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Ma Jun and the Institute of Public and E...

Qian, Xiaojun, Jia...

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Ma Jun and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (B)

Qian, Xiaojun; Jiang, Peng; Gentile, Mary

OB-1304 | Published March 3, 2020 | 6 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case is part of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. To see other material in the GVV curriculum, please visit http://store.darden.virginia.edu/giving-voice-to-values. After joining an international environmental consultancy firm, Ma Jun, a journalist in the People's Republic of China, was increasingly interested in environmental issues. Wanting to do more than report on these issues, he started to consider founding a nongovernmental organization (NGO) focusing on environmental protection and relying on public participation to keep companies accountable. This idea became the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE). In the course of establishing the IPE, Ma encountered so many crucial problems and challenges that he wondered if he could still go on, and how he could do so effectively.

The case set tries to help students understand the feasibility of taking action on environmental protection issues, and at the same time, help students to think about the necessity of sticking to certain values in concrete actions and the importance of selecting appropriate strategies to attain goals. The focus is not on WHETHER to act on one's values but about figuring out HOW to do so effectively.