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Competence Centre
PRME Business Integrity Action Center (BIAC)
At a glance

At a glance

The PRME Business Integrity Action Center at University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons supports both companies and public institutions in applied research and development projects. Depending on the objective and type of project, this is carried out with the help of international, national or regional programs to promote innovation.

The work focuses on:

  • business integrity
  • prevention of corruption
  • integrity in media and social media

The PRME Business Integrity Action Center actively promotes dialogue and partnerships with companies, public institutions and international organisations such as the Interdepartmental Working Group on Combating Corruption, the U.N. Global Compact Network Switzerland, the Basel Institute on Governance, Transparency International Switzerland and Ethics and Compliance Switzerland.

 

Expertise

Expertise

The PRME Business Integrity Action Center at University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons has cross-industry expertise in the areas of business integrity, corruption prevention as well as integrity in the media and social media. Due to its many years of experience in applying for and carrying out applied research and development projects, the Action Center is a competent partner for both companies and public institutions. In addition, it actively supports the establishment of these topics in research and teaching.

The Action Center profits from the interdisciplinary competence of the departments of Management, Construction and Design, Economics as well as Media and Communication. This interdisciplinary approach is unique in the Swiss university landscape. Five institutes from all departments have been involved in the interdisciplinary cooperation to date:

Projects

Projects

Grievance mechanisms in international supply chains

To enable Swiss companies to meet their due diligence obligations in international supply chains, an innovative grievance mechanism will be developed that addresses the areas of communication, grievance channels, risk analysis, remediation measures and ESG reporting/controlling.
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Project HIEDD – Heuristic-based integration of ELSI in data-related decisions

The aim of the project is the development, optimization and validation of a digital dialogue system that enables Swiss companies to integrate and implement heuristic-based ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSI) in data-related decision-making processes.
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Foreign corruption at Swiss companies – new findings on risks and counter-strategies

Corruption continues to be widespread worldwide. This means that Swiss companies operating abroad need to actively address the issue of corruption. This project analyses the associated research questions.
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Project ISO management systems as a tool for sustainable and responsible management

Management systems based on ISO standards can make a major or very major contribution to sustainable and responsible corporate governance. According to a representative survey, around half of companies in Switzerland are of this opinion.
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Wellness apps and mental well-being in Switzerland

On the one hand, studies show that mental well-being improves when people spend less time using digital devices such as smartphones. On the other hand, mobile applications (apps) to promote physical and mental well-being are becoming increasingly popular, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Project Integrity collaboration in international supply chains

Corporate responsibility is expanding more and more to (international) supply chains. In order to achieve effective and sustainable change in close collaboration with stakeholders, especially suppliers, the project aims to put the concept of collective action into practice.
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Project Return on Compliance for Swiss Companies

The impact of corporate compliance on business success has been so far unclear. The project will enable companies to implement the most effective and efficient corporate compliance factors, optimise costs and positively influence corporate success.
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Project Internal Integrity Risk Warning System (IIRWiS)

The project fosters integrity management by applying methods developed for deep learning and natural language processing to the field of integrity research. Data scientists and integrity experts develop new metrics that automatically identify corruption-related issues in organizations’ internal documents and internal digital communication.
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Project Integritiy Risks Monitor (IRM)

The Integrity Risks Monitor (IRM) is designed to help companies proactively establish integrity within their business by applying methods and techniques from the field of automated natural language processing to integrity research.
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Project Digital Trade Compliance Management

A paradigm shift from product-centric to data-centric business models is currently taking place. The aim of the project is to develop a set of tools that will enable companies to adapt their trade compliance structures and processes to the new digital value chains.
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Project Responsible Management in Latin America

The aim of this research project is to describe the challenges facing companies in Latin America in the areas of human rights/working conditions, the environment and corruption using selected examples, and to show how companies actually implement responsible management in these three areas.
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Project Big data ethics

Big data is a key technology for many economic sectors. In this project, focus is placed on insurance companies and the ethical discussion with respect to the use of customer data and the legal regulation of data protection.
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Project Expert Roundtable on Export Control

In recent years, the importance of embargos has increased in the international commercial trade. Recent examples include measures against Al-Qaida, Syria or Russia. Due to the legal framework, Swiss companies have to carefully examine if their (planned) international business activities are affected.
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Project Export control at internationally active Swiss SMEs

Switzerland is in favour of the free movement of goods. Nevertheless, the export of certain goods is subject to a permit. As part of this project, the 'Export control in a nutshell' guidelines for SMEs were developed with the objective of reducing export risks and meeting compliance criteria.
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Project Whistleblowing and the Media in Switzerland

International cases of whistleblowing have received a great deal of media attention. The project investigated the questions: What conclusions can be drawn from this with regard to the relationship between whistleblowers and the media? And what is the practice of whistleblowing in Switzerland?
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Project Ethical challenges with Big Data

The study shows that the ethical implications of big data go beyond the invasion of privacy. Big data is not inherently unethical in itself – applications must be individually assessed for their impact.
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Project Business reporting on anti-corruption compliance

In recent years, the demands and requirements of anti-corruption-compliance have increased for multinational corporations. The question now arises how these corporations react to the expectations.
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Project HONEST

Within the framework of the project, an innovative, marketable training toolkit was developed to sensitise and train junior staff in corruption prevention.
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Project Corruption – an unknown risk?

The goal of the research was to find out if and in what areas of compliance young professionals must be sensitised and trained to avoid legal and ethical violations.
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Project Compliance roundtable Switzerland

Compliance and legal officers of companies in Switzerland are aiming at increasing the knowledge and awareness of corruption in national and international business. For this purpose, they established the roundtable.
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Project Handling the risks of corruption successfully

The project analysed the challenges facing Swiss companies with regard to corruption abroad.
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Project Internal reporting systems of Swiss businesses

Within the scope of this project, the determinants for a successful implementation and execution of in-house whistleblower reporting systems are being examined. The identified successful practices form the base of a practical manual and a workshop concept along with associated methodical material.
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Project PRME Anit-Corruption Toolkit

The PRME Anti-Corruption Toolkit was developed to provide business schools and (business) universities with extensive material to integrate anti-corruption into their courses.
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Offer

Offer

The PRME Business Integrity Action Center offers an extensive range of services:

  • General advice on business integrity and the prevention of corruption
  • Development of preventive instruments and strategies for companies to protect against corruption and non-integral business conduct
  • Concept development for the implementation of suitable prevention measures in companies and public institutions
  • Effective analysis of measures to prevent corruption
  • Analysis of the specific susceptibility of a company or public institution to corruption
  • Recommendations for business activities in markets susceptible to corruption
  • Consulting services in the area of integrity in the media and social media
  • Seminars and training courses for managers and employees in companies and public institutions to raise awareness of corruption issues
Team

Team

Director of studies
Prof. Dr. Bianca Baerlocher
Phone: +41 81 286 36 31
Lecturer
Prof. Dr. Urs Dahinden
Phone: +41 81 286 39 02
Lecturer, Project leader
Prof. Dr. Christian Hauser
Phone: +41 81 286 39 24
Lecturer
Prof. Tanja Hess
Phone: +41 81 286 37 28
Research associate
Eleanor Jehan
Phone: +41 81 286 38 77
Contact

Contact

Lecturer, Project leader
Prof. Dr. Christian Hauser
Phone: +41 81 286 39 24
Additional information

Additional information

Publications

  • Hauser, C., Hergovits, N., Blumer, H. (2019). Whistleblowing Report 2019. Chur: University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons Publisher. http://whistleblowingreport.org