The non‐profit turn and its challenges for business schools: Foundations for a new vision in third sector management training

Over the past years, the teaching of third sector management and corporate social responsibility in business schools has been characterized by two main features: it has become widespread, and the assumption that a company's moral behavior has a financial correlate was abandoned. It follows from the second element that these classes are no longer meant to train managers to make a more effective economic contribution. The courses can now find a different, higher purpose, namely to emphasize the impact of the companies' and non‐profit organizations' social activities. This paper aims to address this issue.

The paper looks at two prevailing models of integration of third sector management in the curriculum and their limits.

The paper finds that emphasizing companies' and non‐profit organizations' social activities can be achieved if managers are trained in a way that better apprehends the stakes of these social activities. However, for business schools to make a significant contribution to this field and avoid missing the opportunities of this “non profit turn”, they must establish a vision of what these courses mean to them.

This paper provides useful information on the challenges of teaching a curricula taking into account the companies' and non‐profit organization' social activities.