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MAX HAVELAAR LECTURES
The Max Havelaar lecture is a recurring annual event. It serves five interrelated goals:
• Provide a platform for the presentation of state-of-the-art scientific insights into how sustainable
business and development co-operation can be combined;
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the involvement of corporations in poverty alleviation
in a systematic and non-ideological manner;
• Address the complexities of sustainable development rather than engage in simplifications in order
to come up with realistic – and obtainable – approaches to addressing in particular Millennium
Development Goals;
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of specific approaches such as trade marks, codes of
conduct, reporting or governance measures;
• Provide an arena in which innovative ideas and structured dialogues can be launched.
Each year, a leading scholar is invited to hold the key lecture which is accompanied by statements
from leaders of the business community, civil society and government.
The lecture is held at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, as a legacy to Jan Tinbergen, the former
Nobel Prize Laureate in economics and leading thinker on sustainable development. The lecture is
open to the public.
The Max Havelaar lecture is organised as a co-operative effort between three institutes: The Max
Havelaar Foundation (www.maxhavelaar.nl), Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
(in particular the department of Business-Society Management; www.bsm.org) and the Expert
Centre on Sustainable Business and Development Cooperation (ECSAD; www.ecsad.nl). The first
Max Havelaar lecture was held in October 2007. More information on present and future lectures
can be found on www.maxhavelaarlecture.org
Topics of previous Max Havelaar lectures:
2007 Poverty and Business
2008 Partnerships for Development
2009 Chains for Change
11200. B&T Ontwerp en advies (www.b-en-t.nl)