HEC Paris Celebrates 15 Years of Alternative Management, Sustainable Development and Social Innovation Teaching

The MSc in Sustainability & Social Innovation (SASI), a laboratory of reflection and ideas, questions ways of deepening corporate transformation and economic models to reach sustainability objectives.

The diversity of the profiles and journeys of its participants, representing over thirty nationalities, shows the success of this program that has attracted over 800 students since its creation.

Born of the fusion of two flagship programs at HEC Paris, the Master in Sustainability, founded in 2003 and the Alternative Management majors, created in 2007, the MSc in Sustainability & Social Innovation (SASI) brings together, around innovating approaches, entrepreneurs of change aware of central subjects such as the fragility of social pacts and the environmental stakes.

In collaboration with the teaching researchers of HEC Paris’ Society & Organizations (S&O) center, and following the example of the work carried out for the Pacte bill, the program offers new research, teaching and action topics to feed reflection on corporate responsibility, and on the tools used to generate valuable new sources.

Equipped with critical thinking to build long-lasting solutions responding to the current immense social and environmental challenges, graduates from the program choose both specialized careers, from environmental transition to social progress, but also non-specialized jobs in order to apply new practices to these fields bringing together social and environmental stakes.

At the fifteenth anniversary of the program, organized on June 13, 2018, HEC Paris gathered Professor Jeremy Ghez, Scientific Director of the program and Lise Penillard, Executive Director, Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot, Executive Director of the S&O Center, current students of the program, alumni from the past 15 years, professors and business experts, to exchange on the main current stakes: how to incorporate environmental, social and governmental questions in corporate decision-making; how to accelerate the transformation of economic models to align them with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Which partnerships should be developed to change the scale in hybrid government models; how can we act more efficiently to evolve corporate behavior?

Throughout these numerous rich exchanges, participants highlighted the sustainable development and prospective topics for the next ten years as much in terms of necessary skills and teaching as of creating a long-lasting community.

This anniversary shows the central position that the topic of corporate social responsibility occupies at heart of HEC Paris’ strategy. It illustrates the constant commitment of the school to train actors of change, capable of challenging the status quo and developing paradigms for businesses and new models.