EBS Impact Institute

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The EBS Impact Institute unites EBS' forces of sustainability-oriented research and teaching. The members of the EBS Impact Institute conduct interdisciplinary research on innovative and sustainable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Our focus areas include social entrepreneurship, sustainable finance, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable supply chains. Blending insights from research and practice, we generate impact in close cooperation with our partners. We equip students and professionals with business knowledge, entrepreneurial skills, and management tools to address social and environmental challenges. The EBS Impact Institute offers mandatory and elective courses in all programmes and executive education. Intending to drive positive change, the EBS Impact Institute is a pioneer for responsible and sustainable business.

Prof. Dr. Karin Kreutzer

- Vice Dean of EBS Business School - Professor of Social Business

karin.kreutzer@ebs.edu +49 611 7102 1412

Get to know the team

Vision and mission

EBS Impact Institute stands for business activities that generate beneficial outcomes – a positive social impact – for individuals, organisations, and communities. The Institute develops academic education in business administration and entrepreneurship that embraces social impact and advances theoretical knowledge of how individuals and organisations can positively impact their business activities. The Institute focuses explicitly on Service Learning, Social Business, Organizational Justice and Mindfulness at Work.

Focus areas

The EBS Impact Institute aims to become the preferred partner in the generation of social impact on Germany’s individual, organisational, and community levels in Germany. Our core activities to reach this goal is divided into three main pillars: Teaching, Research and Business Practice.

Activity Report

The EBS Impact Institute publishes an annual Activity Report that summarises the activities of the EBS Impact Institute. Read the current report below and find more reports under Downloads.

EBS Impact Institute Activity Report 2023-2024 PDF (4 MB)

EBS Impact Institute members have a strong research presence in the disciplines of management, finance, operations, economics, marketing, and psychology.

The research results of the members of the EBS Impact Institute have been published in various renowned international academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, The Review of Financial Studies, Organization & Environment, Journal of Management Studies, Emotion, Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management, Motivation & Emotion and Psychological Reports.

2022

Publication by Prof. Dr. Falko Paetzold
Paetzold, F., Busch, T., Utz, S., & Kellers, A. (2022). Between impact and returns: Private investors and the sustainable development goals. Business Strategy and the Environment.

2021

Publication by Prof. Dr. Falko Paetzold
Carroux, S. L., Busch, T., & Paetzold, F. (2021). Unlocking the black box of private impact investors. Qualitative Research in Financial Markets.
Publication by Peymaneh Safaynikoo
Safaynikoo, P., & Dehghani, M. H. (2021). Impact of international lobby groups on international environmental agreements. Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 23(2), 441-466.
Publication by Prof. Dr. Karin Kreutzer
Jacobs, C. D., Kreutzer, K., & Vaara, E. (2021). Political dynamics in organizational identity breach and reconstruction: Findings from the crisis in UNICEF Germany. Academy of Management Journal, 64(3), 948-980.
Publication by Prof. Dr. Falko Paetzold
Busch, T., Bruce-Clark, P., Derwall, J., Eccles, R., Hebb, T., Hoepner, A., … & Weber, O. (2021). Impact investments: a call for (re) orientation. SN Business & Economics, 1(2), 1-13.
Publication by Prof. Dr. Myriam N. Bechtoldt
Götmann, A., & Bechtoldt, M. N. (2021). Coping with COVID-19–Longitudinal analysis of coping strategies and the role of trait mindfulness in mental well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 175, 110695.
Publication by Prof. Dr. Falko Paetzold
Heeb, F., Kölbel, J. F., Paetzold, F., & Zeisberger, S. (2021). Are Investors Sensitive to Impact?. Available at SSRN 3765659.

Supporting organizations in their impact generating activities and communicating the positive outcomes to the wider community is a fundamental goal of the EBS Impact Institute.

Kooperationen, Projekte und Partner

We support organizations from various industries in impact-oriented action through customized consulting projects and contract research. Please feel free to contact us.

Scope of consulting

This includes activities such as consulting on strategic planning issues, volunteer coordination, organizational development as well as regular participation in selection committees of various pitch events. In addition, Institute members actively support various initiatives on, among others, social enterprise, social finance, B Corporations, and volunteerism.

Lectures and public appearances

EBS Impact Institute members regularly participate as speakers and keynote speakers at academic and practice-oriented conferences on various topics such as corporate social responsibility, equity in organizations, sustainability, learning through engagement and social entrepreneurship. As part of conference participation, EBS Impact Institute members also take active roles, for example by organizing professional development workshops.

Projects

Strascheg Center for Impact in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Focus Group "Innovation & Impact Excellence
Future downtown Oestrich-Winkel
Gründungsfabrik Rheingau (z.B.: Founder Lecture Series, Drink Innovation Challenge, Social & Sustainability StartUp Challenge, Rheingau Foundation Prize, Power Workshop for Female Entrepreneurs)
Couch:now - mental health support
European Parliament - Climate Change communication
Center for Business Ethics (ZFU)
German Environmental Foundation
Concept for a Social and Sustainability Start-Up Hub in Wiesbaden

Over the past years, more and more impact-related modules have been added to the business school's curriculum. With the introduction of the MBA Social Impact Challenge in 2021, "impact" is now taught in all the programs offered. The following is an overview of the courses that took place in 2022.

Impact modules in the Bachelor programme:

Service Learning Social Impact Project
Sustainable Wealth Management

Impact modules in the Master programmes:

Global Leadership
Leadership & People Management
Leadership Development
Managing ESG
Strategy & Impact for the SDG
Sustainable Finance

Impact module im MBA programme:

Responsible Leadership
MBA Social Impact Challenge

The EBS Impact Institute offers courses in the following study programmes:

Continuing education in professional life makes a decisive difference and offers great potential for impact generation. Sustainability is not a new topic and is already lived in many companies. Nevertheless, the systematic consideration of all stakeholder interests is challenging. Guidelines and standards are continuously evolving, and the integration of sustainability into all areas of the company and its documentation is becoming increasingly important. At the same time, there is a growing range of financing and investment opportunities that can be summarized under the meta term Sustainable Finance. Practice-oriented and interdisciplinary, EBS can provide experienced managers with further training in these future-oriented topics (Sustainability Management).

The range of courses offered at EBS Executive School includes part-time certificate programs on Sustainable & Responsible Investments, Corporate Sustainable Finance and, from November 2021, Impact Investing. Furthermore, customized company-specific training courses are also offered.

Since 2021, the Wealth Management for Wealth Owners course has been offered exclusively. The program helps responsible wealth owners make better investment decisions, feel more comfortable with those decisions, talk about them with advisors and other investors, and achieve better results.