Entrepreneurship and Startups

November 18th, 2019

The Impact of Overconfidence and Attitudes towards Ambiguity on Market Entry

For many people who have started their entrepreneurial adventure, the biggest challenge is to believe in yourself. Yet, for those who choose this path, confidence can also make the entrepreneur underestimate actual business risks, leading to fatal decisions. Researchers of HEC Paris Business School and Bocconi University offer a new explanation for why decision-makers often appear too confident, and shed light on the consequences of this characteristic.

By Thomas Åstebro , Cédric Gutierrez , Tomasz Obloj

young overconfident business man with a phone on a skateboard

Entrepreneurship and Startups

October 15th, 2019

Academic Entrepreneurship: who owns patents and businesses?

Researchers have investigated the effect of the transfer of intellectual property rights from researchers to employing universities, in the USA and in Europe. While the effect of this act is positive in the US (more production and therefore competitiveness), the effect is negative in Europe (fewer creations). Interview with Thomas Astebro, professor of entrepreneurship at HEC Paris.

Professor

Economics and Decision Science

Entrepreneurship and Startups

April 17th, 2019

Making a change: teaching sustainable and inclusive business

“Continuing to do business as usual is no longer an option,” argues Professor Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot. She explains the push at HEC Paris to develop programs dedicated to sustainability and inclusive business and, just as importantly, to integrate those principles throughout the business school’s mainstream core offerings.

By Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot

Ready for Change?

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. (Heraclitus) This special online issue of Knowledge@HEC invites you to reflect upon change, and how individuals, firms, institutions, and the broader society deal with it.

April 30th, 2018

©francesco chiesa Management of Change - Knowledge HEC Paris

Entrepreneurship and Startups

April 23rd, 2018

Librinova: a startup for digital innovation in publishing

Bernard Garrette, professor of strategy at HEC Paris, talks about his case study “Librinova: a startup for digital innovation in publishing” and about how he self-published his own fiction stories.

Professor

Strategy and Business Policy

Entrepreneurship and Startups

January 17th, 2018

Entrepreneurship in Senegal: a solution for promoting development

A shortage of jobs in Senegal means people are forced to fend for themselves to generate their own income. This “survival entrepreneurship” could be a unique opportunity for the country, however, if used as a catalyst to create SMEs with the capacity to develop long-term activities. Pauline Lebas and Elisabeth Gaydon surveyed a wide range of actors in an attempt to map out the key issues and challenges facing entrepreneurs in Senegal, decompartmentalizing hitherto closed worlds in the process.

Consultant

Social Innovation

Entrepreneurship and Startups

December 12th, 2017

The Movement for Social Business Impact blows out its first candle

November 9, 2016 witnessed the official launching of one of HEC Paris’ most ambitious initiatives, the Movement for Social * Business Impact, MS*BI. The far-reaching project seeks to accompany business and entrepreneurs in a joint mission to build a more inclusive global economy. MS*BI also aspires to help businesses to maximize their social impact while improving their economic development. Knowledge analyzes the developments in the past year of a Movement hoping to help build a new type of capitalism.

By Daniel Brown

On November 7, 2017, the Movement MS*BI was presented during a roundtable session of the 8th Global Social Business Summit in Paris with our partners Oliver Faust (Renault), Jacques Berger (Action Tank), Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank), Rodolphe Durand (SnO HEC), Martin Hirsh (AP-HP), and Laurent Auguste (Veolia)."

Entrepreneurship and Startups

October 18th, 2017

Kickstarter study reveals the crowd often prefers to play it safe

The online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has the reputation of helping innovative start-ups get funding. Cathy Yang and her co-authors find, however, that innovative ideas — products that were both novel and useful — actually receive significantly less funding from this platform than other projects. What are the implications for entrepreneurs?

By Liu Cathy Yang

Kickstarter study reveals the crowd often prefers to play it safe - Cathy Yang, HEC Paris ©vectortone-Adobestock

Entrepreneurship and Startups

July 03rd, 2017

Corporate Venture Capital: how the expectations of big ships and small pirates converge

CVC is a massive emerging phenomenon in France and worldwide. Although it is less in the spotlight than Venture Capital conceived by independent private funds, it has grown significantly in the past ten years and prospects of growth remain high in France: in the United States, 16% of venture capital investments in start-ups are corporate funding, compared to 5% in France. Every large company nowadays wants its CVC fund… Is it a fad or are there longterm objectives?

Associate Professor

Accounting and Management Control

Entrepreneurship and Startups

May 16th, 2017

How impact investing brings solar power to Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a lack of energy infrastructure. Increasingly, those without access to the energy grid are relying on solar power for lighting. As part of her MSc in Sustainability and Social Innovation at HEC Paris, Mónica Moncayo Escobar wrote a dissertation on how these Pay-As-You-Go energy solutions are being financed through impact investments.

HEC Paris student

MSc in Sustainability and Social Innovation