INNOVATION IN IMPACT REPORT
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TABLE OF CONTENTS This document is about all the ways the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan innovates for positive societal impact through research, education, and outreach.
MISSION Mission and Vision....................................................................................................................................................................................3 UN Sustainable Development Goals.....................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCING THE +IMPACT STUDIO +Impact Studio Course & Design Lab...............................................................................................................................................4-5 +Impact Studio Stories.............................................................................................................................................................................6 Faculty Research for Impact....................................................................................................................................................................7
DEVELOPING POWERFUL IDEAS FOR A BETTER WORLD Convenings and Events.......................................................................................................................................................................8-9
ACCELERATING IMPACT LEADERSHIP Empowering Impact Leaders............................................................................................................................................................ 10-11 Leaders Who Make a Difference......................................................................................................................................................12-13
CREATING COMMUNITY IMPACT Advancing Equity and Justice..........................................................................................................................................................14-15 Impact Engagement..........................................................................................................................................................................16-19 Thanks to our Donors............................................................................................................................................................................20
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MISSION
The Business+Impact (B+I) Initiative at Michigan Ross is dedicated to building a better world, one which is just, equitable, and sustainable for all, through powerful ideas and solutions to address the global challenges of our time. To achieve this, we are working to embed impact into every core activity of Michigan Ross, including: teaching, research, and outreach.
VISION
We envision a world in which organizations and their leaders have the tools and insights to build a just, equitable, and sustainable future for all.
Our Lens for Defining Impact: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
We believe business plays a vital role in achieving the SDGs, and that our scholarly research at Michigan Ross and other business schools can help us advance and attain these goals.
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Who We Are We are a studio for impact creators and innovators. Launched from within the Business+Impact Initiative in 2019, our mission is to bring impactful ideas to life using business and design tools along with research expertise from our university community. Along the way, we hope to create a generation of architects able to work with communities to address pressing problems. Our team’s unique blend of expertise powers this work, with experience in design innovation, behavioral science, social entrepreneurship, social work, tech, and higher education, and digital design and technical skills.
+Impact Design Lab In the studio’s co-curricular +Impact Design Lab we develop, nurture, and launch early-stage prototypes. Business+Impact and the +Impact Studio are honored to partner with Applebaum Family Philanthropy in creating powerful student experiences through the Impact Design Lab. The Lab includes an interdisciplinary Applebaum Impact Design Fellowship, a Founders Program for student social innovators, and an Applebaum Impact Design Internship for students pursuing studio-related work during the summer. Applebaum Innovator-in-Residence Moses Lee, along with our studio faculty and staff, provide coaching for our Fellows, Founders, and Interns. Our Founders Program is where impact-driven student innovators come together to nurture and launch their big ideas to change the world.
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The +Impact Studio Course BA670 +Impact Studio: Translating Research into Practice received an Aspen Business & Society “Ideas Worth Teaching Award” for its “resilient, inclusive, sustainable version of capitalism.” The award was given in recognition of its expansive purpose, innovative thinking, reconsideration of the relationship between business and society, and integrated, multi-disciplinary approach. Students develop a toolkit for social innovation that is desired by top employers across industries. In the interdisciplinary +Impact Studio course, students gain a mindset, a process, and a set of tools and experiences for developing impacttful solutions to societal challenges. The course combines management acumen, design thinking, and interdisciplinary expertise and insights. Interdisciplinary teams made up of graduate students from schools across campus translate research into impactful real-world applications.
Innovation for Impact During a Crisis The pandemic imposed new demands constraints and created new norms in our community. So we asked ourselves – how can we use the knowledge and resources of the University of Michigan and the social sector to create a more rewarding and democratic society? And how might we design solutions with resilience and equity in mind? In academic year 2020-21, students engaged local businesses and nonprofits to design solutions for tackling challenges and increasing resiliency through the pandemic. The studio prioritized organizations facing inequities in the wake of the pandemic including women and minority-owned businesses, and nonprofit organizations developing solutions for the unique challenges of Covid-19. This generated work for students from Michigan Ross and the Ford School of Public Policy who took part in the summer program +Impact Studio for Local Business, launched in summer 2020.
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+Impact Studio for Local Business The +Impact Studio for Local Business was co-created by Business+Impact and the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, with funding from the Applebaum Family Philanthropy and the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. During the summer of 2020, 37 interns from the Ross School of Business and the Ford School of Public Policy engaged with small businesses in Detroit and SE Michigan to create solutions to business’ COVID-related problems. Calculators, decision guides, videos, and other tools are free and available at impactstudioforlocalbusiness.org. In 2021, after more than a year of pivoting and innovating, Detroit business owners told us they needed action, not advice. Through the +Impact Studio for Local Business (+ISLB), 31 students from four U-M schools piloted an interdisciplinary student consulting agency, where students implemented solutions to branding, e-commerce, marketing, operations, product enhancement, and point of sale system issues.
Blue Conduit and the +Impact Studio An early contribution of the +Impact Studio came out of its work with Professor Eric Schwartz and his startup Blue Conduit. The company is based on machine learning technology created by Schwartz and his collaborator, Jake Abernathy, to help locate and remediate lead service lines in Flint, Michigan. Students in the +Impact Studio helped the pair think through alternative ways to get their technology into the hands of those who need it most, and the company is now providing a cost-effective method of getting lead out of the water supply in dozens of cities across America. In 2021 Blue Conduit was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the “Best Inventions of 2021.”
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Faculty Research for Impact Faculty Research for Impact (FR4I) is a design workshop series created during the 2019-20 academic year. Each workshop is themed around one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In these sessions, Business+Impact hosts faculty who share their SDG-related research, and participants collaborate to develop ideas that directly impact those goals. For the first session, Ross faculty members Bill Lovejoy, Ted London and Aneel Karnani shared their research around Goal 1: Poverty Alleviation. In the second installment of the series, Jun Li, A. Yeşim Orhun [above], and Chris Rider discussed Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities. During the month of January, Ravi Anupindi, Sarah Miller, and John Siberholz addressed Goal 3: Good Health & Well-Being. Lastly, in February, we tackled Goal 13: Climate Action with Ross faculty members Ekaterina Astashkina, Andrew Hoffman, and Dana Muir.
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POWERFUL IDEAS FOR A BETTER WORLD Business+Impact regularly hosts and sponsors innovative guest speakers and conferences at the Ross School of Business. Top impact leaders regularly come to campus for events that cut across boundaries and advance innovative, practical solutions to society’s toughest social challenges. It’s all part of our mission to promote powerful ideas for a better world.
IMPACT ARTICLES
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Payday Lending Design Jam In partnership with the School of Information and the Mass Mutual Foundation, Business+Impact brought a Design Jam — an action-packed high-energy brainstorming event — to Michigan Ross and allowed students from across campus to consider alternatives to payday lending. Ideas pulled from the best that banks, credit unions, and lending circles can offer, and resulted in a complete report on lending alternatives for the benefit of stakeholders.
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In 2019, Business+Impact and U-M’s Center for the Study of Complex Systems brought together scholars from across disciplinary boundaries at Michigan, MIT, and Stanford. They pondered big questions about how society should best select the institutions/ methodologies to make choices that help shape society’s ability to flourish. These include markets, organizations, democracy, community, and algorithms. “The Choice II” subjects included society’s intellectual, financial, social, and ecological resources to determine new laws and policies.
In early March 2020, B+I sponsored a conference on business research for social impact. “Igniting Impact: Enhancing Business Practice and Research through Greater Collaboration” was co-sponsored by Aspen Business & Society and Responsible Research in Business and Management. Focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this conference drew top thinkers from business and academia to discuss how business and other disciplines can take greater responsibility for acheiving these goals.
Igniting Impact Conference
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Fireside Chats
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Event Partnerships
Through the Fireside Chats series, top impact leaders are brought to Business+Impact serves as a partner on impact events across campus who cut across boundaries to advance innovative practical campus during each academic year. We collaborated with U-M solutions to society’s toughest social challenges. Below are examples: Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs to bring in voting advocate LaTosha Brown, partnered with U-M Poverty Solutions to host and sponsor a Mar. 18, 2019 - Designing for Impact: A Conversation with Cynconversation with Urban Revitalization Strategist Majora Carter and thia Koenig (founder of Wello Water; Ross MBA ‘11) the conference “WORK/FORCE: Solving for Jobs, Mobility and Equity in an Era of Rapid Change.” Additionally, we are a sponsor Sept. 23, 2019 - The Importance of Design for Business: A Conversation with Juan-Carlos Morales (Chameleon Collective) of the Michigan Impact Investing Symposium, the Detroit Revitalization & Business Conference, and the Ford School of Feb. 12, 2020 - Financial Inclusion in the Age of FinTech: A Public Policy’s Central Bank of the Future Conference. Conversation with Adrienne Harris (former special assistant to President Obama; professor at the Ford School of Public Policy) Mar. 11, 2020 - Creating Cultural Contagion: A Conversation with Marcus Collins (professor of marketing at Michigan Ross)
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EMPOWERING IMPACT LEADERS At Michigan Ross, we put our money where our mouth is. Our dedication to students pursuing careers in impact goes beyond the classroom. In addition to scholarships from the Erb Institute and Sanger Leadership Center, Ross provides Loan Repayment Assistance through its dedicated Financial Aid department. Learn about other key funding avenues below:
Scholarships
Impact Advantage Summer Fund
Since 2017, the Skip and Carrie Gordon Scholarship fund has awarded $60,000 to twelve MBAs (including Emma K. Smith, above) pursuing social impact while students at Michigan Ross. The newly-minted LeRoy Gordon Scholarship fund has been awarding similar scholarships since 2021.
Michigan Ross’ new Impact Advantage Loan Repayment Assistance Program offers full-time MBA graduates up to $37,500 in loan support for those pursuing careers in social impact.
Business+Impact administers these scholarships to worthy second year MBA students at Michigan Ross who have demonstrated a commitment to making a social impact in the world. These $5,000 scholarships fund the work of these students while at U-M and after graduation.
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SKIP & CARRIE GORDON AND LEROY GORDON SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
Each summer, Business+ Impact awards competitive grants for summer internships to MBAs and BBA juniors in the Ross School of Business as well as MPP students in the Ford School of Public Policy. MBA funding comes from the Give-A-Day Fund, which allows MBAs from typical internships to donate a day of their pay to fund social impact interns. Summer funding also comes from a General Motors corporate sponsorship. Additionally, the newly established Jason Gordon Impact Entrepreneurship Fund provides support for BBA or MBA student interns (like Dimitri Giraldo, pictured above with internship funder Jason Gordon) working with ventures or funders seeking to create societal impact.
Maab Ibrahim (MBA/MPP ’16) is the Inclusion grantmaking lead at Google.org, a datadriven, human-focused philanthropy powered by Google. Through a unique blend of funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers, she is currently accelerating the progress of nonprofits that use data science and innovative new approaches to advance social justice. While at Ross, she served as a senior associate on the UM Social Venture Fund, and interned at the White House before that.
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A career in social impact is equal parts subject-matter expertise to define the challenge and business savvy to make the case for solutions. I often speak of the Ford School as a place for me to sharpen the ‘what’ and Ross as a place to perfect the ‘how.’ MAAB IBRAHIM (MBA/MPP ‘16)
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In 2020 the Erb Institute announced the formation of the Erb Fellows program for undergraduates of Ross or LSA’s Program in the Environment. Watch video.
LEADERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE MBAs WERE MEMBERS
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Erb Fellows The first program of its kind, the Erb Undergraduate Fellows equips undergraduate students with the skills and experiences to drive social, environmental and economic change after graduation. The Erb Fellows program is open to rising Juniors at Michigan Ross and the Program in the Environment, both to majors and minors. This program offers the opportunity to become an integral part of the current and future landscape of business sustainability.
Action-Based Learning
Positive Leadership
Michigan Ross changed the landscape of business education 25 years ago with its signature Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP) program and BBA Capstone MAP program; a number of each program’s yearly projects involve social impact.
The work of making the world a better place begins with business leadership. Nearly 20 years ago, we pioneered a new field of inquiry at Michigan Ross and formed the Center for Positive Organizations. In the process, we ignited a global movement to create highly effective workplaces where people thrive.
Today, innovation continues with the Living Business Leadership Experience (BA 456/ BA 656), allowing students to establish and lead a functional team in a real, operating business unit. In their work with Cleveland’s NRP Group, students elevated workforce development and transportation.
Michigan Ross is also home to the Sanger Leadership Center, accelerating leader development through bold ideas, transformative experiences, and inclusive communities. Both centers encapsulate the school’s vision of building a better world through business.
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ADVANCING EQUITY AND JUSTICE
The Ross Commitment to Action seeks to create real and lasting change in justice, equity, belonging, and inclusion in business and beyond, by elevating diverse voices across the Ross School, focusing on diversity in scholarship, training faculty and staff, and diversifying Ross’ supply chain.
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Advocacy at Ross Grassroots student advocacy has been a hallmark of the work at Ross and U-M at-large for years. The Black Business Students Association at Ross began in 1970 with a mandate to increase minority enrollment, improve member academic performance, and retain black business students at both the BBA and MBA levels. Today, this group is more active than ever—hosting the 45th annual Alfred L Edwards Conference in 2021—and serving as a benchmark for similar groups across the country. The BBA Council and MBA Task Force on Race work directly with the Ross Office of Diversity and Inclusion to encourage diversity and inclusion by hosting regular touchpoints like the Business+Dialogue Series, 100 for 100, and Meet the Clubs. Other clubs at Ross like Michigan Business Women, Out for Business, Asian American Business Association, Women Who Launch, and many more seek to foster equity and diverse professional development for all. Recently, the Business+Impact initiative, in collaboration with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion faculty committee and the Office of the Dean announced the creation of a set of new yearly research awards to celebrate and honor research related to diversity, equity and inclusion. 2021 winners included Sarah Miller (Business Economics & Public Policy), Mohamed Mostagir (Technology & Operations), and PH.D student Virginia Traweek (Finance), with a BBA senior thesis winner: Karthik Nagappan.
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Business & Society Lecture Series
This unique social impact series of lectures focused its program during the 2020-2021 academic year on issues regarding race and business as part of the Ross Commitment to Action. Events focused on topics ranging from the role of business in tackling systematic oppression to addressing problems related to racial injustice.
Diversity Week At Ross we believe that a broad-based, diverse community is essential to the character of our school. The Women in Leadership and UpClose conferences are an integral part of our continuous commitment to a diverse student body. Nicknamed Diversity Week, these yearly events include programming developed by students from Michigan Business Women and Ross’ Consortium Community to improve the visibility of underrepresented students in business schools and in management.
Diversity in Real The Consortium Estate In the summer of 2020, Stephen M. Ross and Jeff T. Blau committed $6 million to support the Blau Initiative for Diversity in Real Estate and Infrastructure and the Related Scholars Fund, both of which are designed to attract and support students from diverse environments who are underrepresented in real estate and investing. With support from the Blau Initiative, the Weiser Center for Real Estate is creating critical partnerships in order to deliver programming that will support these populations at the high school and college level in accessing, exploring, and ultimately confirming a path in the field.
Since its inception in 1983, Ross has been a member of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of leading American business schools and some of the United States’ top corporations. The mission of The Consortium is to enhance diversity in business education and leadership by helping to reduce the serious underrepresentation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in both its member schools’ enrollments and the ranks of management. We encourage all prospective MBA students with a demonstrated commitment to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups to apply through The Consortium.
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IMPACT ENGAGEMENT For years Ross has been a hub of innovative learning and positive business. That work continues as the country and the world move through changes like coronavirus and a more connected international economy.
Open Road at Ross At Michigan Ross, we bring the power of MBA skills to social entrepreneurs around the country. Since 2014, Ross has sent 39 MBAs to participate in Open Road at Ross, a program sponsored by Ford Motor Company Foundation that pairs MBA students with visionary entrepreneurs. Paused during the coronavirus pandemic, this program began again in 2021. Students initiate teams, plan journeys and help social entrepreneurs implement impact at scale across America.
Board Fellows Program Every year since 2002, the Nonprofit Board Fellows program has provided professional training to over 700 graduate students to enable them to serve as non-voting members on local nonprofit boards. They actively contribute to organizational success while building their own tools for social impact. Students work closely with the board and staff leadership, participate in all board meetings, serve on committees, and participate in B+I info sessions, training, and workshops. At the end of the school year, Board Fellows complete a board-level strategic project in subject areas like performance measurement, strategic plans, marketing plans, fund development, and board governance.
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Team RAIK (Ritesh Kumar, Allie Morbitzer, Ivy Wei, and Kathy Tian) traveled to three states and consulted with four social entrepreneurs during Open Road at Ross
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Jordan Owens (MBA ‘21) took part in B+I’s Nonprofit Board Fellows Program and participated in monthly board meetings with Detroit PAL, where he worked on the board’s bylaws during the 2019-20 academic year.
Serving on a board like Detroit PAL is especially exciting and rewarding, because they work directly with kids in the community and have a measurable impact on their lives.” JORDAN OWENS (MBA ’21)
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IMPACT ENGAGEMENT Through engagement opportunities, students explore pathways to bring their passions to life. Each outlet offers a unique way to customize experiences at Michigan.
Undergraduate Impact Clubs Centers & Institutes Addressing issues from poverty to innovation, and economic development to climate action, Ross’ centers and institutes guide students to the path that brings their passions to life. Key centers and institutes below address particular areas of interest to impact students: • The Center for Positive Organizations enables students to build high-performing orgs • The Erb Institute fosters sustainability in business through research and engagement • The Fintech Initiative is focused on fintech solutions to issues including social impact • The Sanger Leadership Institute works to develop powerful, inclusive leadership • The William Davidson Institute develops experise on issues affecting emerging markets • Zell Lurie Institute develops entrepreneurs and their ideas, often with an impact focus
As the BBA program has grown at Ross, so have the clubs available to undergrad students. Ross impact clubs like Propel and 180 Degrees are established around consulting projects, Michigan Business Women and Black Business Undergraduate Society are dedicated to advancing underrepresented business people, while Lean In and Net Impact are worldwide clubs with strong undergrad U of M chapters.
DNEP Free Accounting
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In collaboration with the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Program, Business+Impact has launched an initiative to provide Detroit entrepreneurs with the accounting services that can help them successfully launch and grow their businesses. Such businesses create jobs across Southeast Michigan, ultimately strengthening the growing economy. And lately that work has expanded into the realm of helping Detroit business owners navigate the complicated world of coronavirus relief applications.
Graduate Impact Clubs The Give-A-Day Fund at Michigan Ross is the first of its kind in the nation, allowing MBAs in typical internships to donate a day of pay to fund summer impact interns at social impact opportunities. Additionally, clubs like Detroit Revitalization & Business, Emerging Markets Club, and Women Who Launch provide impactful involvement.
Net Impact The Michigan Ross chapters of this international organization won Gold Medal status in 2019 and 2020. At Ross, Net Impact‘s focus is two-fold: First, to create an active community of students who are passionate about making a social impact, whether through their professional or personal endeavors. Second, to provide resources and support for MBAs who are exploring careers in social impact.
Good Business Lab The GB Lab’s mission is to lead businesses to improve the lives of all workers. They work responsibly and believe in collaboration over competition, and they pursue the VUCA — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous – world.
Engaging with Businesses Michigan Ross is committed to Action-Based Learning (ABL). Below are some of the programs that place students with actual businesses. Impact MAP projects - All students at Michigan Ross engage in a Multidisciplinary Action Project (MAP) or MAP Capstone Project during their time at Ross. These multi-week projects occur around the world with hundreds of sourced businesses. Students can gain experience with NGOs, technology startups, banks, real estate firms, or social entrepreneurs — there are projects available in virtually every sector, industry, and function, so impact students are able to find projects that feed into their career paths. Erb Projects - The Erb Institute offers a variety of sponsored projects and collaborations that connect to specific sustainability issues and allow for hands-on sustainability learning. All projects offer some form of student stipend. Nonprofit Board Fellowship Program - Far from being outside the purview of business, nonprofits accomplish everything a business does while still pursuing all of their mission-driven goals. This multidisciplinary program provides students with real-world insights into the workings and procedures of a nonprofit board, and enables them to directly contribute to that organization’s success, while building on student skills in social impact. Living Business Leadership Experience - Effective leaders lead up, down, and across organizations – just as students do in the Living Business Leadership Experience course. They work with a company and team of students to establish and run real, profitable enterprises. This could entail new products, business lines, or functional units. Magnify - From the Center for Positive Organizations, Magnify is an intensive course designed to prepare undergraduates to understand and lead teams and organizations where people flourish. The course is ideal for students who wish to make a positive difference in their workplaces and beyond.
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THANKS TO OUR DONORS • • • • • • •
Applebaum Family Philanthropy Ford Motor Company Foundation General Motors Skip and Carrie Gordon Jason Gordon Rob and Amy Holt Zachary Savas
Stephen M. Ross School of Business 700 East University Kresge Hall, 3rd Floor West, Suite K3510 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1234
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734.763.4214 Ph 734.647.1334 Fx businessimpact@umich.edu
rossimpact.com businessimpact.umich.edu
