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Executive Education

The sweet taste of ethical learning

By Peter Walker for CNN
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(CNN) -- According to popular image, every new recipient of an MBA from a leading business school will head straight into the finance sector, intent on maximizing their salary, irrespective of other considerations.

Time to update that image.

Increasingly, as well as teaching executives how to be profitable, business schools are focusing on how they can operate in an ethical, socially conscious way.

Some schools offer entire programs based around this. For example, Harvard Business School and Oxford University's Saïd Business School, among others, have departments specializing in socially-conscious entrepreneurship.

Another example is France's ESSEC Business School, just outside Paris, which since 2003 has had a Chair of Social Entrepreneurship, which aims to promote teaching and research in this area as well as dealing with private ventures that serve the social good.

Proof that all this has tangible results came this month with the opening of an innovative, ethically-focused business in Paris.

Guillaume Hermitte, a 2006 MBA graduate from ESSEC, has launched Puerto Cacao, an innovative supplier of luxury chocolates and chocolate products, with a twist.

All the ingredients are organic, while the business has an ethical focus at its heart -- on the company's Web siteexternal link, Puerto Cacao pledges to "improve the standard of living of small (cocoa) producers in less developed countries," as well as providing jobs to disadvantaged people in France.

Where luxury meets ethics

This ethical focus is combined with a distinctly luxurious focus for the customer. Visitors to the shop in northern Paris's 17th district can choose from a range of flavors to create their own personalized chocolate.

As they wait for them to be created, they can nibble on pastries and sip a chocolate drink, or else flick through books on socially conscious business or look at a photography exhibition.

The shop's parent company, Choc Ethic, purchases cocoa beans from small Venezuelan producers for a guaranteed minimum price and commits to working with them for a minimum of five years.

Puerto Cacao's founder praised his business school for helping him shape his approach.

"I always envisioned setting up a company that was both socially and environmentally responsible, so I am glad to have studied at a school which teaches these important values", Hermitte said.

ESSEC's Chair of Social Entrepreneurship helped Hermitte find financial backers, as well as work out a business plan.

Additionally, the school's innovative seed fund program allowed Hermitte to invest in Choc Ethic, buying up 8% of its shares.

"I decided to get started on my project as soon as I realized the amount of resources provided by ESSEC," noted Hermitte.


story.cocoa.jpg

A fair price: cocoa pods being harvested.

FACT BOX

FT's Executive MBA Rankings
1. Wharton, U.S.
2. Hong Kong UST, China
3. London Business School, UK
4. Instituto de Empresa, Spain
5. Fuqua, Duke, U.S.
6. Chicago GSB, U.S.
7. Columbia, U.S.
8. Kellogg, U.S.
9. Stern, NY, U.S.
10. Cass, City University, UK
Source: Financial Times 2006

FACT BOX

EMBA SNAPSHOT

Executives taking the top EMBA courses in the U.S., Europe and Asia have average salaries of around $130,000 to $200,000.

A typical EMBA student is likely to be aged in the early 30s, with 6-10 years of working experience.

A top EMBA course can cost $100,000. Customized courses start at a few thousand dollars.

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