HEC in the press

Large-scale study links CEO influence to a 30% difference in firms’ performances in the areas of social responsibility – a finding that informs the debate over the power and leeway of senior executives in general and for corporate social responsibility in specific.

The so-called “CEO effect” is hard to measure in reality, because of the confluence of other factors – cash flow, external pressures, market conditions and so on – that can also shape and determine results.

But new research just published in the The Academy of Management by Georg Wernicke, HEC Paris Assistant Professor of Strategy & Business Policy and member of the school’s Society & Organizations Institute, suggests that CEOs do in fact hold considerable sway – for better or for worse, writes Wealth and Society. 

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Future of Europe Conference’s success should not be measured against its ability to prompt Treaty change. Rather, its success will depend on its ability to mainstream new substantive policy ideas and institutionalize democratic innovations, such as citizen’s assemblies, and to do so at the transnational level,” Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at H.E.C. Business School, told CNBC.

Private equity firms with the most recognizable brand names tend to raise huge funds and make mega deals, grabbing the headlines. But scale and size do not necessarily equate to top performance among peers, according to Oliver Gottschalg, a professor at HEC School of Management in Paris, who founded the HEC-Dow Jones Private Equity Performance Ranking, writes S&P Global. 

Alberto Alemanno, EU law professor at HEC Paris, discusses Mario Draghi forming a new Italian government and what the government might look like. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: European Open.”

Business school admissions directors, consultants and academics share their advice with the Financial Times. “We believe that our alumni know best who will succeed on our MBA. That’s the reason we put our ultimate trust in our past students.”, says Benoit Banchereau, executive director of admissions for MBA programmes for HEC Paris. 

In France, HEC Paris resisted calls to cut its tuition fees. Instead it offered free access to executive education programmes, for example, as well as more flexible fee schedules for some students, giving more time to pay, writes the Financial Times.  “Most importantly, we made absolutely no concessions regarding the academic quality and rigour of the programme,” says Andrea Masini, HEC’s associate dean of MBA programmes. “This was the best guarantee for our graduates that the value of their diploma would remain unchanged in spite of the crisis.”

Michael Segalla, a professor of management and human resources at HEC Paris, suggests that a lack of face-to-face interaction has deprived employees of important psychological rewards, like validation and approval, writes Business Because. 

A study Michael carried out last year showed that firms should be focusing on employee health and happiness during the pandemic rather than labor costs and customer experiences. 

Cartier brings together for the first time two leading business schools to advance research on emerging business and societal challenges, writes El Economista. 

HEC business school has seen European applications soar by 51%, with big bumps from its two closest markets; the numbers from the U.K. are up 41% and 36% from France.

Associate dean in charge of the MBA at HEC in Paris, says that in his school’s case trend ought to be seen in the context of a general increase in applications, caused by factors like better performance in MBA ranking lists, a curriculum with greater appeal to potential students and a successful switch to online teaching in the face of the pandemic. As well as seeing more applications from Europe, HEC says that it has also more applications from the U.S. than in previous years. 

The pandemic has forever transformed businesses and their environment. In this new context, resilient, flexible, tolerant and empathetic leaders are needed. But how do you build such a leader?, asks Michel Lander, Professor of Management and Human Resources and Academic Director of the CEMS MIM program at HEC Paris, in an op-ed for Forbes Mexico.