We interviewed Quentin Rouyer, the Founder and CEO of Alternative Café, a trailblazing fair-trade coffee importer and distributor. Through its unique model of importing directly from producers and advocating for in-country roasting, Alternative Café is revolutionizing the coffee industry's approach to sustainability. From its renowned World Coffee Challenge to its commitment to empowering growers, Alternative Café's innovative practices are reshaping the coffee sector while promoting social and environmental responsibility.
For a long time, addressing sustainability problems has been regarded as a technological challenge. Today, supporting the transition to a more sustainable world has transcended this technological status and emerged as a quintessential management, economic, and behavioral challenge. Within this realm, research in social sciences and management assumes a pivotal role, offering insights across various crucial dimensions of the transition.
HEC Paris undergoes a transformative shift in its curriculum. Building on its legacy of sustainability initiatives, the institution now prioritizes planetary boundaries and societal impact. The updated curriculum emphasizes sustainability integration and student empowerment for real-world impact. This reflects HEC's dedication to nurturing leaders prepared to address modern challenges.
At HEC Paris, the integration of research, teaching, and action is a fundamental philosophy that we embody. In today's dynamic landscape, where environmental and social challenges are increasingly prominent, HEC serves as a beacon of innovation and responsibility. As Europe's leading business school, we acknowledge our responsibility to guide future leaders in navigating the complexities of a world in flux.
We interviewed the founders of two startups in HEC’s incubator at Station F that have come up with green innovations making a deep impact in their respective sectors. Genomines utilizes plants to selectively extract targeted metals, crucial for battery production, aiming to minimize environmental impact. Pixstart offers tailored satellite imagery analysis to monitor changes in water, forests, agricultural fields, and construction sites, optimizing environmental resource management and informing decisions.
The past six years have seen an exponential leap in student engagement going well beyond the classroom. Arguably, this came to public attention in 2018 when HEC Paris students joined representatives from France's most prestigious schools and universities in calling for radical change, called the "Manifeste étudiant pour un réveil écologique" (Student Manifesto for an Ecological Awakening). So far, it has been signed by over 34,000 students. Then there was Anne-Fleur Goll's June 2022 graduation speech that concluded with a plea to tackle climate change from within the system. This drew a standing ovation and created quite a media stir. Valentine Japiot (H.23) and Max Pernaton (H.25), two members of HEC Transition, the alumni club dedicated to the ecological transition, rang similar alarm bells, calling for a radical transformation of the system at HEC's Climate Day 2023. Quentin Oulie (H.25), currently interning at “Fermes d'avenir”, which coordinates sustainable farms, co-organized a three-week course on agro-ecology at HEC for students to think about the challenges facing the agricultural world. The list could go on and on. Those engaged are making their demands heard, and they are ready to take on responsibilities to make things happen. We met four students from different HEC programs, engaged or not in the transition.
The Mazars “Purposeful Governance” Chair is the new chair of the S&O Institute’s Purpose Center. Thanks to the engagement of researchers and professionals, Mazars, an international leader in consulting and audit, aims to redefine legal, strategic, financial, accounting, and governance decisions to face ecological and social challenges. Luc Paugam, Associate Professor in Accounting and Management Control, holds the chair and collaborates with Mazars to advance transformative business models. We interviewed Luc Paugam and Maximilien Rouer, Partner Sustainability leader at Mazars, to gain insight into their joint projects and collaborative efforts.
We interviewed donors to the HEC Foundation to understand their vision of the role of businesses and purpose in the sustainable transition, and their personal motivations. All high-level decision-makers and HEC Alumni, they donate to the Purpose Centre of the Sustainability & Organizations (S&O) Institute, along with dozens of individual donors, the Joly Family Chair in Purposeful Leadership* and the Mazars Chair on Purposeful Governance, to invest in research and teaching on the role of purpose in organizations. The Joly Family Chair was jointly created in 2018 by Hubert Joly, former Best Buy chairperson and CEO, now a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.
A company that produces submarine electric cables and installs them between countries to electrify the world is under close scrutiny in a context of rising energy demand and the need to preserve natural resources. Yet, Nexans has emerged as a pure player in low-carbon electrification. In this interview, CEO Christopher Guérin discusses how his audacious approach saved the company and shares the essence of Nexans’ partnership with HEC Paris, with the Orchestrating Sustainable Business Transformation Chair, directed by Sebastian Becker, Associate Professor of Accounting and Management Control, under the S&O Climate & Earth Center.
Founder and director of the financial-analysis and short-selling firm Iceberg Research, HEC alumni Arnaud Vagner (H.01) is known for having exposed fraudulent accounting at his former employer, commodities trader Noble Group. Iceberg Research is, like all activist short-sellers, an investigative firm that exposes listed companies that have fraudulent or misleading representations. It is also a traditional long/short fund. Short-selling activists are rare critical voices in capital markets.