Recent news cast some doubts about the effects of shareholder activism on firms’ strategic orientation. Hence, the question: Do activist hedge funds help or harm the companies they target? Mark DesJardine of Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business and Rodolphe Durand of HEC Paris (members of the HEC’s Society & Organizations Institute) investigated the long-term effects of hedge fund activism on companies that get targeted by these activists. In their extensive research, they found the value of targeted companies spikes the first year after targeting but drops in later years relative to similar non-targeted companies. In addition, the authors found that being targeted by activist hedge funds put a halt to the broader investment portfolios and socially responsible efforts of companies.
By Mark Desjardine , Rodolphe Durand
Danone’s CEO had to leave his position under the pressure of increasingly powerful and influential activist hedge funds. With their controversial tactics aimed at maximizing shareholder profit, they undermine sustainability practices, which they consider wasteful. Indeed, not only do they tend to suppress the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of the companies they target, they also target companies with stronger CSR records in the first place, as a new study reveals. But its authors Mark DesJardine, Rodolphe Durand, and Emilio Marti also show that these companies can divert the attention of activist hedge funds, and that policymakers and socially minded investors can intervene, too.
Managers of supplier firms often dedicate substantial resources and attention towards maximizing the level of the business they capture from their existing buyers. But can there be downsides to deepening these BtoB relationships? In related prior research on client-led diversification, John Mawdsley, assistant professor of Strategy at HEC Paris, explained how deeper relationships with existing clients lead to law firms following their clients’ expansion into new lines of business. Now, in a study with Deepak Somaya of the University of Illinois, Professor Mawdsley asks whether the strength of the relationships between a supplier and its existing buyers influences the rate at which the supplier can grow its business. In this interview, Mawdsley reveals an important trade off of deepening existing B2B relationships.
By John Mawdsley
Today’s major societal challenges – such as climate change, migration and inequality - urgently call for new ideas and approaches that can create both economic growth and social value. Recent years have seen a surge of support programs targeted specifically at nascent social entrepreneurs - new actors on the innovation scene -, widely thought to be invaluable for bringing forth and inspiring such ideas. It is essential, now more than ever, for organizations to understand how they can motivate and manage teams or nascent entrepreneurs to innovate for the public good. An interview with one of the scholars at the forefront of research on innovations for the public good, HEC Paris Professor Marieke Huysentruyt, Academic Director of the Inclusive Economy Center at the Society & Organizations Institute (S&O), on her experimental approaches and results.
By Marieke Huysentruyt
Building on the long tradition of innovation research that examines changes in firms’ rate and direction of innovation, the research by HEC Paris Professor Elie Sung aims to help further our understanding of firms’ innovation strategy by examining their actions in nonmarket arenas along with their market strategies. Elie Sung has examined how firms and the courts jointly shape patent policy and how in turn those policies shape firms’ innovative activities. This research participates to a long-lasting debate on the relationship between patents and innovation, and strongly contributes to the economics of innovation and to the nonmarket strategy academic literature.
By Elie Sung
At the senior level, men outnumber women by a 10 to 1 ratio in the private equity sector. Considerations about gender equality notwithstanding, such a testosterone-only environment is not good for... the bottom line. A large-scale study of investment deals by HEC Paris professor of strategy and business policy proves that teams with at least one female member dramatically outperform male-only teams. An interview with Oliver Gottschalg.
What makes innovators famous? Creativity is commonly assumed to be a driver of fame. Another common, albeit more cynical view, is that being connected to powerful people helps people become famous. Mitali Banerjee of HEC Paris and Paul L. Ingram of Columbia Business School provide a more nuanced view. They find that innovators’ fame cannot be explained by their creativity but by having a diverse community of peers. Learn more in this interview with Mitali Banerjee.
What do companies gain when they make political contributions? HEC Paris professor of finance Alexei Ovtchinnikov and his co-authors sought to pinpoint one benefit for firms—increased innovation—and to understand the mechanisms behind it.
By Alexei Ovtchinnikov
Uncertainty is an invisible trap, set to blind our capacity to avoid nonsense and create actual intelligence. Why invisible? Because uncertainty is powered by what we do not know, which is particularly difficult to become aware of. Anne-Sophie Chaxel, HEC Paris Associate Professor of Marketing and expert in cognitive biases, gives three objectives to keep in mind to embrace uncertainty, along with practice tool boxes to create intelligence.
What we are experiencing is similar to an earthquake of strong magnitude. Everyone agrees that there will be a before and after Covid-19. Whilst this earthquake assails us all, we do have control of the choices and decisions to be made. These will determine how crippled or strengthened we will be by the end... As always in times of crisis there are losers and winners, the cards are redealt.
