2016
Annual Report
Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View
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Dear Reader,
I would like to welcome you to our Institute for Strategic Management:
Stakeholder View. Our institute is actively engaged in the research of
firms which addresses the need for a management approach that
considers mutual value creation with and for stakeholders as a source
for improving the quality of life for human beings and sustainability for
the natural world. Therefore, we constantly strive to advance our
understanding of a comprehensive management approach, called the
Stakeholder View.
A highlight of this year was the launch of a comprehensive study on
digitalization and occupational training. This study investigated which
occupations will be most affected, which new occupational profiles will
be created and which competencies will be in need in the future in
commercial enterprises in response to the ensuing digitalization.
Another project was with the BfS (Swiss Federal Statistical Office),
where we were able to implement a systematized stakeholder
management in a sustainable manner.
We were also delighted to host the SMS (Strategic Management
Society) Extension Conference at the HWZ. World-class scholars
participated in an exchange on the topic of ‘Tensions in Stakeholder
Research’. Furthermore, we are delighted that we have just submitted
our contribution of six chapters to the book “Stakeholder Engagement:
Clinical Research Cases”. The book, authored by Ed Freeman,
Johanna Kujala and Sybille Sachs, will be published in 2017 in the
Springer Verlag and offers both clinical examples of the application of
stakeholder theory and empirical case studies to develop stakeholder
theory further. Lastly, the article “Facing the Normative Challenges: The
Potential of Reflexive Historical Research” by Christian Stutz and
Sybille Sachs was accepted for publication by the journal Business &
Society and will be forthcoming in a special issue devoted to
methodological issues in business and management research. As
always, we moreover look back on a fruitful year with the transfer of our
research insights to our bachelor and master degree courses as well as
About the Institute
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numerous colloquia, seminars and conferences. We are herewith
pleased to submit to your kind attention the Annual Report 2016 of the
Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View at the University
of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich (HWZ
Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich) where you will be able to glean
further insights from our activities.
We hope that you will find this booklet interesting. If you wish to find out
more about us, please visit our homepage or check out our blog:
http://www.peopleforpeople.ch/. If you would like to receive additional
information or have a question, please do not hesitate to contact
members of our team directly or me at ([email protected]).
Best wishes,
Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs
Head of the Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View
About the Institute
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Manuel Dawson
Dawson
Sybille Sachs
Christian Stutz
Edwin Rühli
Daniel Laude
Claude Meier
Vanessa McSorley
Joëlle Khater
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About the Institute 3
Research Projects 8
Conference Attendance and other Engagements 11
Publications 13
Expertise and Knowledge Transfer 16
Teaching Activities 19
Dissertations 21
Academic/Practical Commitment & Memberships 23
Content
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For firms, stakeholders are indispensable contributors to mutual value creation who help to improve quality of life for human beings and sustainability for the natural world.
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Client: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS)
Enabling the Core Stakeholders in Issue-based Multi-Stakeholder Settings
Start: September 2014
End: December 2016
The objective of this research project was to enable the management
and the involved employees of the BFS to build a comprehensively
systemized stakeholder management and to implement it in a
sustainable manner. The primary focus lay on the methodological and
theoretical communication, as well as the transfer and support by
contractors in phases, so as to ensure the optimal transmission of know-
how into the BFS. This year the last of four phases has been completed
(as of November 2016), for which a workshop was held where the
participants, enabled in the three forgoing phases, formulated different
concrete suggestions for implementing a systematic stakeholder
management in their organization.
Client: Swiss Post E-Commerce Study
Start: March 2016 End: October 2016
From March to October 2016 the Institute for Strategic Management:
Stakeholder View cooperated with the Center for Digital Business at
HWZ for the second successive year to conduct a study on the Swiss e-
commerce market for the Swiss postal service. The study investigated
the purchasing behavior of Swiss e-commerce customers. The study
was carried out on the basis of an online survey via the newsletters of
Swiss Post.
Research Projects 2016 Research Projects 2016
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Digital Switzerland 2016
Start: January 2016 End: November 2016
In cooperation with the Center for Digital Business at HWZ and the trade
association SUISSEDIGITAL, the Institute for Strategic Management:
Stakeholder View conducted the study “Digital Switzerland 2016”. This study
investigated the digital transformation of Swiss businesses, especially small
and medium-sized enterprises (SME). One of the main insights of the study
was that the majority of Swiss companies (54%) features a low degree of
digitalization and only about one in four firms (27%) classifies as a “digital
master” (highly digitalized).
Digitalization and the Future of Commercial Occupational Profiles
Start: May 2016 End: November 2016
The Kaufmännische Verband Schweiz (Association of Commercial
Employees Switzerland) and the Think Tank Thurgau (TTT) provided a
research mandate for the HWZ (our institute as well as the Center for
Human Resource Management and Center for Digital business) to
investigate in an explorative - as opposed to prognostic - manner the
impacts of the digitalization on commercial occupations. Investigated
was which occupations will be most affected, which new occupational
profiles will be created and which competencies will be needed in the
future in commercial enterprises in response to the ensuing
digitalization. The consequences of the digitalization on the work place
will be an increased cost pressure on one hand and an increasing
digitalized automatization of routine work. An increased blurring
between the boundaries between enterprises and industry sectors is
expected. Competency profiles will gain on importance over traditional
Research Projects 2016
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job descriptions or educational degrees, as exemplified by the portfolio
worker working on project basis. Recommendations for workers are to
continuously develop their social and self- competencies as well as to
strengthen their so called “translational competency”. This latter
competency includes being able to translate strategic directives into
operative ones as well as the ability to adjust one’s communication to its
respective context. Lastly, for educational institutions the
recommendation was to stronger develop digital competencies as well
as offer individualized learning pathways and provide life-long learning.
This research study resulted in considerable media attention in
Switzerland (see Publications) and Sybille Sachs was invited to present
the results to the Swiss House of Representatives’ committee on
employment.
Research Projects 2016
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International Doctoral Colloquium of the Institute at the Darden School of Business, USA
April 4th to 8th 2016
The Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View was on a
research trip to the Darden School of Business at the University of
Virginia as well as the Robins School of Business at the University of
Richmond in order to exchange perspectives with colleagues on current
research projects. In addition, Sybille Sachs and Edwin Rühli took part
at a conference on Business Ethics in honor of Patricia H. Werhane.
Sybille Sachs
Sybille Sachs was a panelist at the Strategic Management Society (SMS) Conference in Berlin on September 19, 2016. She, along with Jeff Harrison and Doug Bosse from the University of Richmond (USA), was a podium discussant on the topic of “Recent Work on Stakeholder Theory: What Do We Think We Know?” In addition, the conference provided a list of the most cited books and articles in the area of stakeholder theory. Sybille Sachs, in collaboration with James Post and Lee E. Preston, received a third placement in the category “books” with “Redefining the Corporation: Stakeholder Management and Organizational Wealth”. On September 21st and 22nd an extension to the SMS conference in Berlin was organized at the HWZ with Sybille Sachs, Jay Barney (originator of the Resource Theory) and Jeff Harrison (well-known Stakeholder Theorist) discussed problems concerning a moral theory of the firm and the contributions of stakeholder theory. Sybille Sachs and Edwin Rühli were at the 2016 Academy of Management (AoM) Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, USA, from August 5th to 9th, where they presented the paper “Making firms meaningful for Humans: A Normative Humanistic Stakeholder View (NHSV)’.
Research Projects 2014 Conference Attendance and other Engagements
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Claude Meier
Claude Meier was at the MakeLearn & TIIM Conference in Timisoara,
Romania between May 25th and 27th, where he presented the article
„Stakeholder Management for Organizational Learning: Establishing
Networks for Knowledge Exchange” authored by him and Sybille Sachs.
They thereby received the best-paper award of the conference.
Moreover, the article will be published in the conference proceedings.
Christian Stutz
Christian Stutz was at the EGOS (European Group for Organizational
Studies) Conference in July in Naples, Italy and at the yearly meeting of
the EBHA (European Business History Association) in August in Bergen,
Norway. He presented his empirical paper on stakeholder issue salience
at both conferences, which will be published in the book volume
“Stakeholder Engagement: Clinical Research Cases” in the Springer
Verlag.
Vanessa McSorley
Vanessa McSorley made a presentation on the topic of „Wert(e) des
Gemeinschaftlichen” (Values of the communal), at the 6th symposium on
non-profit apartment construction.
Various Colloquiums
Numerous doctoral and literature colloquiums were held which permitted
doctoral candidates to present their research in an atmosphere of
constructive critique.
Conference Attendance and other Engagements
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To Be Published
The book “Stakeholder engagement: Clinical research cases”, authored by
Edward R. Freeman, Johanna Kujala and Sybille Sachs, was submitted for
publication and will definitively be published in 2017 by the Springer Verlag. For
this book volume, the editors collected a multitude of empirical examples of
stakeholder engagement in practice that contribute to build better stakeholder
theory. As stakeholder theory has moved into the mainstream of management
thinking in business ethics and a number of the management disciplines, there
is an increasing need to explore the subtleties of stakeholder engagement via
examples from practice. The case studies in this volume explore a number of
aspects of the idea of stakeholder engagement, via the method of clinical case
studies. Edited by leading scholars in the field of business ethics and
stakeholder theory, this text affords a solid grounding in theory, brought to new
levels of applied understanding of stakeholder engagement.
Six chapters therein are written solely or in part by members of our Institute:
- Chapter 1: Introduction by R. Edward Freeman, Johanna Kujala, Sybille
Sachs and Christian Stutz
- Chapter 7: Elaborating the strategic cognition view of issue salience: A
historical case study on the role of the socio-political context by Christian
Stutz
- Chapter 10: Supply Chains in the Apparel Industry: Do Transnational
Initiatives for Social Sustainability Improve Workers’ Situation? by Claude
Meier (Reprint)
- Chapter 12: Innovation in Multistakeholder Settings: The Case of a Wicked
Issue in Health Care by Edwin Rühli, Sybille Sachs, Thomas Schneider and
Ruth Schmitt (Reprint)
Continued on next page
Publications
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- Chapter 16: A Case Study on the Implementation of Stakeholder
Management in Organizational Practice by Sybille Sachs, Christian Stutz,
Vanessa McSorley and Thomas Schneider
- Chapter 17: A Pragmatist Perspective on Management Scholarship and on
Stakeholder Engagement in Particular by Sergiy Dimytriyev, R. Edward
Freeman, Johanna Kujala, and Sybille Sachs
Christian Stutz and Sybille Sachs published (online first) the article “Facing the
normative challenges: The potential of reflexive historical research” in Business
& Society. The print version will be published in 2017.
Professional Publications
Sybille Sachs „Visionär und strategisch Denken in Zeiten schnellen Wandels“,
ORGANISATOR Seite 18/19, Ausgabe 10/16–14. Oktober 2016
Interview with Sybille Sachs and Claude Meier in the publication Kontext on the
topic „Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf die kaufmännischen Berufsbilder“
Sybille Sachs „Generationen-Management - Attraktiv für den
Führungsnachwuchs“ was published in Personal Schweiz - Das Buch für die
Schweizer Personalpraxis
Publications in the Swiss Media in Response to the Digitalization Study
Verlagerung ins Ausland: 100’000 Bürojobs sind in Gefahr SRF Online (Swiss Radio, Television) 23.11.2016
Bis zu 100‘000 KV-Jobs gefährdet Tages Anzeiger 23.11.2016
Roboter ersetzten Menschen – wegen des Kostendrucks 20 Minuten Zürich, 24.11.2016
Publications
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Schreibtischtäter Digitalisierung
Aargauer Zeitung / Gesamt Regio, 24.11.2016
Schreibtischtäter Digitalisierung Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, 24.11.2016
Die beliebtesten Berufe brauchts nicht mehr
Blick, 24.11.2016
Dinosaurier und Könner Handelszeitung. 24.11.2016
Die Bürojobs werden anspruchsvoller Luzerner Zeitung, 24.11.2016
Bürojobs werden in Zukunft immer anspruchsvoller
St. Galler Tagblatt / Ausgabe St. Gallen+Gossau, 24.11.2016
Digitalisierung macht kaufmännischen Beruf komplexer awp Finanznachrichten, 23.11.2016
Digitalisierung macht kaufmännischen Beruf komplexer
SDA / Schweizerische Depeschenagentur, 23.11.2016
People for People Blog
Our blog was relaunched on April 25th this year, moving from Blogspot to
Wordpress and is now published with a new design exclusively in German.
Since this relaunch, we have had over 30,000 page views and over 8,000
visitors. The blog aims at illustrating the stakeholder view by applying it to
current topics. We thereby focus on local issues and further present findings
from our institute. Should you be interested in writing a guest article, please
get in contact with us and we would be glad to review your contribution for
possible publication: http://peopleforpeople.ch/
Publications
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Principles for Responsible Management Education
Since the HWZ became a signatory of the PRME (“Principles for Responsible
Management Education”) initiative in 2012, our institute has taken the lead in
assessing our point of departure and our potential options for their university-
wide implementation. In order to ensure their comprehensive implementation,
however, these principles will need to become an integral part of the strategic
priorities for our University, where clear deliverables and concomitant
resources need be made available.
Developing the Competence Center for Scientific Methodology
The Competency Center for Scientific Methodology is led by Claude Meier
and thus affiliated with the Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder
View. Laurence Kager, an employee at the HWZ, is research associate at the
competency center and assists Claude Meier in this function. The
Competency Center has established and developed an appropriate
methodological tool kit including supportive documents. Since Spring 2016
they are being integrated by the lecture council into the various, sometimes
newly launched courses in Scientific Methodology over diverse programs at
the HWZ. The center has also developed further and simplified the process
for Bachelor and Master theses as well as the respective guidelines.
Conference Attendance and other Engagements Expertise and Knowledge Transfer Expertise and Knowledge Transfer
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Forum NSW/RSE at the HWZ
The Forum NSW/RSE (Netzwerk für sozial verantwortliche Wirtschaft –
Network for socially responsible economy) carried out one of its network
meetings on October 10th at the HWZ. Prof. Dr. Georges Ulrich, Director of
the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS), gave a presentation on the topic
of “Die Rolle der öffentlichen Statistik – Nachhaltige Entwicklung der
Wirtschaft im Spiegel der öffentlichen Statistik und postfaktischem
Verhalten” (Sustainable development of the economy in the context of public
statistics and post-factual behavior). Elucidated were, amongst other issues,
the importance of an independent statistical reference source and how
public statistics can contribute to “evidence-based policy making”.
On March 8th, Dr. med. Hans Groth made a presentation on the topic of “Die
Schweiz im 21. Jahrhundert – Perspektiven aus der Demographie”
(Switzerland in the 21st century – demographic perspectives). Analyzed was
the current and future demographic developments, including aging of the
population and migration, as well as the reforms needed to ensure a
functioning social system. He concluded with an insight into the activities of
the “World Demographic & Ageing Forum (WDA Forum)”, which brings
together leaders from the economic, technological, civil society, life and
workplace options, as also politics and governance.
Moreover, Sybille Sachs was invited within this framework to speak to
various professional organizations and firms to about ‘sustainable
management’.
Further information on these and other topics can be found on the following
website: Further information can be found here: http://www.nsw-rse.ch
Expertise and Knowledge Transfer
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By making the findings of our research projects
available to a larger community of business
practitioners, politicians and other stakeholders, we
contribute to a positive development of society.
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University of Applied Sciences (HWZ)
Executive MBA – General Management Strategic Management Spring Semester 16
Lecturer: S. Sachs
MAS Business Communications Strategic Management Spring Semester 16
Lecturer: S. Sachs
CAS Brand Leadership Strategic Management Spring Semester 16
Lecturer: E. Rühli
Master of Science (MSc) in Business Administration Strategic Management Spring and Autumn Semester 16
Lecturer: S. Sachs
Bachelor Business Studies Research Methods Spring Semester 16
Lecturer: C. Meier
Bachelor Business Studies Strategic Management Fundamentals Spring Semester 16
Lecturer: C. Meier
MAS Communication Corporate Social Responsibility Spring Semester 16
Lecturer: C. Meier
Master of Science (MSc) in Business Administration Research Methods/Master thesis preparation Spring & Autumn Semester 16
Lecturers: C. Stutz, D. Laude
Teaching Activities
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University of Zurich (UZH)
Lecture on Business & Society Autumn semester 2016
Lecturer: S. Sachs
Seminar on Business & Society Spring semester 2016
Lecturers: S. Sachs, V. McSorley, D. Laude
Various
Project Management Seminar Scuol Sponsor: Verband Schweizer Papeterien (VSP), Bern
Lecturer: C. Meier
Further Education of Lecturers Research Methods Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME): Presentations and discussions in diverse courses of study at HWZ Spring & Autumn 2016
Lecturer: C. Meier Lecturer : M. Dawson
The “HWZ Reader Wissenschaftsmethodik”, authored by C. Meier, was
completed as planned as a general draft and was now utilized in the
Bachelor Fall Semester 2016 as well as the Master (MAS). It will now be
utilized in stages throughout these programs, after which inputs will be
gleaned with the objective of providing a definitive Reader in 2017.
Teaching Activities
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Ongoing Dissertations 2016
Christian Stutz’ dissertation project resulted this year in two publications:
First, the article “Facing the Normative Challenges: The Potential of Historical
Research” (co-authored by Sybille Sachs) is forthcoming in a special issue of
Business & Society, which grapples with methodological problems in
business and society research. The article problematizes qualitative research
methodologies in the context of normative research and outlines a historical
research strategy to deal with those problems. Second, an empirical article,
based on this research strategy, was accepted by the editors Ed Freeman
(Darden), Johanna Kujala (Tampere) and Sybille Sachs (HWZ) to be
published in the forthcoming book volume “Stakeholder Engagement: Clinical
Research Cases”. The article discusses a rather astonishing episode in the
company history of Landis & Gyr, that is, its reaction to the Hungarian
Uprising in 1956, in order to make a theoretical argument. To complete his
dissertation at the University of Jyväskyla (Finland), he currently works on a
review article about Corporate Social Responsibility from a business history
perspective and an empirical article about stakeholder engagement practices
and the underlying moral assumptions to legitimize these practices.
Daniel Laude is a PhD student at University of St. Gallen (HSG) and focuses
on trust and distrust in stakeholder relationships. His dissertation is
connected to a research project of the Institute for Strategic Management:
Stakeholder View (ISM) and the Research Institute for Work and Employment
Research (FAA-HSG). This project will presumably start in April 2017.
External Dissertations 2016
Reto Imhasly has completed the work on his thesis with the title “Financial
industry in transformation: Case research on the contemporary understanding
and application of leadership in a large Swiss bank”. The outcome is
summarized as follows: Leaders in banks are particularly concerned with
change, as the financial industry is in a transitional phase induced by crisis
and regulatory development. With this qualitative case study, Wealth
Dissertations
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Management leaders in the large Swiss bank, the UBS, were examined. In
particular, the research addresses bank leaders’ understanding and practice
of contemporary leadership being influenced by the transformation in
Switzerland’s financial industry. An integrative approach to leadership is
adopted combining individual and mutual understanding and application that
offers new insight and expansion of current thinking with the tentative case
model of ‘the hybrid approach to heroic leadership’ embedding a mutual
notion. The dissertation has been submitted and assessed by independent
evaluators. Following thesis defense, the Faculty of Business, Education, Law
and Arts has approved the thesis. The grade of Doctor of Business
Administration has been awarded on August 26, 2016 by the Council of the
University of Southern Queensland.
Urs Jäckli is continuing his work as a doctoral candidate at the University of
Southern Queensland. He obtained his Master of Science degree in Business
Administration at HWZ University of Applied Sciences Zurich in 2014. Next to
studying he is heading an international team of Key Account Managers at SIX
Payment Services. The tentative title of his work is “Stakeholder trust, above-
the-norm contributions, and efficiency at community-type destinations: the
role of stakeholder integration and procedural justice”. He will attempt to gain
a deeper understanding of how stakeholder integration can be a source of
competitive advantage. The focus of the thesis will be put on the relationship
between the concept of stakeholder integration and stakeholder trust, above
the norm stakeholder contributions as well as destination efficiency. Also, he
would like to shed light on the role of procedural fairness as a moderating
variable in order to increase explanatory power. He will conduct this
quantitative study within the tourism industry in Switzerland.
Dissertations
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Academic Commitment of Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs
Adjunct Professor University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia
Member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the MAS in Business
Communications at the University of Applied Sciences (HWZ)
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal “Business and Society”
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal “Business and Professional
Ethics”
Practical Commitment of Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs
Member of the school board at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences for
Business Administration since October 2008
Member of the Advisory Board of the NSW/RSE Netzwerk für sozial
verantwortliche Wirtschaft (network for a socially responsible economy).
Dissertations Academic/Practical Commitment & Memberships
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Memberships
Academy of Management (AoM)
International Association for Business and Society (IABS)
Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Betriebswirtschaftslehre (SGB)
Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft
Strategic Management Society (SMS)
Academic Network of the Global Compact
Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft
(SGKM)
Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte (SGG)
European Business History Association (EBHA)
Academic/Practical Commitment & Memberships
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Content by the Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder
View:
Manuel Dawson
Reto Imhasly
Urs Jäckli
Joelle Khater
Daniel Laude
Vanessa McSorley
Claude Meier
Edwin Rühli
Sybille Sachs
Christian Stutz
© 2016 Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View
All rights reserved.
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Institute for Strategic Management: Stakeholder View
HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich Main Entrance: Lagerstrasse 5 Office: Woodtli Building, 5. Floor, Lagerstrasse 1 8021 Zürich Contact us by telephone via our central office: Tel. 043 322 26 00 Or our team members directly, as listed on our webpage: www.fh-hwz.ch/ism Email contact: [email protected] Our Blog: http://www.peopleforpeople.ch/