A Center of Excellence for research

Founded in 2008 under the aegis of Rodolphe Durand, the S&O Center brings together forty professors and PhD students from HEC Paris. Our research approach combines a broad range of methods tailored to the studied phenomena. It also incorporates theoretical lenses from various disciplines including economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history, which is then integrated with a management focus. The research is conducted in partnership with other leading academic institutions in Europe and North America.

Research that directly addresses the challenges of our time

The S&O Center offers new ways of understanding the world, helping organizations reconcile economic priorities with a new series of imperatives. The research conducted by the Center’s academics tackles concrete issues, yielding results that businesses can immediately put to use in these following areas: climatic constraints, responsible finance, impact investment, social inequality, ethical imperatives, implementation of CRS policies, renewable energy, circular economy, partnership between public and private sector, action of NGOs, incentives at work, diversity in the workplace, liberalization, regulation, and more. 

Research of global significance

The S&O Center has become a vibrant center of reflection recognized throughout Europe. Over the past four years, the Center’s members have already produced more than 80 research papers, of which more than half have been published in leading academic journals. Through its publications, academic exchanges and partnerships, organization of international events (the Medici Summer School, the European Theory Development Workshop), and its doctoral scholarship scheme, the S&O Center is proudly contributing to the development of an international research community concerned with key contemporary challenges.

We engage in the study of what forms the basis of responsible capitalism