Research

For over 20 years we have been working in the configuration of a research group. The most important step was the foundation and development of the competence “Center for Strategic Management – Stakeholder View” at the HWZ, University of Applied Sciences Zurich in 2003, one of the first in the field of Business and Society in Europe. In 2009, we were happy to be upgraded from a research center to a research institute. This institute unifies members from different academic disciplines in order to recruit the capacity for real interdisciplinary research in the area of stakeholder oriented strategic management in different industries. Our research philosophy is supported by three important pillars:

1. Research projects:

In our research projects we developed a new management approach, the “Stakeholder View of Strategy (SHV)”. The SHV is empirically evaluated by a rich set of comparative case studies in different industries such as the financial services, telecommunication, pharmaceutical industry and energy sector. The SHV integrates and enhances traditional views into a comprehensive framework and provides a more complete explanation of strategic management and a firm’s success. These research contriubtions are then used as a basis for fruther eductation. We attracted funds from prestigious sources such as the Sloan Foundation, the European Union (EABIS), Swiss Federal Agencies, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Confederation’s innovation promotion agency (CTI).

2. Doctoral candidates:

Our doctoral candidates are integrated into and supported by our research projects. There is an active participation of these young researchers not only as authors and co-authors of publications in journals and in conference contributions to PhD seminars, but also at international level with prominent scholars from Cranfield University, Darden Business School (Virginia), De Paul University Chicago and University of Shanghai. Since 2003, 8 PhD theses have been published as books. In 2004, one of the doctoral candidates won the Best Dissertation Award of the SIM Division of AoM.

3. Publications:

The most prominent international recognition and diffusion of our research are via our contributions to internationally leading journals and conferences. On average we publish two to three articles a year in an international, referenced journal and succeed at presenting our research during competitive submissions at international conferences. Three books were published and several chapters have been contributed to books from other editors. The CEO of Orange Switzerland confirmed the impact of our recent book (2007) when writing: “This book shows a profound analysis of how the Stakeholder dialogue takes place in companies. It also shows the impact of the Stakeholder dialogue on the firm. The book contains also useful guidelines how a sustainable dialogue is established and how it should be maintained.”