ARCS - 17th Annual Research Conference 2025
Participate
The S&O Institute is excited to host and celebrate the seventeenth Annual Research Conference of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS), a consortium of universities and individuals that serves as a professional society of scholars studying the interface between business and sustainability. Our Annual Research Conference brings together researchers from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives who seek to advance the state of the field.
The Seventeenth Annual Research Conference of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) will bring together scholars from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives interested in advancing research on corporate sustainability.
The conference offers a variety of formats: panel discussions, regular paper presentations, research sketches, and networking and social opportunities.
Contributions will highlight the social and environmental dimensions of sustainable business from the vantage point of different social science disciplines (economics, law, operations, organizational theory, political science, psychology, sociology, strategy, etc.) and embrace a variety of methodological approaches (case study, simulation, statistical analysis, theory development, etc.). Examples of suitable topics for the ARCS Conference include: non-market strategy, climate change management, sustainability reporting and disclosure, green supply chains, green marketing, sustainable finance, renewable energy investments, business/NGO partnerships, sustainable mobility, social dimensions of sustainability such as inequality, fair wages and working conditions, social and environmental justice, ESG investing, cleantech innovation, green entrepreneurship, sustainable natural resource management, and “base of the pyramid” development strategies.
The conference starts with the Ph.D. workshop on June 1, 2025. Ph.D. students must have submitted a paper and had it accepted to attend.
Scholars and practitioners with an interest in corporate sustainability research are welcome to register for the conference.
The ARCS community has a long tradition of being welcoming and supportive of its most junior scholars. The one-day PhD Development Workshop is a highlight of the ARCS Conference and a unique opportunity for PhD students to obtain valuable, constructive feedback on their work from faculty and peers. In addition, junior scholars also benefit from career advice and networking opportunities with the ARCS Board and Steering Committee members. This year’s workshop will take place on Sunday June 1st, 2025 at HEC Paris Alumni Office, 9 avenue Franklin Roosevelt 75008 Paris, France.
Additional information is available on the ARCS website.
The ARCS Conference features different types of sessions, described below. All authors of submissions accepted will be listed in the program. Submitting a paper implies your commitment to review other submissions if asked by the conference committee.
- Part I – PhD Development Workshop (one day): The one-day PhD Development Workshop is a highlight of the ARCS Conference and a unique opportunity for PhD students to present their work and obtain valuable, constructive feedback on their work from faculty and peers. In addition, they also benefit from career advice and networking opportunities with the ARCS Board and Steering Committee members.
- Part II – Presentation Slots (20-30 minutes): These provide presenters the opportunity to present their research and obtain feedback from a highly engaged audience in one of the two parallel sessions.
- Part III – Research Sketches (5 minutes): These are short presentations that sketch the presenter's research question and approach and present some central findings. These sketches are presented in a plenary session, providing an opportunity for the entire conference audience to engage with your work.
SESSION OVERVIEW
| 2:00pm - 5:00pm | PhD Development Session (Pre-selected Attendees) Location: Association HEC Session Chair: Rodolphe Durand, HEC Paris |
| 8:30am - 9:00am | |
| 9:00am - 10:00am | Plenary 1: The past, present, and future of ARCS Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Caroline Flammer, Columbia University Glen Dowell (Cornell Johnson College of Business), Aline Gatignon (The Wharton School), Maurizio Zollo (Imperial College Business School), Yuxia Zou (Nanyang Technological University) |
| 10:00am - 10:30am | Research Sketches 1 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Anne Jacqueminet, ESSEC Business School |
| 10:30am - 11:00am | |
| 11:00am - 12:15pm | Parallel Session 1: Local Communities 1 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Olga Hawn, UNC |
| 11:00am - 12:15pm | Parallel Session 2: Energy Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Shon Hiatt, University of Southern California |
| 12:15pm - 1:15pm | |
| 1:15pm - 2:30pm | Parallel Session 3: Ethics and Inclusion Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Crystal Shi, HEC Paris |
| 1:15pm - 2:30pm | Parallel Session 4: Firm Performance Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Romain Boulongne, IESE Business School |
| 2:30pm - 3:00pm | Research Sketches 2 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Chang-Wa Huynh, ESCP Business School |
| 3:00pm - 3:30pm | |
| 3:30pm - 4:45pm | Parallel Session 5: CEOs and Boards Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Ben W. Lewis, Brigham Young University |
| 3:30pm - 4:45pm | Parallel Session 6: Green Investment 1 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Michael Toffel, Harvard Business School |
| 4:45pm - 5:15pm | |
| 5:15pm - 6:15pm | Plenary 2: Panel Discussion on Global South Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Leandro Nardi, HEC Paris Sylvie Lemmet (French Ambassador for the Environment), Gregoire Lurton (CDO, Bluesquare), Bouchra Rahmouni (UMP6) |
| 6:15pm - 7:30pm | |
| 7:30pm | Free Evening in Paris |
| 8:15am - 8:30am | |
| 8:30am - 9:45am | Parallel Session 7: Greenwashing Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Rodolphe Durand, HEC Paris |
| 8:30am - 9:45am | Parallel Session 8: Human Rights & Human Capital Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Max Kagan, Columbia Business School |
| 9:45am - 10:30am | |
| 10:30am - 11:30am | Plenary 3:Panel Discussion on Regulation and EU Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Marieke Huysentruyt, HEC Paris Armin Steinbach (HEC Paris), Elsa Savourey (Lawyer, Independent Legal Advisor and Permanent Lecture Science Po Paris), Sabine Lochmann (CEO of Ascend) and Alexis Krycève (Founder and CEO of HAATCH) |
| 11:30am - 12:00pm | Research Sketches 3 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Narae Lee, KAIST |
| 12:00pm - 1:00pm | |
| 1:00pm - 2:15pm | Parallel Session 10: Public Pressure Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Catherine Summers, University of Michigan |
| 1:00pm - 2:15pm | Parallel Session 9: Green Investment 2 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Shipeng YAN, The University of Hong Kong |
| 2:15pm - 2:45pm | Research Sketches 4 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Caroline Flammer, Columbia University |
| 2:45pm - 3:15pm | |
| 3:15pm - 4:30pm | Parallel Session 11: Market Performance Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Shipeng YAN, The University of Hong Kong |
| 3:15pm - 4:30pm | Parallel Session 12: Polarization Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Vanessa Burbano, Columbia U |
| 6:00pm - 6:15pm | |
| 7:00pm - 10:00pm | Cocktail dinner with music & dancing |
| 10:30pm - 11:30pm | Busses begin returning guests at 10.30pm. With another bus returning at 11:30pm |
| 8:15am - 8:30am | |
| 8:30am - 9:45am | Parallel Session 13: Financing Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Teodor Duevski, HEC Paris |
| 8:30am - 9:45am | Parallel Session 14: Local Communities 2 Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Jean-Pascal Gond, City St George's, University of London |
| 9:45am - 10:30am | |
| 10:30am - 11:45am | Parallel Session 15: Entrepreneurship Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Florencio Felipe Portocarrero, London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 10:30am - 11:45am | Parallel Session 16: Legitimacy Location: Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Cité Universitaire) Session Chair: Clara Scheve, Hamburg University of Technology |
| 12:15pm - 1:30pm | |
Conference Awards
Two types of awards will be presented at the Conference:
- ARCS Best Paper Award: The Award Committee will select one paper for the Best Paper Award. This award will be based on the research paper's potential impact on management practice and rigor of analysis. All submissions will automatically be considered for this award.
- ARCS Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award: The ARCS Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award recognizes a scholar in the area of corporate sustainability, who is likely to make significant contributions to the advancement of corporate sustainability scholarship. The award is granted in recognition of a scholar’s existing body of research and in anticipation of future work. Recipients provide rigorous and salient contributions that cross disciplinary and national boundaries.
Conference Logistics
- Conference Location: Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, la Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre, 9A Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris – France
- Airport : Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly Airports
- Conference Chair: Rodolphe Durand, Professor, Strategy & Business Policy at HEC Paris and co-founder of the hosting S&O Institute
- Conference hotel: A list of hotels near the venue is available here.
Contact Information
For all questions regarding the conference and/or the conference program, please e-mail arcs2025@hec.fr
About ARCS
The Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) aims to advance rigorous academic research on corporate sustainability.
- Individual Members: Faculty members, doctoral students, and researchers from any university, academically oriented institute or think-tank are welcome to become ARCS individual members. ARCS membership includes networking opportunities and access to seminar series.
- Institutional Members: Universities, subunits of universities, and non‐profit organizations that have research as their primary activity and that are determined to advance ARCS’ scholarly mission are welcome to become an ARCS Institutional Member. (View the list of current Institutional Members of the ARCS).
For more information, including individual and institutional membership details, click here.
We look forward to receiving your paper submission for the 2025 ARCS Conference!
- The ARCS Conference Program Committee
Rodolphe Durand, HEC Paris
Magali Delmas, UCLA
Caroline Flammer, Columbia University
Witold Henisz, University of Pennsylvania
Michael Lenox, University of Virginia
Yuxia Zou, Nanyang Technological University