A new business case written by Nils Plambeck, Associate Professor of Strategy & Business Policy at HEC Paris, has been published recently on The Case Centre. The fictional case study is conceptualized on two levels, by exploring the concept of power and influence through an example of Obama’s presidency, and by describing an EMBA student’s power basis.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Organizations which are driven by purpose only succeed when this purpose aligns itself authentically with operations and strategy. And company leaders who coordinate teams or orient decisions play a crucial role: they are responsible for communicating clearly and unambivalently the firm’s purpose. This is at the heart of the research program crafted by the HEC Paris Purpose Center, as well as the article published in the HBR* by professors of strategy Rodolphe Durand and Ioannis Ioannou. Durand, the Director of HEC’s Purpose Center, shares his analysis in this February 15 masterclass. Here are his four key points.
The case examines the topic of trust repair with Jayda Moore, a fictitious character in a fictitious firm that specializes in marketing consulting. Jayda has been the manager of the consumer goods team at MarketMinds since September 2022 and had managed to create a supportive and caring team atmosphere. Her team members felt valued and appreciated and were accordingly highly motivated, leading to great operational successes. As a result, the team members’ level of trust had evolved, they had especially trusted Jayda. However, the well-earned trust in her is now put to the test.
When Hannah Walt became the managing director of Epano Consulting of the Berlin branch, she did not only inherit challenges; she also had to face the general issue of being new to the business unit. She was promoted from within the company but came from a different geographical unit and had not worked in the Berlin office before.
The current uncertain and complex environment is further driving research on how business leaders should respond in the workplace. In this RESKILL Masterclass, Brad Harris, Professor of Management and Human Resources at HEC Paris, discusses the questions of building trust, creating healthy dynamics and enabling an empowered culture needed to respond to the challenges the 21st century is throwing up. It was recorded on March 23, 2023, and is available on YouTube. You can also find all the questions and comments on the LinkedIn Live. Here are the three key takeaways... and a summary of leadership qualities.
Camille Putois is the CEO of Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG), a coalition of more than 40 global businesses, representing 4.4 million employees and a combined revenue of over 1 trillion USD. She discusses how this coalition strives for more inclusive practices and navigates the pros and cons of the different methods to measure progress on this crucial topic. For this, she worked with Leandro Nardi and Marieke Huysentruyt, researchers at the Inclusive Economy Center at HEC Paris.
