Our vision
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 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.
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. And from there, we went on understanding more about such pioneering organizations. We call them now Positive Impact Organizations. Such organizations delivers significant value to society and the planet. Far beyond reducing its own negative footprint, it generates a massive positive handprint.
Learning from truly sustainable businesses, 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.
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
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 Advisory Board
Anton Affentranger
Former CEO,
Implenia
Hubert Rhomberg
CEO,
CREE & Rhomberg Group
Christoph Birkholz
Co-President andd Co-Founder,
Impact Hub Switzerland
Johanna Seeliger
Founder and Managing Director, Diversify
Heinz Buhofer
Member of the Board,
Tech Cluster Zug AG
Jacob Radloff
Publisher,
oekom
The Foundation Board
Prof. Dr. Katrin Muff
Prof. (em) Dr. Thomas Dyllick
Dr. Barbara Dubach
The Individual Partners
Dr. Arthur Braunschweig
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. Jörg Hofstetter
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. Nathalie Wilkins
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.
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.
Dr. Kathy Miller
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.
Partnerships are in continuous development. New partners are added by invitation, recommendation or through a personal application.
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.
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
