A UNIVERSITY of Reading-linked institution has opened in Cape Town, South Africa.
The John Madejski Centre for Reputation (JMCR) at Henley Business School opened a dedicated sister centre in South Africa on Wednesday, April 5.
The JMCR, founded in 2000, was the first dedicated academic research centre in the field of reputation and relationships and has spent the past two decades engaging in the not-for-profit sector in Cape Town.
Looking to drive new research into how organisations can build and maintain stakeholder relationships, JMCR Africa will provide a physical space for its growing African network at Henley’s Cape Town campus.
Prof Kevin Money, director of the JMCR, said: “Understanding what the relationships are that drive business and how you build and protect these is crucial for any sustainability strategy, especially in an increasingly divided, post-Covid world.
This is true whether you are a UK or South Africa-based company, or a not-for-profit.”
According to the World Bank, the building blocks of social sustainability are inclusive, just and resilient societies where citizens have voices and governments listen and respond, but this relies on the quality of relationships between these parties.
“We live in a fracturing world, and it is only by building better relationships that we can hope to bridge these divides,” Prof Money added.
“At the JMCR we’ve developed a model that has been used successfully by numerous companies, governments and charities globally to build trust in stakeholder relationships.
“By expanding our knowledge of how we do this in African contexts, and integrating this wisdom into existing practices and models, the world as a whole can only benefit.”
Henley Business School has been active in Africa for the past three decades with a campus in Johannesburg, launching the Cape Town campus this year.
Many of the NGOs that have worked with Henley Africa and JMCR are offered a complementary place on one of the school’s executive development programmes on leading for sustainability and societal impact.
These NGO leaders are connected into Henley’s global John Madejski Impact Partnership that was launched during the pandemic as a virtual hub to connect global leaders from all sectors to focus on issues of reputation and relationship.
