Babson College
PAE-2: Strategic Plan

One of the central tenets of the plan is "to embrace people, planet and profit issues simultaneously, not sequentially." One of the central challenges addressed in the plan is: "There is a growing recognition that reliance on fossil fuels has to be replaced with alternative energy and production practices which emphasize sustainability. These “shocks to the system” also have revealed the danger of relying excessively on a market model which focuses on shareholder wealth creation and profits, and ignores how those profits have been created." The new vision for Babson is a call to creative action, a strategic decision to set a course for the College so that it can equip graduates to excel in a dynamic market where resources are increasingly limited and environmental externalities are forced into the cost of doing business. One of the three main elements of the new vision is to: "Cement our lead in curriculum innovation by designing the 'next generation' curriculum that integrates profit and the common good using UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME)." The UN PRME principles are a guiding framework for institutions to integrate corporate responsibility and sustainability in a gradual but systemic manner. The new vision for Babson is a call to creative action, a strategic decision to set a course for the College so that it can equip graduates to excel in a dynamic market where resources are increasingly limited and environmental externalities are forced into the cost of doing business.

The new vision begins by stating: "Our mission is to educate a generation of leaders who create great economic and SOCIAL value … everywhere; ...We want to embrace people, planet and profit issues simultaneously, not sequentially; We want to extend our global reach to have an impact on the world; We want to create a diverse, multi-cultural and inclusive community of highly talented students, faculty and staff." The vision addresses the fact that business can no longer depend on a "supply of skilled labor at low cost." One of the three main elements of the new vision is to: "Cement our lead in curriculum innovation by designing the 'next generation' curriculum that integrates profit and the common good using UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME)." The Strategic Plan also highlights the Lewis Foundation gift of $10.8 million which aims to create a campus focused on responsible management principles and social impact. The Lewis Institute provides us with a tangible start to extend our work beyond the traditional conceptual boundaries of business. The new strategy also lays out the goal of expanding Babson's global reach, at the heart of which is the concept of a Global Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education.

One of the three central goals for Babson laid out in the strategic plan is "to ensure a fully sustainable financial model for the College". The President's Strategy website continues: "...while other institutions are playing defense with extensive cutbacks in faculty and programs, we have shifted to offense. Over the past year we have taken decisive steps to build a multi-year operating model to fund our needs and aspirations and provide for long-term institutional prosperity. As a result, our budget is projected to be balanced for our core activities—the undergraduate and graduate programs—through 2017. This financial model depends on our ability to continue to manage operations carefully and to keep costs under control, as well as on contributions from the return on our endowment and annual giving to the College." In addition to the economic sustainability of the College, the strategic plan lays out a vision of addressing people, planet, and profit simultaneously in all Babson activities including education of its students and global outreach. Through the three pillars -- Entrepreneurial Thought and Action, Curriculum that Integrates Profits with with Common Good, and the Global Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education -- Babson aims to be a force of sustainable prosperity around the world in the face of dramatic global changes and economic challenges from the institutional level down to the student level.

In the spring of 2009, the leadership of Babson, after an extensive process of engagement with the broader Babson community, issued an updated strategy for Babson. This strategy updated Babson’s mission and included a new vision for the college based on three pillars. These are: 1. Extend Babson’s leadership in entrepreneurship by moving from entrepreneurship-the-discipline to the more pervasive entrepreneurial thought and action (ETA). 2. Cement our lead in curriculum innovation by designing the “next generation” curriculum that integrates profit and the common good using UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). 3. Expand Babson’s global reach from limited partnerships to deeper strategic relationships, leveraging the Global Entrepreneurship Education Network (GEEN) Sustainability, in social, economic and environmental terms, is central to Babson’s strategy, and is woven throughout, both implicitly and explicitly. The new vision for Babson is a call to creative action, a strategic decision to set a course for the College so that it can equip graduates to excel in a dynamic market where resources are increasingly limited and environmental externalities are forced into the cost of doing business. Babson is investing in becoming an education institution that produces versatile, well-rounded global citizens capable of creating economic and social value. This next generation of leaders will have to balance people, planet and profit simultaneously.