Leading academic organizations officially promote multidisciplinarity as favoring a richer, more innovative research environment. Yet Julien Jourdan, Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources and his colleagues, actually found that scientists specialized in one domain tended to protect their discipline against their peers with diverse experience, especially those with strong track records, and potentially stifled innovation in the process. He explains the mechanisms behind these territorial attitudes – and suggests ways of countering them.
By Julien Jourdan
The world is constantly evolving and uncertain. However, if there is one certainty it is the need to remain humble. To better build the resilience needed to manage this change and uncertainty in a responsible way, find key findings and classic advice from HEC Paris researchers to decipher environments at all levels: from one’s own career to geopolitical business links. In this In-Depth issue, you will learn that family businesses focus more on resilience than on performance, that connecting private interests and sharing with the community is vital for sustainable objectives and that developing professional and personal resilience takes practice. You will also discover how hybrid governance and smart cities can overcome disrupted supply chains and fight social inequality. Find the PDF version of the Knowledge@HEC' In-Depth issue here.
To retain talent, sell their products or attract investors, and generally justify their existence, businesses need to be perceived by society at large as legitimate. But as social values evolve over time or after a sudden crisis, organizations may see their actions and purpose questioned. In this interview, Julien Jourdan, expert on the consequences of reputation, legitimacy and scandals on organizations, explains why legitimacy is key to resilience for businesses.
In 2022, HEC Paris in Qatar launched a dedicated Business Research Laboratory to produce in-depth case studies on businesses and organizations in the GCC region. Deval Kartik is lead case writer at HEC Paris in Qatar. She explains the importance of this new laboratory for learners, organizations and the region itself.
Be they in Dakar, Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Lagos or Paris, it is indispensable for executives to understand social contexts. This understanding is built on a genuine interest in local practices, attentive listening to stakeholders, and a sociological spirit, which means giving thought to how societies function and are transformed. How do players construct and coordinate their activities? What relations do individuals have with society? Based on rigorous empirical work, the sociology of organizations provides keys to understand local managerial specificities. This kind of approach appears essential for anyone who wants to work in Africa. The point I would like to make here is just how important context is and why it is in the manager’s interest to listen to sociologists.
Specialists continue to hotly debate the impact of culture on creativity. Based on recent and established research on the topic, three researchers applied a meta-analytical research technique to find out how certain cultural values and their level of enforcement determine the ways people best achieve creativity in a given country.
By Michel Lander
Most international development agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have some experience planning and evaluating projects using the Logical Framework matrix. Professors of Accounting Daniel Martinez (HEC Paris) and David Cooper (University of Alberta) traced the managerial traditions that informed this visual instrument and the implications this has for international development.
Today's coronavirus crisis has driven down our economy. Such a pause has a negative impact on world trade and economic growth; its social implications (loss of income and employment, increased inequality…) will have explosive consequences. In this context, there are many calls for a model change: let's not just press the "pause" button to restart the existing model, let's use this opportunity to reinvent it!
Fears about deglobalization and economic decoupling are not new but have grown in the wake of the coronavirus. Jeremy Ghez, Associate Professor on the Education Track at HEC Paris, explains in four big ideas what the Covid-19 outbreak means for the global business environment.
We are living in a world of change. Change can take place inside or outside an organization. Change can be sudden and unexpected…
By Nils Plambeck
