Mindset & Personal Thoughts

Harald J. Bolsinger

Harald J. Bolsinger (born 1973)

After completing a banking apprenticeship in 1996 in Aalen (Germany), Harald Bolsinger completed a bachelor’s degree in economics in Augsburg (Germany) until 1999 (Bac. oec. degree). In 2001, he graduated in business administration as a Dipl.-Kfm. degree and with an additional certificate in sociology from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). In 2006, he was awarded a doctorate there (Dr. rer. pol.). He taught in Nuremberg for four years at the Chair of Economic & Development Policy and since March 2012 as Professor of Business Ethics and Economics at the THWS Technical University Würzburg-Schweinfurt (Germany). Bolsinger served with teaching and lecturing activities at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany), the Technical University Nuremberg Georg Simon Ohm (Germany), the Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Germany), the OTH – Technical University Amberg-Weiden (Germany), the Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany), the MCI – Management Center Innsbruck (Austria), the Shih Chien University Taipei (Taiwan), the St. Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics (Russia), the Christ University Bangalore (India) and the International School of Management Excellence Bangalore (India).

In his dissertation, he developed a model for cooperatively created customer process innovations to maintain competitiveness in small and medium-sized enterprises in the form of symbiotic business networks. At the THWS Technical University Würzburg-Schweinfurt, he was involved, among other things, as sub-project leader in an university-wide project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany as well as vice dean of the THWS Business School (former Faculty for Economics and Business Administration) and then executive dean for four years with a term of office until winter 2019. At this Business School, the business ethicist serves the department of ethics, CSR and sustainability in teaching and research across all courses and is active in the teaching areas of impact entrepreneurship, digitalization, organizational development & leadership with values.

Bolsinger gained extensive professional experience in many years of independent consulting, in corporate customer service in the cooperative banking sector, in sales management and multi-channel direct sales of a specialized credit bank, as well as in the economic development department of a large independent city with focus on regional labor market policy and business ethics. He is intensively involved in issues of sustainable and value-oriented corporate management, applied ethics and digitalization, Christian spirituality as well as the transformation towards a sustainable economy. He has experience as an expert in the field of concept and program accreditations within institutes for higher education, professoral appointment procedures at various universities, scholarships for gifted students, editorships of collective works as well as journals and questions on sustainability and business ethics in the private sector.

Academically, Bolsinger was influenced by his former chair, ordoliberal Prof. em. Dr. h.c. Werner Lachmann, Ph. D. (most recently Chair of Economics, esp. Economic and Development Policy at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), who also intensively examined questions of business ethics, as well as his doctoral supervisor Prof. em. Dr. Wolfgang Harbrecht (most recently Chair of Economics, esp. international economic relations at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), who was able to directly enjoy Alfred Müller-Armack’s teaching on the social market economy in Cologne and has long been an advocate of European integration and a future-oriented cooperative system as an important part of a strong social market economy.

Active memberships (as of 03/2024):

  • Axis e.V. (member, cash auditor)
  • Bündnis Fair Toys Nürnberg (group of initiators of the Fair Toys Organization)
  • THWS start-up promoter for Impact Entrepreneurship
  • Research Group “Finance and Economy” of the Global Ethic Institute (Fellow)
  • Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (former scholarship holder, Trustee Würzburg)
  • Institute for Rescue, Emergency & Disaster Management (Advisory Board)
  • Young Science for CSR and Sustainability (co-editor)
  • Quarterly on Refugee Problems – QRP (Editorial Board)
  • UmweltBank AG (Environmental Council)
  • Unternehmen Ehrensache – CSR Network Nuremberg (Advisory Board)
  • Unternehmen Verantwortung Gesellschaft e.V. (Member as representative of THWS)
  • Verantwortungspartnerschaft für Mainfranken (founding member representing THWS)
  • Wertewerk Investmentfonds (advisory board)
  • Wertebündnis Region Würzburg (founding member)
  • Würzburg International Business Forum (Executive Board)
  • Würzburg International Business Review (Associate Editor)
  • Würzburg Wertevoll (Founding Member; Coordination)

Former functions:

  • Axis e.V. (1st Board Spokesman until February 2021)
  • Bund Katholischer Unternehmer e.V. (representative of FBG eG until 02/2020)
  • BWT/FBW e.V. Association for Business Knowledge Transfer at the Faculty of Business and Economics of FHWS (until 12/2019)
  • Ethics and Trust in Finance, Research Award of the Observatoire de la Finance, Geneva (Jury Member German Platform until 4/2023)
  • FBG eG (advisory board until 2024)
  • German Consortium for Sustainability Research DEKONA (contact person of FHWS 2022)
  • German Network for Business Ethics e.V. (Head of Regional Forum Franconia until 01/2020)
  • EvenordBank eG-KG (value development advisory board until 07/2021)
  • Research Group “Finance and Economy” of the Global Ethic Institute (Member of the Board until 02/2023)
  • gemeinsam für Nürnberg e.V. (Supporting member until 12/2020)
  • HOCH-N Sustainability at Universities (Partner until 2023)
  • I4E Impact 4 Entrepreneurship gGmbH (founding partner until 2024)
  • Ludwig-Erhard-Initiative Fürth (member until 2024)
  • Mission EineWelt, Department of Global Education (member of the expert committee until 2024)
  • persolog (Certified Trainer)
  • PSD-Bank Nürnberg eG (member and scientific value management advisor until 2024)
  • Society for the Promotion of the Research Institute for Cooperatives at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (sustaining member until 05/2018)
  • Hanns-Seidel-Foundation (reviewer for the promotion of gifted students)
  • komba trade union (member until 10/2021)
  • Competence Center Social Innovations, Methods and Analyses – KoSIMA (Associate Research Partner until 04/2022)
  • Leiden Journal of International Law (Reviewer 2021)
  • Mission EineWelt Bayern, Expert Committee Development and Politics (Member until 09/2022)
  • Scientists For Future (signatory of the International Letter 2019)
  • SDG Accord (Signatory 2022)
  • Springer Economics (expert reviewer 2019)
  • Sustainable Management Circle (advisory board until 01/2020)
  • Foundation for Fundamental Values and International Understanding (sustaining member until 12/2020)
  • UmweltBank AG (Chair of the Environmental Council until 07/2022)
  • Association of University Teachers at Universities of Applied Sciences in Bavaria (member until 12/2021)
  • World Economics Association (until early 2020)
  • Würzburg International Business Forum (International Advisory Board until 03/2022)
  • Zeit für Ethik (co-initiator; scientific management until 12/2019, founding member until 2024)
  • zfwu – Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik (Reviewer 2022)
  • Zukunft braucht Werte (Co-initiator; Main Coordination until 02/2019)