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.
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.
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.
A new business case, “Circular magic? carpets reborn at Desso”, authored by Professors Laurence Lehmann-Ortega and Hélène Musikas of HEC Paris and Ghali Benkirane (H2023) has just been published with the Case Centre.
“Colas: Sunny road ahead to innovation” case written by HEC Paris professors of Strategy and Public Policy Laurence Lehmann-Ortega and Bertrand V. Quélin has been released on the Case Centre platform. The case's objective is to explore how established firms innovate.
The business case “Preparing future leaders at Ateme” by Valérie Gauthier, Associate Professor of Languages and Cultures at HEC Paris, has been published on The Case Centre. Based on the Professor’s experience and expertise in relational leadership built over 30 years of research and practice, the case explores how and why a growing tech company prepares today’s talents to face tomorrow’s leadership challenges.
The case on Camif by Margot Bréard, HEC Paris graduate, in collaboration with Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot and Laurence Lehmann-Ortega, Education Track Professors of Strategy and Business Policy at HEC Paris, has been published by the Case Centre platform. It investigates the process of defining a company’s overarching ‘purpose’, it emphasizes the link between purpose and corporate culture and shows the transformative power a strong purpose statement has for the organization and how its strategy is deployed.
“Montrennoble: Flourishing sustainable city in France” case, written by HEC Paris Professor Bertrand V. Quélin, Bouygues Chair Professor in Smart City and the Common Good and HEC graduate Isaure Fraissinet, has just been released on the Case Centre platform. The case's objective is to help participants analyze the needs of a sustainable and smart city in an encompassing manner, meeting the city’s energy and mobility needs today as well as anticipating the future.
Schneider Electric (SE) is a world leader in energy management. Corporate Knights ranked it the world’s most sustainable company in 2021. Knowledge@HEC met with Gilles Vermot Desroches, Director of Corporate Citizenship and Institutional Relations since 2020. A trained engineer, he has been designing Schneider’s sustainability for the last 25 years. He discusses the company’s understanding of ESG, its strategic efforts to develop its performance, and how to measure their impact.