HEC in the press

Consumers subconsciously prefer “feminine” brand names to masculine ones, a finding that stands to impact “virtually any company looking to sell a product” – or a service. In a newly-released study, researchers at the University of Calgary, University of Montana, HEC Paris, and University of Cincinnati state that “one of the most important and underestimated aspects of a brand is its name, [as] in most instances, the brand name represents a consumer’s first point of contact and can, therefore, drive initial impressions, associations, and expectations", writes The Fashion Law. 

The the forced landing of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of a journalist on board come at a time when the EU has struggled to reach a consensus over key foreign policy matters. “The Ryanair hijack is the ultimate test case for the credibility of the EU foreign policy on both the world and EU stage,” Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at H.E.C. business school, told CNBC.

Groupthink may often be tragic, warns HEC Paris and former McKinsey partner Olivier Sibony in his book “You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake!", in an interview with The Inquirer. Instead, says Sibony, focus on changing the environment. Break down silos, and work on processes to ensure optimal decisions.  

“Research demonstrates that family businesses show greater resilience and achieve better results. This success can be attributed to a combination of various elements: longer-term and dynamic entrepreneurship with a conservative allocation of asset management,” says Philippe Pelé Clamour, an adjunct professor at HEC Paris, in an interview with Executive Courses. 

Noise is the major source of variability in judgment and, thus, a major cause of decisions that miss their mark, according to the professorial supergroup (henceforth, KSS). Kahneman was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work as a behavioral economist; Sibony is an expert on decision-making who teaches at HEC Paris and Oxford’s Saïd Business School; and Sunstein is the Harvard prof whose work on nudges has been influential in public policy. Noise is also the title of the trio’s new book, a 400-page tome that should leave executives who take the time to wade through it more than a little unsettled, writes Strategy + Business. 

Society has devoted a lot of attention to the problem of bias — and rightly so. But when it comes to mistaken judgments and unfortunate decisions, there is another type of error that attracts far less attention: noise, write HEC Paris Strategy Professor Olivier Sibony with Daniel Kahneman and Cass R. Sunstein, in an opinion piece for the New York Times. 

Psychological research shows that judgment is surprisingly dependent on mood—and that being in a bad one has a silver lining, write HEC Paris' Olivier Sibony, Daniel Kahneman and Cass Sunstein, in an op-ed for the WSJ. 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos famously remarked that whenever he spoke with entrepreneurs interested in working with the tech giant he was always looking for "missionaries" rather than "mercenaries". He believed that the best startups had founders that were focused on making great products or services that would fundamentally change the world for the better. The money side would then largely take care of itself.

One might imagine that such intrinsic motivation is even more prevalent among social entrepreneurs, who by their very definition are focused primarily on improving various social, environmental, or cultural issues. It's a heuristic that's examined in recent research from HEC Paris, which sets out to understand what motivates social entrepreneurs, writes Forbes. 

Most organizations today have tapped into the zeitgeist for corporate social responsibility, albeit with varying levels of gusto and success.  New research from HEC Paris explores the key role the CEO can play in the success of CSR initiatives and finds that the boss can actually provide up to a 30% boost in CSR performance, writes Adi Gaskell. 

HEC Paris marketing professor Anne-Sophie Chaxel conducted two experiments with 1,400 American workers, asking them to respond to allegations that the Covid-19 virus was man-made and that hydroxychloroquine can eliminate the symptoms, she writes, in an op-ed published in Forbes.