Biodiversity, business and building collaborations - A Swiss journey

In late March 2026, we (Annika Blomberg, Johanna Kujala and Lotta Sihvo Matikainen) had a pleasure of visiting Switzerland for a packed and inspiring trip that combined academic discussions and valuable networking – with a little sightseeing.

Business and Biodiversity Conference

The first part of the visit led to a small, historic town of St. Gallen and to the University of St. Gallen, where a conference was organized around a special issue of the journal Organization & Environment, bringing together researchers exploring the intersections of business and biodiversity. The event provided a wonderful forum for hearing presentations and exchanging ideas on how organizations engage with biodiversity. Discussions ranged across theoretical frameworks and interesting empirical cases, reflecting the growing urgency of biodiversity loss as a challenge for both business practice and management research. The conference gathered an enthusiastic and international group of scholars whose energy and openness set the tone for the whole event.

The group of scholars also visited Wildpark Peter & Paul, a wild park near St. Gallen, and got a real-world reminder of the importance of biodiversity and international collaboration. In the wild park, we met Steinbocks – Alpine ibex – that were once completely extinct in Switzerland but were brought back by using Steinbocks from Italy. After a few intensive days in St. Gallen, it was time to leave the Steinbocks and travel back to Zürich.

Planning future collaborations

In Zürich, we sat down with Professor Sybille Sachs from HWZ University and the University of Zürich to explore possibilities for research collaboration. The meeting offered a wonderful opportunity to present the ideas and objectives of our ongoing research projects and to hear Professor Sachs's thoughtful reflections on them.

Our visit to Sybille’s office offered us another memorable animal encounter as we met Chilli, Professor Sach’s beautifully behaved black office dog, who sat quietly by our side as we debated research ideas and collaboration plans.

 During the following days, we got contaminated by Swiss efficiency and worked hard on unfinished research manuscripts and even managed to finalize and submit two papers to journals. All in all, the trip was time well spent, in every sense. Switzerland, with its breathtaking landscapes and a culture of precision proved to be the perfect setting for this kind of a working trip.