Award-Winning Insight: Professors Ghez and Chatain Honored for Rethinking Business Strategy in a Fragmenting World
At HEC Paris, faculty are not only observing the evolving business landscape—they are actively shaping it. This year’s Fondation HEC Awards once again underscore the School’s commitment to research excellence and real-world impact, celebrating professors whose work resonates far beyond academic circles.
Among the distinguished laureates, Professors Jérémy Ghez (H.05) and Olivier Chatain were awarded the Faculty Impact Award in recognition of their groundbreaking initiative, “Business Strategy in a Fragmenting World: Firms, States, and Civil Society.” Their work offers critical insights into how organizations navigate an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.
Addressing a Fragmenting Global Landscape
In a context marked by shifting geopolitical dynamics and the end of “happy globalization,” businesses are becoming central actors in international relations. Supply chains, technological capabilities, and economic interdependencies are now strategic tools leveraged by states, placing firms at the heart of global rivalries.
As Olivier Chatain and Jeremy Ghez explain, “power and coercion have returned to the center of economic life,” requiring companies to fundamentally rethink how they assess and manage risk in a world where long-standing assumptions about stability no longer hold.
Ghez and Chatain’s award-winning project confronts these challenges head-on. Through a landmark conference held in central Paris, they created a rare platform for dialogue between four key communities:
- academic researchers,
- think tank experts,
- business leaders, and
- policymakers.
By bringing these groups together, the initiative addressed a critical gap. Too often, business schools focus on competitive strategy detached from geopolitical realities, while policymakers and analysts lack insight into operational business constraints. The conference established a new model for cross-sector collaboration, fostering a shared understanding of the interplay between economics, geopolitics, and civil society.
Recognizing Impact Beyond the Academic Sphere
The HEC Paris Faculty Impact Award honors a project, publication, or initiative led by HEC faculty whose influence extends beyond academia—into public debate, business practice, teaching, and society at large. It also recognizes originality, innovation, and visibility in the media and public sphere.
In awarding Ghez and Chatain, the jury highlighted the importance of their work in preparing future leaders to operate in a complex and rapidly changing world:
“By bringing together academics, business leaders, policymakers, and think tank researchers, this project creates a direct dialogue between stakeholders. It is a concrete step toward a better understanding of the interactions between business challenges, geopolitical realities, and industrial policies. In today’s world, curiosity, open-mindedness, and agility are essential skills for leaders to design sustainable strategies and create meaningful impact.”
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A Faculty Driving Change
This distinction reflect what defines HEC Paris: a faculty deeply engaged with global challenges, producing research that informs decision-making and contributes to society.
Each year, with the support of its donors, the HEC Foundation convenes academic experts, corporate leaders, and members of its community to celebrate contributions that advance management science and its relevance in the world.
Several members of our faculty were recognized for contributions that are advancing management science and addressing today’s most pressing challenges:
- Jessica Jeffers: Best Professor Article Award
📄 Her research on the risk and return of impact investing funds sheds light on a fast-growing segment of finance where performance meets purpose. - Stefano Lovo: Researcher Award
📄 Honored for the strength and impact of his academic contributions. - Laurence Lehmann-Ortega: Bruno Roux de Bézieux Award for Pedagogical Initiative
📄 For Crafting Relevant Learning Experiences in the Age of AI, exploring how education must evolve in response to technological transformation. - Antoine Hubert de Fraisse (PhD ’25): Doctoral Thesis Award
📄 Recognizing outstanding research from the next generation of scholars.
HEC Paris warmly congratulates all award recipients and extends its gratitude to the jury members—Virginie Chauvin (H.91), Bertrand Cardi (H.96), Éric Chol, Benoît De Jaègere, Friederike Hofmann, Ronan Le Moa, and Luis Marini-Portugal (H.93)—for their commitment to recognizing excellence and impact.
Read More
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