In description
The linear “take-make-waste” business model is a recipe for killing the planet. With global circularity at 7.2 %, supply chains create enormous amounts of waste, a vital driver of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Recent research by Daniel Halbheer (HEC Paris) and his colleagues Stefan Buehler (University of St. Gallen) and Rachel Chen (UC Davis) shows how going circular by recycling end-of-life products can improve profit and reduce the corporate waste footprint.
By Daniel Halbheer
Ever since he published “Strategic Management”, Edward Freeman has been at the forefront of a theory that stakeholders are interconnected. For his collective body of work, the economist from Darden School, Virginia, received an Honorary Doctorate from HEC Paris, adding his name to the 48 illustrious scholars on the HEC Honoris Causa list. The March 4 ceremony was followed by several thousand spectators, both live and online. Freeman’s visit to the Jouy-en-Josas campus was the occasion to discuss his stakeholder vision with a prism of the 21st century. Extracts from the exceptional Breakthroughs podcast, recorded for Knowledge@HEC.
Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing all fields of business, forcing academics and practitioners to revise their fundamentals. To discuss these new challenges, HEC Associate Professor Carlos Serrano and his colleague Thomas Åstebro organized a groundbreaking workshop inviting some of the world’s top researchers to compare their approach to those of leading industrialists. In our latest Breakthroughs, we discuss some of the takeaways with Serrano, an academic in the school’s Department of Economics and Decision Sciences.
Organizations which are driven by purpose only succeed when this purpose aligns itself authentically with operations and strategy. And company leaders who coordinate teams or orient decisions play a crucial role: they are responsible for communicating clearly and unambivalently the firm’s purpose. This is at the heart of the research program crafted by the HEC Paris Purpose Center, as well as the article published in the HBR* by professors of strategy Rodolphe Durand and Ioannis Ioannou. Durand, the Director of HEC’s Purpose Center, shares his analysis in this February 15 masterclass. Here are his four key points.
How to find a balance between executives and employees' objectives to attract and retain talents? How to show legitimacy and trust to align with citizens' values in a time of conflicts? What is the good timing to leave a company? Understanding these multifaceted questions is key for navigating the talent competition and fostering personal career growth. Today, students seek ethical employers, while employees yearn for deeper meaning in their work. Simultaneously, governments and consumers closely examine firms' practices throughout the supply chain. In this edition, researchers from diverse fields offer insights and business cases gleaned from their investigations.
How long does it take to form a new habit, whether starting a yoga routine or flossing after brushing teeth? A wide-ranging study by Anastasia Buyalskaya from HEC Paris, Hung Ho of the University of Chicago, Xiaomin Li and Colin Camerer of California Institute of Technology, and Katherine L. Milkman and Angela L. Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania, applies machine learning to answer that question. Three key facts: Machine learning: The study uses large datasets and machine learning to uncover the diverse contextual variables influencing habit formation. Debunking the 21-days myth: There is actually not a fixed timeframe to establish new habits. Context matters: Certain variables had very little effect on the formation of a habit, whereas other factors turned out to matter a lot.
By Anastasia Buyalskaya
These days, workers at management consulting, investment banking, accounting, and law firms tend to be as interested in their career paths as they are in their salaries—which often means jumping from one firm to another in pursuit of better opportunities. But their career paths and motivation can be powerfully influenced by what sort of tasks an employer assigns to them. A study by Raphaël Lévy, Associate Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences at HEC Paris, and his colleague Heski Bar-Isaac, Professor in the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, explores how these firms’ task allocation strikes a balance between producing value for the business and offering workers opportunities to prove their talent. Three key findings: • “Lose it to use it”: To attract and motivate employees, employers sometimes sell their jobs as springboards to a great career even outside the firm. • Employees are motivated to perform when granted exposure on the labor market and when assigned to tasks allowing them to showcase their skills. • Different human resources policies coexist: some firms consent to high exposure to their employees to boost their professional advancement, others, more concerned with employee retention, offer flatter career paths.
By Raphaël Levy
The case examines the topic of trust repair with Jayda Moore, a fictitious character in a fictitious firm that specializes in marketing consulting. Jayda has been the manager of the consumer goods team at MarketMinds since September 2022 and had managed to create a supportive and caring team atmosphere. Her team members felt valued and appreciated and were accordingly highly motivated, leading to great operational successes. As a result, the team members’ level of trust had evolved, they had especially trusted Jayda. However, the well-earned trust in her is now put to the test.
When Hannah Walt became the managing director of Epano Consulting of the Berlin branch, she did not only inherit challenges; she also had to face the general issue of being new to the business unit. She was promoted from within the company but came from a different geographical unit and had not worked in the Berlin office before.
Companies are increasingly encouraged, or obliged, to report on their sustainability efforts. However, there is little harmonization across the many sustainability standard-setting organizations. In their latest study, Accounting Professors Hervé Stolowy and Luc Paugam of HEC Paris set out to create a picture of the status of sustainability reporting standards today, and what they really mean. Three key findings: Lack of standards harmonization: A significant lack of harmonization in sustainability reporting standards pose challenges for consistent communication of companies' sustainability efforts. Diverse objectives: Standard-setting organizations have diverse objectives, complicating efforts to establish a globally standardized approach to sustainability reporting. Carbon emissions disclosure: One exception may be carbon emissions disclosure, with convergence in the greenhouse gas emission protocol being adopted by most organizations.
By Hervé Stolowy , Luc Paugam