Dr. Axel Thoma

Lecturer, University of St. Gallen and Advisor at the Value Creation Lab

Dr. Axel Thoma is Managing Partner at the leading swiss agency Die Botschafter AG and the Value Creation Lab St.Gallen; Lecturer at the University of St.Gallen, and Value Creation Coach / Research Partner at the Research Institute for International Management. 

Axel Thoma’s research centers on value co-creation and distribution in Business-to-Business-relationships. He currently moderates the research consortium "Transforming Sales for Value Creation" with EM, Lohmann & Rauscher, Mapei, Pistor, Siga. He is co-founder of the Value Creation Dialogue with 3M, Ingersoll Rand, Metso Automation, Novartis, Toll, and Umicore. He co-developed the St.Gallen Executive Education Report (SEER. Axel Thoma has published on the topics of value creation and digital sales enablement in California Management Review, Handelszeitung, Handel Heute, LEADER, Marketing Review St.Gallen, Persönlich, Research-Technology Management, UnternehmerZeitung, Velocity, Wall Street Journal, and others. He has also written a book on Impact Without Authority – the Individual Lynchpin Capability for Creating Value with Strategic Customers. He presents at academic and industry conferences, such as the European Marketing Academy, the Global Sales Science Institute, and the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group. 

In his daily work, Axel Thoma inspires and collaborates with organizations determined to gear their sales force towards value creation with empowered customers. He is an expert in digital sales enablement and has developed solutions for Nestlé/Froneri, Kanton St.Gallen, Pistor, Raiffeisen, Rhaetische Bahn, stuermsfs and the University of St.Gallen, among others. Prior to starting Die Botschafter AG, he worked as managing director at customer-strategy consulting firm AMC with firms like Altana, Agility, British American Tobacco, Evonik, Henkel, Mercer, Pfizer, Roche, Tetra Pak and Vestas. 

Axel Thoma holds a master’s degree (MIM/SIM) with studies at the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, as well as a doctorate degree (International Management) from the University of St.Gallen. He lives in St.Gallen with his wife Weiqiong and son Bryan.