About StGallen imt Business School
StGallen imt Business School combines integrated management, technology, and practical knowledge into a holistic continuing education approach. Its goal: to empower leaders at all levels to master complex challenges, actively shape change, and ensure sustainable success.
The foundation is the St. Gallen Integrated Management Framework – a proven thinking model that creates clarity, promotes strategic alignment, and enables companies to act effectively and with future orientation. In a world full of dynamics and uncertainty, it combines operational excellence with innovation capability.
In the programmes, sound theory, international best practices, and real challenges come together. Participants – whether aspiring talents, experienced executives, or entrepreneurial leaders – reflect on their leadership style, expand their perspectives, and develop practical solutions. They are accompanied by excellent instructors with extensive leadership experience.
A strong, lifelong network of professionals, companies, and alumni creates space for exchange, inspiration, and new opportunities.
Excellence in Management and Technology
Forward-thinking continuing education at the intersection of management and technology – for leaders who shape change.
Executive Council
A selected body of experienced leaders from academia, entrepreneurship and executive education supports the strategic development of StGallen imt Business School.
Prof. Dr. Christian Abegglen
Dr. Augustinas Malinauskas
Dr. Ulrich von Bassewitz
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Piotr Bula
Dr. Christopher Pawlak
Anastasiia Kolesnikova
Dr. Jan Roy Edlund
Prof. Dr. Martin Westphal
Milestones of StGallen imt Business School
Discover the most important developmental stages of our management school – from the first systemic approaches to today's excellence in management and technology.
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Origins in St. Gallen Management Thinking
StGallen imt Business School is rooted in the unique management understanding of the 1960s in St. Gallen.
StGallen imt Business School is unthinkable without the "St. Gallen Management Concept": From the 1960s onwards, a new approach to management education developed in St. Gallen. Pioneers like Hans Ulrich propagated a holistic, systems-theoretical understanding of companies. The "St. Gallen Model" became a trademark far beyond Switzerland.
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The St. Gallen School – Navigating Complexity
The St. Gallen School represents management as the art of navigation in turbulent times – beyond trends and recipes.
What is management really? Not just planning or control – but the sovereign handling of complexity. The St. Gallen School provides the theoretical framework for this. Particularly in times of upheaval, this school of thought is in demand – and StGallen imt Business School as one of its transfer centers.
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Hans Ulrich – The Systemic Visionary
Hans Ulrich laid the foundation of the St. Gallen School with his cybernetic understanding of companies.
Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Hans Ulrich (1919–1997) revolutionized teaching: Not one-dimensional tools, but thinking models for complex realities. In 1965, he founded the "Institute for Business Administration (IfB)" – the nucleus of the St. Gallen School. With "The Enterprise as a Productive Social System," he shaped a new view of corporate management.
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The St. Gallen Management Model
The original St. Gallen Management Model: a systemic framework for leadership in complex worlds.
From the 1960s onwards, Hans Ulrich established the "St. Gallen Management Model" – a new understanding of management: Companies are not machines, but social systems – open, dynamic, networked. The model integrated systems theory and cybernetics into business administration.
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Knut Bleicher – The Architect
Bleicher translated Ulrich's systems approach into a practice-oriented architecture: the Integrated Management Concept.
Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Knut Bleicher (1929-2017) was appointed to St. Gallen in 1984 as Hans Ulrich's successor. He further developed the St. Gallen Management Model into the "Integrated Management Concept" as an application framework for practice.
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The St. Gallen Integrated Management Concept
Knut Bleicher's work: a robust management framework for turbulence – the Integrated Management Concept.
What Hans Ulrich established as systemic thinking, Knut Bleicher developed into a practice-suitable architecture: the "Integrated Management Concept" (1991). He linked the three management levels – normative, strategic, and operative – into a holistic framework.
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Milestones of the St. Gallen Concept
A six-volume publication series documents the development path of the Integrated St. Gallen Management Concept.
From 2005 onwards, Christian Abegglen published the six-volume series "Milestones on the Path to Integrated Management." It shows the evolutionary development of the concept. The last volume from 2017 honors Knut Bleicher's life's work and summarizes decades of research.
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35 Years of Integrated St. Gallen Concept
For over three decades, the Integrated Concept has shaped management education – practical, systemic, and future-oriented.
The Integrated Concept has been continuously developed under Christian Abegglen since the 2010s. The 10th edition (2021) contains concrete implementation guidelines for the first time. StGallen imt Business School uses this concept as its central orientation framework.
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The St. Gallen Management HOUSE
With the St. Gallen Management HOUSE, the concept becomes tangible: a metaphor for securing corporate success in the long term.
The further development of the Integrated Concept culminates in Christian Abegglen's work "Reinventing the Enterprise." The nine fields of the St. Gallen Concept are visualized as a Management HOUSE – a powerful metaphor for systematic leadership.
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Founding of Private Management Schools
From the 1980s onwards, numerous privately organized institutes emerged – as spin-offs from the university.
From the 1980s onwards, consulting and continuing education activities were spun off from the university with the support of Hans Ulrich and Knut Bleicher. This led to successful institutes like MZSG, BSG, SCG, Malik Institute – the "Management Valley."
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The Management Valley St. Gallen
St. Gallen became a "Management Valley" – a knowledge landscape for management with international reach.
What began with the abbey and its library as an early "knowledge center" grew into the Management Valley: an ecosystem of the university, consulting firms, and private providers of executive education. StGallen imt Business School helps translate this thinking into pragmatic educational formats.
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Christian Abegglen – Entrepreneurial Bridge-Builder
Christian Abegglen made St. Gallen thinking tangible for executives – clearly structured, practical, and forward-looking.
As founding director in 1994 and long-serving president of SGBS, Christian Abegglen was central to the transfer of St. Gallen knowledge. Today, as Chairman of the Board of StGallen imt Business School, he helps shape its content and direction.
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Founding of StGallen imt Business School
A pioneering project for executive education – practical, technology-oriented, and impactful.
Initiated in 2023 by experienced shapers of the St. Gallen School and by globally active entrepreneurs, StGallen imt Business School was founded as a new platform for executive education – with the ambition of uniting systemic thinking and technological competence.
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The Network of StGallen imt Business School
A network of practice, research, and technology – where management knowledge meets the future.
StGallen imt Business School is part of a strong network: it connects renowned figures of the St. Gallen School, experienced executives, technology partners, and teachers from both practice and research. This ecosystem keeps the school current and effective.
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Proven Knowledge
Since the 1960s, the St. Gallen School has stood for management knowledge that is stable and ready to build on.
The St. Gallen School, shaped by Ulrich and Bleicher, offers a well-founded approach to leadership under difficult conditions. StGallen imt Business School closes this gap with modern, application-oriented teaching formats.
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Didactic Innovation and Modularity
Not theoretical teaching for students – but education for experienced leaders with real-world practice.
The programs of StGallen imt Business School are aimed at people with experience: executives, C-level leaders, entrepreneurs. The didactic concept combines classroom sessions, self-study, and individual coaching. The content is oriented toward real challenges.
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Technology and Digitalization as Engines of Learning
StGallen imt Business School sees digitalization as an opportunity: new formats for learning – new ways of leading a company.
Digital transformation changes not only companies but also learning itself. StGallen imt Business School took up this development early: online modules, hybrid programs, digital coaching.
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AI in Management
For StGallen imt Business School, AI is part of leadership, not merely technology.
StGallen imt Business School integrates AI into its curricula – not as "hype," but as a transformative reality. AI is always considered in the context of responsibility, value creation, and sustainability – entirely in the spirit of the St. Gallen School.
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Integration of Management and Technology
Not control, but navigation through complexity – that is modern leadership in the St. Gallen tradition.
The world of management is under pressure: digitalization, de-globalization, wars. St. Gallen thinking offers a different approach: management is a reflective, shaping act of navigation through complex environments.
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Internationalization and Global Relevance
Active worldwide: StGallen imt Business School connects St. Gallen management thinking with partners around the globe.
The internationalization of business also called for an internationalization of executive education. StGallen imt Business School responded with English-language programs, seminars abroad, and international partnerships.
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StGallen imt Business School Today
Today, StGallen imt Business School stands for principled leadership: systemic, practical, and future-oriented.
In a time of change, StGallen imt Business School positions itself as a partner for leaders who want not merely to manage but to shape – with depth, responsibility, and foresight. StGallen imt Business School accompanies this transformation – with rigor and responsibility.