Location
Auditorium HWZ, Lagerstrasse 5, 8004 Zurich
Date
Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Time
6:00pm to 8:00 pm,
followed by networking drinks
Registration
Heads x Perikom Event: Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Differentiate or Pay – Positioning in the Sales and Labour Market as the Key to Sustainable Corporate Strategies
In his highly acclaimed book Better, Simpler Strategy, Harvard professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee impressively demonstrates the power of corporate strategies that are consistently focused on value creation. His central message is that value is created not only through customer-centricity, but also through attractive employer positioning. Companies that clearly differentiate themselves in the sales and labour markets are significantly more successful in the long term. Those that fail to do so must sell their products at low prices or recruit talent at high costs.
As a keynote speaker, Oberholzer-Gee will present his strategic framework for value creation and demonstrate how a focused, simplified strategy can lead to above-average performance using practical examples.
From this perspective, the corporate brand plays a decisive role – as a communicative and cultural expression of a unique identity. From the outset, corporate and brand strategy must be seamlessly integrated. Sina Frank, a senior brand consultant at Heads, will demonstrate hows how identity-oriented brand management aligned with strategy can transform companies – thus addressing the gaps in strategic work identified by Oberholzer-Gee.
The evening will conclude with a discussion led by Ralph Hermann, managing director of Heads, and involving the audience in a conversation about the specific challenges of management, brand management and human resources in developing and communicating a successful strategy.
Ralph Hermann
Owner/Managing Director, Heads Corporate Branding AG
Owner and managing director of Heads for 22 years. He war formerly a client service director at Jung von Matt, a communications director at Tamedia AG and a marketing manager at Warner Bros. Switzerland. He is a Swiss certified marketing communications manager and has an EMBA from California State University, East Bay.
Sina Frank
Senior Brand Consultant, Heads Corporate Branding AG
She received her B.A. in Media Management from Macromedia University (mhmk) in Berlin, in 2015 and her CAS Organisational Psychology ZHAW in 2015. After working in planning at the advertising agencies Heimat and Jung von Matt Berlin, Frank has worked as a senior brand consultant in brand strategy development for ten years, including three years at Heads Corporate Branding.
Prof. Felix Oberholzer-Gee
Harvard Business School
The Swiss-born Oberholzer-Gee has been teaching at Harvard Business School for 22 years. He is part of the HBS Strategy Unit and ist he author of the book ‘Better, Simpler Strategy’ which was named one of the best strategy books of 2021 by Barnes&Noble.
Heads Corporate Branding AG develops brand personalities from corporate brands. Brand-driven change – anchoring and activating brand values based on corporate strategies among employees – plays a decisive role in this process.
The Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School is one of the leading research institutions in the field of corporate strategy. It focuses on developing, communicating, and implementing strategic concepts that shape organizations worldwide. The unit’s work is characterized by practical relevance, academic depth, and global significance.