Bridging commerce and research

By Peter Walker for CNN

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The environment, everyone now agrees, is a big issue for companies, something increasingly recognized by business schools, and chronicled previously on Executive Education (see here).

However, as with all aspects of commerce, any such big subject cannot be tackled just as a generality -- there are an ever-increasing number of specializations to be considered.

Luckily, business schools are rising to this challenge, too. The latest innovation in this vein is the Center for Energy Studies at Cambridge University's Judge Business School, which concentrates on the vital subject of energy security.

The UK-based center has just announced the name of its first director, Nick Butler, formerly a group vice president at oil giant BP.

The center is tasked with examining subjects of crucial importance to businesses worldwide, for example how European nations can use Russian energy supplies more heavily as insurance against instability in the Middle East.

Other areas include the fast-growing market in alternative and renewable energy sources, and possible international frameworks for the management of carbon emissions.

"As global demand for energy continues to rise, and energy security concerns become ever more important, I believe Cambridge has an influential role to play," Butler said.

His ambition, he added, is for the center to "play its part in the process of responding to one of the greatest challenges facing the world in the 21st century."

Inaugural lecture

Kicking off his new role, Butler is addressing dozens of senior figures from industry, government and academia in a lecture at the university, explaining the main issues of energy security facing the globe.

The center illustrates a key role that business schools can play, the director of the Judge school, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, explained.

"By basing the center here at the school, we can act as a bridge between the academic world and the world of business and finance, bringing together people from different backgrounds, academic disciplines and from the international business community, to jointly focus on the most important policy debates of our time," he said.

"We can help focus attention on the management issues and institutional arrangements which will need to be created if this enormous challenge is to be solved."

Similar moves are taking place elsewhere in the world. For example, California's Stanford Graduate School of Business has just held a major conference on another key part of environmental policy for businesses -- supply chain management.

The event saw more than 200 corporate and academic supply chain management experts discuss how to bring environmental sustainability and social responsibility to the key business issue.

"We are providing a platform for business leaders and others concerned with the environment and corporate social responsibility to work together toward the common goal of ensuring the availability of natural resources, supporting social reforms, and at the same time securing the efficient delivery of supplies," said Hau Lee, co-director of the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum.

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