience and networking will lead to another funded project in this area in the future.

Previous projects

Research collaboration with Amity University

Three members of the Centre, Kathleen Mortimer, Angela Rushton and Sally Laurie, visited Amity University in Noida to participate in their International Business Horizons Conference in the track “Marketing Ethics and sustainability”. Informal discussions also led to the identification of possible research collaboration.

International Workshop on Sustainability of Food Supply Chains

This international workshop was sponsored by the British Council (Newton Fund) and the Brazilian National Council for state Funding Agencies. Its aim was to increase researcher mobility in Eco food supply chain systems and promote new international collaborations, networks and projects. It had the participation of twenty researchers from the UK and twenty researchers from Brazil. It was organised and coordinated by Dr Luciano Batista.

External Partners

Joint research output in terms of conference papers and articles in the area of Marketing Ethics and Sustainability.

University of Northampton hosted the 2016 ISBE SIG conference to create networking opportunities and future collaboration.

Working with Almaty Management University in Kazakhstan on a funded project to develop a joint Masters programme in Entrepreneurship.

This research collaboration is focused on research on the role of participatory methodologies in community based tourism enterprises (CBTEs)

Joint funded project on: “Eco food supply chains: Exploring industrial ecosystems to minimize food waste and maximize social benefits”. In partnership with the Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) university in Brazil.

Working with CSBP

If you are interested in working with CSBP please contact
Kathleen.mortimer@northampton.ac.uk