{"id":4171,"date":"2025-11-17T08:30:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T08:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gronenonline.com\/_gronen1\/?p=4171"},"modified":"2026-02-03T07:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T07:59:15","slug":"silvan-oberholzer-university-of-st-gallen-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gronenonline.com\/_gronen1\/2025\/11\/17\/silvan-oberholzer-university-of-st-gallen-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"Silvan Oberholzer, University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Silvan Oberholzer is a PhD candidate in General Management at the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IW\u00d6-HSG) at the University of St.Gallen. His research focuses on the integration of nature in stakeholder engagement for value creation that benefits social-ecological systems. His dissertation aims to further extend stakeholder theory toward a more-than-human world, providing organizations with new ways to systematically consider nature in value creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo (left): Silvan presenting his research on Indigenous businesses in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta during the Latin America Week 2024 at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here is Silvan’s story.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What are the top three highlights, professional skills, or other experiences you have had during your time as a PhD student?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of my main highlights has been conducting two field studies: one with Alpine businesses in Central Switzerland and one with Indigenous businesses in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. The latter, in particular, was deeply enriching. It taught me much about decolonizing research and how place-based knowledge and understanding of an organization\u2019s nature-embeddedness can inform regenerative value creation. The millennia-old respect for nature as a living being by the Indigenous communities in the Sierra Nevada, with whom I engaged, has been a profound reminder that one of the key challenges that we face as humanity (especially in Western societies) is how we relate to nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally transformative has been my privilege to participate in various conferences (EGOS, AOM, GRONEN), seminars (Stakeholder Theory Seminar at Darden Business School, Business & Society Research Seminar), and public speaking opportunities (LATAM Week at the University of St. Gallen, csrTag in Vienna). Besides the enriching interdisciplinary learning, these experiences helped me refine my communication and presentation skills. Most importantly, I made connections with many inspiring individuals across borders and disciplines. More generally, the relationships and many friendships made along my PhD journey, including my supervisors and mentors, Prof. Judith Walls and Prof. Sybille Sachs, and the colleagues at the Institute for Environment and the Economy at the University of St. Gallen, are a key highlight for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, teaching corporate sustainability at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, has been particularly rewarding. I have had the opportunity to (co-)teach courses at the Bachelor\u2019s and Master\u2019s levels to professionals from diverse industries. Co-learning with these professionals has deepened my passion for making sustainability knowledge accessible and actionable. Teaching reminded me how critical it is to communicate (research) in ways that inspire reflection and change. Knowing how to build an argument, and position a topic to spark interest and make it actionable, has been key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to pursue a PhD?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was mainly my curiosity, seemingly endless hunger to learn, fascination with exploring how organizations can meaningfully contribute to sustainable development, and passion for research that led me to this decision. During my Master\u2019s studies at the Geneva Graduate Institute, a professor once encouraged me to consider a PhD. Although rather unconsciously at that moment, this encouragement seems to have planted a seed. Finally, a full-time position as a research associate at the Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, led by Prof. Sybille Sachs, allowed me to pursue a PhD. In this position, I had the opportunity to work in an inter-institutional, Swiss National Science Foundation-funded research project on transformational leadership in the circular economy from the proposal-writing stage onward, throughout four years of my PhD. At the proposal-writing stage, before the official start of my PhD, working alongside four other researchers deepened my appreciation for collaborative research in corporate sustainability and confirmed that pursuing a PhD was the right path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you summarize your research project(s) in a short title?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An exploration of the consideration of nature in stakeholder relationships for sustainable value creation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In brief, what is the empirical method\/context you are adopting in your thesis?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My first contribution to my cumulative dissertation is a co-authored, peer-reviewed systematic literature review on stakeholder engagement in the circular economy<\/a>. It relies on qualitative content analysis to untangle the complexity of stakeholder interactions in the circular economy. Besides others, this study revealed that the role of nature in stakeholder engagement in CE, beyond being understood as a value-creation context, remains underexplored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building on this insight, I conducted two qualitative, exploratory articles on the inclusion of nature in stakeholder engagement (i.e., nature-inclusive stakeholder engagement) based on insights from nature-related businesses. The first, with Indigenous businesses in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, resulted in a single-authored empirical article published in the Business & Society<\/em> Special Issue on \u2018Global Indigenous Peoples: Expanding the Intersection of Business and Society\u2019<\/a>. This article draws on four months of field research, including observation memos and 27 semi-structured interviews, as well as content analysis of secondary literature (co-)authored by the Indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada. The second empirical article draws on 25 semi-structured interviews with representatives of Swiss Alpine businesses to provide insights into the prioritization of nature entities that can be considered as stakeholders (i.e., nature stakeholders).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you describe a \u201ceureka moment\u201d you might have had during your PhD?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A defining realization early on in my PhD was that I am in the driver\u2019s seat of my PhD journey. Or as my supervisor, Prof. Judith Walls, once told me: \u201cYour PhD is what you make of it.\u201d This mindset encouraged me, with the support of my supervisors, to explore a topic not yet fully established in management research. In addition, it motivated me to pursue the field research described before and participate in conferences starting in year one of my PhD. To me, being in the driver\u2019s seat of the PhD journey also means consciously managing one\u2019s physical and mental energy across this journey. Understanding how to balance my curiosity with my well-being has been essential to sustaining my creativity and focus throughout my PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What side projects, communities, or other initiatives are you involved with?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During my time working as a research associate at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration, Zurich, I was an active member of the university\u2019s Sustainability Committee. We worked to embed sustainability more systematically in research, teaching, and campus activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, I have always been keen to grow personally and professionally. This interest has led me to join the Mentoring Programme of the University of St. Gallen, first as a mentee and, more recently, as a mentor. Guiding students interested in sustainability and personal growth has been a fulfilling way to give back and stay connected with the next generation of changemakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What three tips would you offer to new PhD students in your field?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n