Our vision
The Institute for Business Sustainability is an independent, forward-thinking research and education center dedicated to enabling business and its leaders to contribute positively to society and our planetary challenges.
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We provide a space for allies to advance their positive impact,
through inspirational frameworks designed for conferences, workshops, or dialogues,
ideally including cooking and being together.
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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.
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Our Added Value
Positive Impact
We are all about creating positive impact. This is what our research and our rating projects focus on.
We started with a Typology that differentiated True Business Sustainability from Green Washing. From there, we researched pioneering organizations. We call them Positive Impact Organizations. Such organizations delivers significant value to society and the planet. Far beyond reducing their negative footprint, they generates a massive positive handprint.
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Our research shows that positive impact requires an organization to have adopted an outside-in perspective. This means, that the organization has figured out that finding a match between the world’s environmental, societal and economic challenges and the often hidden core competencies and resources of the organization is an amazing source of innovation that results in new business models and revenue streams.
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Ultimately, this is what resilience is all about: adapting your organization to external challenges in such a way that these challenges are removed, while providing the organization a stronger basis for its own future.
What is Positive Impact?
We have been researching Positive Impact in organizations for the past 5-6 years and have developed a ​strategic innovation canvas so that any type of organization can starts its journey to create positive impact. Here a preview - more under our research.
We have conducted interviews with CEOs of leading Swiss Positive Impact Organizations to learn about their approach to creating positive impact. Listen here to:
- Christian Mumenthaler, CEO of Swiss Re
- Arnd Kaldowski, Sonova Group
- Fabrice Zumbrunnen, Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund
- Bracken Darrell, Logitech
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They share their thoughts on the following topics:
To better understand what Positive Impact Organizations are about and how companies can contribute to a positive impact while becoming more resilient, watch this interview of Katrin Muff with Marteen Bouwhuis from Chubb Risk Insights.
Such a shift from traditional inside-out to outside-in thinking requires a mindset shift.
A mindset the leader has to embrace and a mindset shift, the organization as a whole has to integrate. Triggering and scaling these mindset shifts and facilitating the strategic innovation that follows is what is at the heart of our business sustainability work.
Who we are
The Directors
Prof. Dr. Katrin Muff
Prof. Dr. Katrin Muff is Professor of Practice at the LUISS Business School in Rome (Italy) and former Dean of Business School Lausanne. She is an internationally recognized thought leader in the organizational transformation towards business sustainability.
Katrin 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) Dr. Thomas Dyllick
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.
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, Switzerland.
Prof. Dr. Tima Bansal
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.
The Foundation Board
Prof. Dr. Katrin Muff
Prof. (em) Dr. Thomas Dyllick
Dr. Barbara Dubach
The Organizational Partners
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 engageability through the Business Sustainability platform Sustainability-Today and the Sustainability Reporting Inititiave Focused Reporting.
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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.
Our partners
