FACULTY AND RESEARCH
Joanne
Lawrence
Professor of Practice, Business & Global Society
Best Case Award 2018
Case Centre
Hult Professor Joanne Lawrence and Executive MBA
2013 graduate Kevina Kenny were awarded the Case
Centre’s 2018 Best Case award in the Ethics and Social
Responsibility category. Considered the Oscars of
academic case publishing, the Case Centre Awards
recognize excellence in case writing and teaching around
the world. Joanne and Kevina worked with Andreas Rasche
from Copenhagen Business School to examine Unilever’s
Sustainable Living Plan—seeking to understand how the
company has built a successful and profitable business
strategy on a platform of sustainable business practices.
The case has also been included in a recently published
textbook called Managing the Sustainable Business.
Joanne teaches Business & Global Society as
a social innovation elective, and also heads up
Hult Case publishing. She is an academic partner of the
UN Development Program (UNDP) and has served as
an academic co-advisor to the UN Global Compact.
A strong believer in the transformative power of business,
Joanne focuses on developing strategic, holistic thinking
leaders who can ethically and effectively leverage
resources to achieve both social and economic goals.
Previously Joanne was an adjunct professor of strategy
and management at INSEAD and an affiliate of its
Business in Society Centre. She has more than 30 years
of international corporate and consulting experience,
having worked with BP, IBM, and the World Bank as well
as smaller, socially-focused enterprises. While at SmithKline
Beecham (today GSK), she headed a ground-breaking
organizational change initiative that became the subject
of a book and an award-winning INSEAD case study. She
later founded her own consultancy in London focusing on
strategically-driven organizational change. Among her
awards, she was named one of Britain’s “Top 20 Corporate
Women” by the Sunday Times.
22
You’ve taught at other business schools, what do you
particularly like about teaching at Hult?
What don’t I like about it? I love Hult students; I love that
they come from everywhere, bringing so many different
perspectives into the classroom. They are curious,
open-minded, and truly global. Hult is very special in that it
offers a kind of self-selective process—a student wouldn’t
be here if being global wasn’t an important goal.
You are very passionate about sustainable businesses.
Why is it important to you?
I have always seen business as a truly transformative force.
It makes our lives better by creating innovative products,
and improves livelihoods by how and where those
products are made. By using resources wisely—natural,
financial, and human—businesses can create greater
economic prosperity as well as social inclusion. Businesses
cannot prosper where there is social instability: Striving for
sustainability is common sense!
You don’t only write case studies, you are also
involved in lots of projects. Tell us about what you
hope to take on next.
My mission is to scale the message that business can
transform lives, and how we can apply business principles
to solve social problems, just as we do in class with the UN
Sustainable Development Goals and our course partners,
UNDP and UNICEF. This is ultimately why I love teaching—
YOU are my mission! You all go out into the world and
create ripples of positive change.
Do you have a parting piece of advice for us?
Live a life of purpose. At the end of the day, when you go
home, feel good about what you’ve done. Have a purpose
and be committed to it. Listen to your inner voice: It is very
wise. Heed what it is telling you, and stay true to your
values. Be authentic and courageous: Always come at
whatever you do from a place of honesty and integrity.