IndSearch Centre of Sustainability Management (i-cosm)
IndSearch Centre of Sustainability Management (i-cosm) was established on 02 October, 2009 (Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday) as a natural progression of the efforts of IndSearch to spearhead socially relevant management education and research.
The acronym, i-cosm, indicates that the Centre’s focus will be in the interface between “I”, the individual, and the “Cosm”, representing the Universe.
In short the Centre has been mandated to study issues related to “man” and his “surroundings”, including economic surroundings, social surroundings and environmental surroundings.
The Centre has come into being at an appropriate time as there is an urgent need to build human resource capacity that specializes in Sustainability Management.
Sustainability has become an imperative to conduct business, especially in this flat and crowded world. More and more business leaders recognize that they have to maximize stakeholder value rather than shareholder value alone. Functional managers are expected to understand this new reality to avoid risks to the organizations. Business Schools, like IndSearch, play an important role in helping business to address this new paradigm and move forward with a sound strategy.
Vision & Mission
Vision of i-cosm:
To be globally recognized as a leading research, educational and training institution on Sustainability Management.
Mission of i-cosm:
To develop business managers with a passion for social and environmental responsibilities without losing the focus on economic responsibility through research, education and training.
Areas in which i-cosm is working or intends to work
1. Environmental Management Systems
2. Environmental Policies & Law
3. Environmental Impact Assessment & Environmental Audit
4. Climate Change & Carbon economy
5. Industrial Pollution & Industrial Ecology
6. Water Management
7. Air & Atmosphere
8. Natural Resources Management
9. Land Management
10.Waste Management
11.Design for Environment (Eco-Design)
12. Clean & Green Manufacturing
13. Energy Management
14. Green Marketing
15. Green Supply-chain
16. Biodiversity
17. Green Buildings
18. Green Politics and NGOs
19. Sustainable Development
20. Environmental Economics
21. Environmental Accounting
22. Business Excellence
23. International Trade & Environment
24. Economic Instruments for Environment
25. Poverty & Population
26. Bottom of the Pyramid
27. Emerging Markets
28. Green Investments
29. Sustainability Reporting (GRI)
30. Sustainability Ratings & Indices
31. Corporate Philanthropy
32. Social entrepreneurship
33. ILO Guidelines on labour
34. Occupational Health & Safety
35. Corporate Governance & Ethics
36. Supplier Sustainability
37. Partnership with Stakeholders
28. NGOs and Corporations
39. OHS & SA Management Systems/ industry codes
40. Gender Equity / Women empowerment & Inclusiveness
I-cosm believes in Partnerships with Associates from Academic Institutions NGOs Government Business Professionals and Industry Associations in its efforts towards
| Post-Graduate Masters and Diploma Courses |
Student/Faculty Research Sponsored Research |
Management Development Programs Industrial Training Programs |
| Seminars, Workshops and Colloquia |
Industrial/Business Consultancy |
Reports and publications |
In short, we have embarked on a journey towards building a world class institution that will help the country to build the necessary human resources capacity to take Indian / international business towards Sustainability – in economic, environmental and social dimensions of business
Training Programmes
IndSearch Centre of Sustainability Management offers both in-house and off-campus competence building training programmes for all sections of employees of business enterprises on various subjects related to Sustainability Management:
1. ISO-14001 Environmental Management Systems
2. OHSAS – 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management systems
3. SA-8000 – Social Accountability
4. Environmental Management System Auditing (ISO-19011)
5. Environmental Accounting and Reporting
6. Global Reporting Initiative – GRI-G3 Sustainability Reporting
7. Introduction to Environmental Management in enterprises
8. Chemicals and Chemicals Handling
9. Handling of wastes and hazardous wastes
10. Energy Efficiency Improvement
11. Climate Change and CDM/Carbon credits
12. Design for the environment (Eco-Design)
13. Environmental Marketing
14. Corporate Social Responsibility
15. Environmental & Safety Legal/regulatory requirements
16. Supplier Sustainability Audits (e.g. EICC)
17. Business Sustainability
Highlights of 9th Annual Public Awareness Lecture Series on Corruption
Public Awareness Lectures
IndSearch has been organizing Public Awareness Lectures by eminent personalities on topics related to sustainability from 2003 onwards. These lectures are conducted over a period of six week days in the evening to enable the citizens of Pune and employees of business enterprises to attend them. The topics covered so far are (a) Environmental Management Systems, (b) Environmental Accounting and Reporting, (c) Environmental Laws and the Civil Society, (d) Climate Change and Carbon Trade – who really benefits, (e) Business and Sustainability, (f) Poverty Alleviation and Bottom of the Pyramid models, (g) India’s most sustainable companies – experience of CII Sustainability Award Winners, (h) GRI reporting – experience of Indian companies and (i) Corruption and Corporate Sustainability. The Lecture series in 2011, conducted between 08 and 11 August 2011, was on the topic of Corruption and Corporate Sustainability. The following are the excerpts from the lectures: Dr. Joshi, Director, IndSearch, spoke about the increasing incidents of corruption getting exposed in the recent past and the nexus between corrupt politicians and corporate houses coming out in the open. Some of these scams can be attributed to the greed of the corporation to grow rich at a faster rate. Are companies that engage in corrupt practices sustainable in the long run? The lecture series has been organized to debate the link between corruption and Corporate Sustainability through the view points of different stakeholders |
DAY I (8 August 2011)
The first lecture was given by Mr. Pradeep Mallick, former Managing Director, Wartsila India Ltd., and former Chairman, Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. in his speech he explained how corruption has been existing from time immemorial, for example, from the times of Mahabharata till today. Among the various types of corruption, the one involving the Government and the Corporation affects even those who are not directly involved in it. While such corruption cannot be entirely eradicated each one of us can contribute to the reduction of corruption in our society. For that we need to control our excessive greed - for greed is the main reason behind corruption. Excessive greed also results in environmental degradation leading to an unsustainable world. For the corporation to be sustainable it has to avoid excessive greed for both natural resources and money.
DAY II (9 August 2011)
The second lecture titled “Socio-biological basis of corruption – relevance to Corporate World” was given by Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi, Director, Nimkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Phaltan.Dr. Rajvanshi identified greed, the outcome of desire, as the major reason for corruption among individuals; the other reason for corruption is the “insecure” feeling, which makes one to hoard resources. If individuals sincerely address these two issues in their day-to-day living, they can bring down corruption in their own lives – a collective result is reduction of corruption in the society. Corporations have an important role to play – individuals running corporations, who have come over the excessive greed, can bring large changes towards a corruption free corporation.
DAY III (10 August 2011)
The third lecture titled “Corruption Sustainability – Threat to Corporates” was given by Mr. Pradeep Bhargava, Managing Director, Cummins Energy Systems Ltd., Pune. He highlighted the role of corporations in perpetuating corruption, not only with their interaction with Government agencies, but also in transactions not involving Government. “While there are different shades of and justification for corruption in the corporate world, to be sustainable the corporation should strictly follow its code of conduct”, he said. Soon stakeholders will be asking for the new EPS (ethics per share) from the company. Corporations which are “clean” can challenge “corrupt practices” through advocacy and reforms (internal as well as in the supply chain) such as e-governance.
DAY IV (11 August 2011)
The fourth lecture titled “Fighting Corruption: the role of Corporates and Civil Societies” was given by Mr. T.S. Krishna Murthy, former Chief Election Commissioner, Government of India. He mentioned that in the pre-globalization period corporates indulged in corruption for licences and permits by greasing the palms of government servants; in the post globalization period corrupt practices were indulged in to get hold of resources, be it the 2 G or minerals, involving large amount of money. The existing legal framework is sufficient to take care of corruption; their poor implementation, however, makes them ineffective. Corporations and the Civil Society have a significant role to play in the new revolution against corruption. While the Lokpal may not eradicate corruption from this country, a strong Lokpal and effective implementation of existing laws will be able to reduce corruption to a manageable level.
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