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 a rapidly changing professional world, where the pandemic changed the rules of the game, careers may feel like roller-coaster rides. To better respond to turbulence and take ownership of our careers and lives, we need to move into the driving seat. How so? By learning and nurturing resilience.
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.
The case study on Alenvi, by HEC Paris graduate Léa Veiga-Planells and Strategy Professor Laurence Lehmann-Ortega, demonstrates how managerial innovation enables a business model to be reinvented in a mature and non-digitized sector and to assess the role that business purpose can play in shaping company's strategy.
Dr. Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj has spent decades analyzing women for leadership roles. Shortly after joining HEC Qatar as Associate Professor in Gender Diversity and Entrepreneurial Leadership, she published her third book “Futureproof Your Career”. We caught up with the prolific academic at the 2021 Women’s Forum in Paris to discuss cognitive diversity, her research on Asian communities and leadership and teaching entrepreneurial leadership at HEC.
A new large-scale study links CEO influence to a 30% difference in firms’ performances in the areas of social responsibility. Interview with Georg Wernicke, Assistant Professor of Strategy and Business Policy at HEC Paris, and member of the school’s Society & Organizations Institute.
By Georg Wernicke
In this interview with Knowledge@HEC, a dozen of professors and Ph.D. students from HEC Paris share the key findings of their latest research on diversity and inclusion. They also share insights for managing one’s career in challenging contexts and give analysis on how education and the new generations can change the workplace culture.
Companies are increasingly facing societal pressure to diversify their boards. However, these well-intended measures may have unforeseen consequences, a new study finds. Because of a perceived shortage of minority candidates, fraud-tainted minority directors — unlike their non-minority counterparts — enjoy some immunity from negative reputational consequences.
A number of business leaders and researchers have promoted the idea that social and financial goals are complementary. The authors of a recent paper say that may be true, but if so, why aren’t all companies pursuing these dual goals? They propose ways to diminish tensions between the two aims.
By Tomasz Obloj
The case study “Purposeful Leadership at Best Buy” written by Rodolphe Durand, HEC Paris Professor of Strategy and holder of the Joly Family Purposeful Leadership Chair, has just been released on the Case Centre platform. This case study aims to better understand the characteristics of “Purposeful Leadership” and to identify the conditions of success to impact positively the performance of a company.