Study Abroad trip focuses on corporate social responsibility

Jennifer Gregan-Paxton, assistant professor of business administration in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, is leading 10 students on a trip that is being made possible through an arrangement with Crooked Trails, a Seattle-based nonprofit travel organization that helps people broaden their understanding of diverse cultures through education, community development and responsible travel.

In Peru, the UD students are meeting with representatives of multinational and local companies to learn how business both positively contributes to and negatively affects that nation’s many different stakeholder groups, including corporations, nongovernmental organizations and local indigenous communities.

Gregan-Paxton, principal architect of the curriculum, said she developed the program to further business students’ understanding of the many issues involved in corporate social responsibility.

“I became concerned about the impact of business practices, products and processes on society and the environment, and began to turn my attention toward issues of sustainability,” she said. “I believe that corporate social responsibility needs to become much more prominent in the language and strategy of business on a global scale. Governments, corporations and international nongovernmental organizations must create partnerships that push the issues of sustainability to a level of priority that befits the urgency of the problems we face together.”

Gregan-Paxton said this new UD Study Abroad program is the first of its kind to bring together businesses, academics, nongovernmental organizations, which include such international agencies as the Red Cross and the World Wildlife Fund, and local communities in order to better understand corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices around the world.

“We hope to eventually begin to change the way we educate future business leaders,” Gregan-Paxton said, “and this is a small step in that direction.”

Tammy Leland, cofounder of Crooked Trails, is serving as the guide for the inaugural trip. “We are absolutely delighted to bring our passion for responsible travel practices to the service of a great university and the business community in order to form this partnership,” she said. “There are no losers in this proposition. We only stand to learn and benefit not only ourselves, but also the communities and countries that we visit around the world.”

Article by Neil Thomas

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