Thematic list | HEC Paris

January 17th, 2023

How Will New European ESG Reporting Standards Affect Companies?

The European Commission mandated a group of experts to work on new European corporate social responsibility reporting requirements. Marieke Huysentruyt, Associate Professor of Strategy and Business Policy and Academic Director of the Inclusive Economy Center at the Society & Organizations Institute of HEC Paris, was part of a group that drafted legislation on the question of equal opportunity. She describes how her working group shaped their proposals for a wide, long-lasting impact.

By Marieke Huysentruyt

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January 17th, 2023

Addressing “S” Demands of ESG: What Role the Board Can (and Should) Play

Faced with rising demands from society, it is crucial that companies address their social/societal impact and the board has a key role to play. A report recently published by the ESG Club of the French Institute of Administrators brushes a fresh picture of current social expectations regarding businesses. In this report, the members of the Social/Societal working group put forward recommendations for administrators to understand these expectations and anticipate the effect of social impact on the competitiveness of companies. Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot Associate Professor (Education Track) of Strategy and Business Policy and cofounder of the Society & Organizations Institute at HEC Paris, and also board member, is one of the report’s authors. In this interview, she comments on the risks and challenges for companies and for board members.

By Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot

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December 20th, 2022

Spotlight on the Social Dimension Measurement in ESG

Three HEC academics joined forces with an S&P Global social specialist in ESG research (Bruce Thomson) to bring out a landmark report on the social factors covered – and not - in ESG frameworks. The report “What Gets Measured” challenges traditional coverage of the social dimension in corporate ESG frameworks and suggests ways to ensure that what gets measured “matters for businesses and the people and communities they impact”. We talk with HEC professor and co-author Marieke Huysentruyt.

By Marieke Huysentruyt , Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot , Leandro Nardi , Bruce Thomson

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December 16th, 2022

How Much to Reveal to Persuade a Decision Maker?

How much information one needs to provide to decision makers to respect transparency while keeping its competitive edge? In a new study using a mathematical probabilistic model, HEC Paris professors in Economics and Decision Sciences Frederic Koessler, Marie Laclau and Tristan Tomala, find the optimal equilibrium of information to reveal for companies in a situation where there are competitors.

By Tristan Tomala , Marie Laclau , Frédéric Koessler

December 05th, 2022

Digitalization as an Enabler of Business Transformation: The Orange Case

Transformation is lauded as the best way to build competitive advantage and adapt over the long term. To succeed, it requires a culture of adaptability, a finely tuned focus on the specific context, and the capability to build and grow an ecosystem. Two researchers share their learnings from their analysis of how Orange completely metamorphosed its business over more than two decades.

By Shirish Srivastava , Joseph Nehme

November 10th, 2022

Do Employee Shareholders Care about their Employers' ESG Performance?

The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance of companies has become an increasingly significant factor influencing investor sentiment in recent years. But does this hold for all investors? A recent study by HEC Paris Finance researchers Maxime Bonelli and François Derrien, with Marie Brière of Amundi Asset Management, Paris Dauphine University and Université Libre de Bruxelles, investigated the response of French employee shareholders to ESG performance through their personal investment behavior in their employers’ share schemes. The results show that these employees have a distinctly different response to the ESG performance of their employers: one that is focused on their personal welfare.

By Maxime Bonelli , François Derrien

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November 07th, 2022

How Governments’ Heavy Reliance on Bank Debt Affects Firms

Noémie Pinardon-Touati, newly Assistant Professor at Columbia University and holder of a PhD in Finance from HEC Paris, investigates how governments affect the economy, with practical implications for policymakers. In this interview based on her research, she explains how the increase of local governments’ reliance on bank debt adversely affects firms, and thereby hinders growth.

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November 04th, 2022

Future of Finance: How Are New Technologies Reshaping the Sector?

The advent of digital technologies has created a very new and vastly different financial landscape. Today's buying and selling of securities is conducted mostly by computer programs that react within nanoseconds – faster than any human could – to the subtlest market fluctuations. In a new report published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Professor of Finance Thierry Foucault comes to grips with how technologies are fundamentally changing the way banks, brokers, exchanges, and dealers do their work, and what it means for investors, for privacy and income inequalities.

By Thierry Foucault

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November 04th, 2022

Nudging Luxury Consumers to Contribute to Charity

Many luxury brands have engaged in corporate social responsibility by linking products to a charitable cause. But altruism is at odds with the materialistic motivations to purchase fancy watches or handbags. So how do luxury brands overcome the paradox and get their clients to engage in charitable giving? Find out in this new study by HEC Paris Marketing Professor L. J. Shrum and PhD Sukhyun Kim, and Kiwan Park of Seoul National University.

By L. J. Shrum

November 03rd, 2022

Human Rights Sanctions Often Fail to Improve Human Rights

Do international sanctions that are imposed with the intention to improve the human rights situation in the targeted country always lead to better human rights? No, according to Professors Armin Steinbach, Jerg Gutmann, Matthias Neuenkirch, and Florian Neumeier, who have studied empirically the legal proportionality test. Their results cast doubt on the lawfulness of many trade and financial sanctions imposed by the US, the EU and other countries – an insight that might extend to many of the sanctions in place today.

By Armin Steinbach

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