Oliver is a chaired professor of Responsible Management at ESCP Berlin, an adjunct professor in social entrepreneurship at the University of Manchester, and founder of the Center for Responsible Management Education. He previously filled academic full-time roles at, The University of Nottingham Ningbo campus (China), the Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico) and Seoul National University (South Korea) and visiting positions at the University of Tübingen’s Global Ethic Institute and at Copenhagen Business School.
Oliver’s main research interests lie in in responsible management (ethics, responsibility, and sustainability in management) and alternative business models (e.g., sustainability business models, family business models, and sports business models). He also studies how radical environmental movements can influence management practices (e.g., die letzte Generation or Extinction Rebellion); innovative management practices (e.g., biomimicry or humanistic management); the role of artificial intelligence in management; and how management can be reinvented to fit into the new normal of a world characterized by a rapid succession of grand crises. His work has been published in a variety of journals such as Academy of Management Learning and Education, Journal of Management Education, Long Range Planning, Organization Studies, Organization and Environment, and the Journal of Business Ethics.
Oliver is a long-standing contributor to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative. His bestselling textbook ‘Principles of Responsible Management’ is used on all continents (with exception of Antarctica) and has been translated to five languages. Oliver has served as an Associate Editor of Academy of Management Learning and Education, as an editorial board member of the world' oldest strategy journal, Long Range Planning, as well as for the British Journal of Management. He has edited related special issues for the Journal of Business Ethics, Organization and Environment, the Journal of Management Education, and the Journal of The Association for Information Systems and over 40 books, among them the Research Handbook of Responsible Management, and the Sage Handbook of Responsible Management Learning and Education.
Oliver has contributed extensively to news outlets, such as Forbes, Times Higher Education, and The Conversation. He has worked as coach and consultant with dozens of companies (from multinational corporations and high impact ventures to SMEs and social enterprises) as well as universities in staff and faculty development. He also has designed and taught a variety of full courses on bachelor, master, PhD and executive education levels, including blended and massive open online courses such as the Coursera MOOC ‘Managing Responsibly’ with an enrolment of over 30,000 students.