Institute for Business Sustainability | Luzern

Vision

The Institute for Business Sustainability (IBS) provides

cutting-edge educational programs and future-relevant research

in sustainability innovation, strategy and leadership

for practitioners and change makers across sectors.

About

The Institute for Business Sustainability is an independent, forward-thinking, international research and education center dedicated to enabling business and its leaders to contribute positively to society and our planetary challenges.

We operate with purpose and based on shared values. Our aspiration is to contribute to a better world through relevant education and research insights.

We are generously supported through funds of the Mission Possible Foundation and other independent donors.

The Institute is internationally recognized through its membership in the renowned global Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), which includes prestitious sustainability research centers around the world.

Partnerships and collaborations include the World Business Council of Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the United Nations Global Compact Switzerland (UNGC Network Switzerland). We actively collaborate with the Business Sustainability platform Sustainability-Today and the Sustainability Reporting Inititiave Focused Reporting.

Team

Prof. Dr. Katrin Muff is Professor of Practice at the LUISS Business School and former Dean of Business School Lausanne, is a respected thought leader in the organizational transformation towards business sustainability. She holds a Ph.D. in Leadership from the University of Exeter and combines 15 years of academic experience with 15 years of strategic leadership experience in business around the globe.

Prof. em. (HSG) Dr. Thomas Dyllick has contributed greatly to the development of the business sustainability field through highly cited publications as well as through institution building. In recent years he developed the concept of “True Business Sustainability” together with Katrin Muff. He has co-created with Hans Christoph Binswanger in 1992 and led until 2019 the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWÖ-HSG) at the University of St.Gallen. He has co-founded in 2011 and co-directs the Executive Diploma in Advanced Sustainability with Katrin Muff.

Prof. Dr. Tima Bansal holds the Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability and is Professor of Sustainability & Strategy at Ivey Business School in Canada. She is highly recognized and respected research and prominance in the business sustinability research field. The 2017 Organizations and Natural Environment Distinguished Scholar Award by the Academy of Management honors her achievements to date.

Together the three researchers combine close to a century of knowledge development and thought leadership in the areas of business sustainability, responsible leadership and organizational transformation, stakeholder engagement and sustainability business strategy.

Directors

Katrin Muff Thomas Dyllick Tima Bansal

The Institute collaborates with qualified research and education partners - individuals and organizations who - each in their field - contribute to advance the transformation of the leader and the organization towards true business sustainability.

Dr. Arthur Braunschweig bridges research and practice in business sustainability through contributions in the field of and his engagement at E2 management consulting. His role as President of ÖBU, the Swiss chapter of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development highlights his ability to steer business practice towards a new role in creating positive value in society.

Dr. Barbara Dubach contributes to the practice of business sustainability and stakeholder engagement through her consulting practice at engageability as well as her leadership in many cross-sector initatives such as the bi-annual Focused Reporting study, the SustainabilityToday platform or the SDGXCHANGE business strategy tool co-developed with Katrin Muff.

Prof. Dr. Jörg Hofstetter is Associate Professor for Operations and Supply Chain Management at KEDGE Business School and is President of the International Forum on Sustainable Value Chains (ISVC). As an expert in corporate global value chains and circular economy business models, he has worked with multinational companies, startups, government and NGOs for the past two decades.

Dr. Kathy Miller is an expert in the development of a sustainability culture in organizations. She and Katrin Muff have run a transatlantic blog for several years sharing insights about the challenges of organizational transformation. Her recent book Leadership and Purpose features her insights gained through SCALA (R) of the past two decades.

Dr. Natalie Wilkins is co-founder and Managing Partner at Thriving Talent Sarl, a talent management consultancy in Switzerland, and professor. She specializes in helping companies and leaders to drive culture change at organizational and team level, and designs and facilitates experiential leadership and team development experiences.

The partnership is currently in development. New partners are added by invitation, recommendation or through a personal application.

Partners

Research

Research at the Institute for Business Sustainability is funded through the Mission Possible Foundation and international research burseries available throught international research collaborations.

An important element of the research is to continuously advance the latest thinking shared at the Diploma of Advanced Sustainability program, in order to maintain the program at the leading edge of sustainability and transformational practices.

Research is conducted at the three levels of responsibility (the I, the we, the all-of-us), as outlined below. The research line below shows the complimentarity of Thomas Dyllick and Katrin Muff.

We also work on external projects for which we are commissioned.

A great example is the creation of a framework for a new CEO impact ranking for Switzerland, initiated by the Schweizer Umwelt Stiftung and their Schweizer Umweltpreis. This new rating which for a first time assesses the impact a CEO and his organization have on society and the environment will be launched in 2021 and published by the BILANZ as a world premiere. To date CEO ranking assume that the company performance equals the CEO performance, our framework differentiates between the two and furthermore looks at the impact beyond traditional shareholders and stakeholders, to measure a broader impact and contribution to society.

Continuous and Executive Education

Since 2011, Thomas Dyllick and Katrin Muff have co-directed the jointly developed Executive Leadership Program, called Diploma in Advanced Sustainability, short the DAS.

To date, the program has attracted more than 150 outstanding individual changemakers, consultants and sustainability professionals across all sector and domains. The alumni of the program have co-created the PositiveImpact.Space to meet and exchange their ideas and best practices in the field and to contribute to the transformation of business to become a force for good.

The program starts annually in September with a carefully selected group of 12-18 participants. The program typically sells out quickly and receives applications from December onwards until the program is complete.

The Diploma of Advanced Sustainability is endorsed by the World Business Council of Sustainable Development (WBCSD) since its foundation in 2011, of the Mission Possible Foundation since 2016, and of the U.N. Global Compact Switzterland & Liechtenstein since 2020. The program has been run in cooperation with different educational institutions such as Business School Lausanne in the early years, and the Institute for Economy and the Environment at University of St.Gallen. From 2020 onwards, degrees are provided by the Institute for Business Sustainability to ensure the indepencence and continued development of the program in the coming years. As the program will grow internationally, new collaborations will be envisaged.

Tools

The Institute focusses on bridging the gap between theory and practice and translates its research and conceptual work in the area of business sustainability into concrete tools:

What is True Business Sustainability all about:

How to moderate stakeholder dialogues:

How to co-create positive impact projects:

How to innovate business strategy:

How to collaborate among changemakers:

True Business Sustainability

The Collaboratory

Five Superpowers for Co-creators

SDGXCHANGE

Positive Impact Space