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Un centre d'excellence pour la recherche
Fondé en 2008 sous l'égide de Rodolphe Durand, l'Institut S&O regroupe une quarantaine de professeurs et de doctorants d'HEC Paris. Son approche de recherche combine un large éventail de méthodes adaptées aux phénomènes étudiés. Il incorpore également un raisonnement théorique provenant de diverses disciplines, dont l'économie, la sociologie, la psychologie, la philosophie et l'histoire, qui sont ensuite intégrées avec un objectif de management. La recherche est menée en partenariat avec d'autres institutions académiques de premier plan en Europe et en Amérique du Nord.
Des recherches qui répondent directement aux défis de notre temps
L'Institut S&O offre de nouvelles façons de comprendre le monde, en aidant les organisations à concilier les priorités économiques avec une nouvelle série d'impératifs. La recherche menée par les professeurs du Centre aborde des thématiques concrètes, aux résultats directement exploitables pour les entreprises, telles que: la communication environnementale, la mise en place d’une politique de développement durable au sein de différentes entités d’une multinationale, le financement responsable, les nouvelles énergies, les partenariats public-privé, l’action des ONGs, les
nouvelles normes et standards comptables, les nouvelles formes d’incitations au travail, les inégalités au travail,... etc.
Des recherches d'importance mondiale
L'Institut S&O est devenu un centre de réflexion dynamique reconnu dans toute l'Europe. Au cours des quatre dernières années, les membres du Centre ont déjà produit plus de 80 articles de recherche, dont plus de la moitié ont été publiés dans des revues universitaires de premier plan. Par ses publications, ses échanges et partenariats académiques, son organisation d'événements internationaux (La Summer School Medici, le European Theory Development Workshop) et son programme de bourses doctorales, le Centre S&O contribue fièrement au développement d'une communauté de chercheurs internationaux concernés par les principaux défis contemporains.
Nous nous engageons dans l'étude de processus et de mécanismes qui constituent la base d'une nouvelle vision pour un capitalisme plus responsable.

What you need to know about Sustainability and CSR
S&O Executive Factsheets
Have a look at our collection of 19 factsheetsLatest Research
Activist Hedge Funds: Good for Some, Bad for Others?
Do activist hedge funds help or harm the companies they target? Mark DesJardine of Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business and Rodolphe Durand of HEC Paris (members of the HEC’s Society & Organizations Center) investigated the long-term effects of hedge fund activism on companies that get targeted by these activists. In their extensive research, they found the value of targeted companies spikes the first year after targeting but drops in later years relative to similar non-targeted companies. In addition, the authors found that being targeted by activist hedge funds put a halt to the broader investment portfolios and socially responsible efforts of companies.
Also featured in the Financial Times and the Institutional Investor
Labor Market Polarization and the New Geography of Jobs
The labor market is strongly polarized. What consequences on the society? Based on their latest research, professors of Economics Tomasz Michaslki and Eric Mengus explain this "Great Divergence", and give insights on how to find new ways to create added value, both in bigger and smaller cities.
Also featured in VOXeu
Optimizing Feed-In Tariffs to Boost Renewable Energy Production
Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are crucial tools to increase the adoption of renewable energy technologies. But setting them at the right level (price) is a balancing act. If they are poorly designed, they can backfire, stunting the industry and wasting public money. A duo of HEC researchers, along with a colleague from the University of Texas at Austin, have shown that, to set optimal FIT levels, regulators must take into account the behaviours all players affected, including technology manufacturers.
Walking the talk: why companies should be politically transparent
More and more companies flaunt their policies regarding social or environmental sustainability. However, these same companies may promote policies that contradict their stated CSR objectives through their political actions. Enough is enough, says a group of top researchers arguing for political transparency in a paper that won the California Management Review’s Best Article Award 2019.

Inclusive Business Report: What it is and Why it matters
We explain what an inclusive economy means to us and detail barriers to inclusion and levers that businesses can use to remove these obstacles.
Read the report

Accelerating Researcher-Practitioner in Sustainability Research
Le rapport présente 7 collaborations de recherche
Télécharger le rapport (en anglais)
La stratégie de la mesure d'impact social
Comment mesurer son impact social
Télécharger le rapport (en anglais)Academic Events
The S&O Institute annually organizes academic workshops and conferences related to corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility, management, behavioral economics, business performance, etc...
S&O Monthly Research Seminar on campus
On April 21, we were delighted to welcome a remarkable guest speaker:
HEC Associate Professor of Finance and Member of French Parliament Jean-Noël Barrot to talk about a hot topic of Sectoral Effects of Social Distancing
Abstract of his paper :
The health crisis caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus has led many states to take drastic measures of social distancing. By reducing the amount of work, these measures in turn lead to a drop in activity which is difficult to quantify without taking into account the overlapping of sectors. Starting from a standard model of production networks, we analyze the sectoral effects of the shock in the case of France. It is estimated that six weeks of social distancing brings GDP down by 5.6%. Apart from the sectors directly concerned by social distancing measures, those whose added value decreases the most are the upstream sectors, that is to say those furthest from final demand. We estimate the effect of progressive phasing out of social distancing by sector, age, and region.
More to come on Knowledge@HEC
Appel à publications
The S&O Center and the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) are happy to organize the workshop "Accelerating Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations in Sustainability Research" on October 11-12, 2019 at the Collège des Bernardins, Paris.
Collaborations between researchers and practitioners are needed to address sustainability issues at a global scale. This workshop seeks to bring together high-level scholars and practitioners to foster new connections and inspire joint collaborations.
The S&O team and ARCS invites individual researchers, research teams, and centers to propose research syntheses along the following topics/questions:
TOPICS :
- Governance & Organizational Design for Sustainability
- Sustainability and Employees
- Managing the Sustainable Organization
- Sharing Economy and Sustainability
- Valuing Social Businesses
- Sustainability and the Role of Governments
- Financing Sustainability
- Communication of Sustainability
- Circular Economy
- Experimental Research and Firms
Séminaires et ateliers de recherche
La Medici Summer School
La Medici Summer School en Management est une occasion unique pour les doctorants et les jeunes chercheurs du monde entier d'interagir avec des leaders éclairés dans le domaine du management. Elle combine à la fois des conférences et des séminaires de recherche qui aident au développement d'une pratique éclairée de la gestion des affaires.
Partenariats de recherche
Le Centre S&O développe des partenariats très variés avec des écoles de commerce comme des institutions académiques afin de faciliter la recherche sur des sujets incluant, mais sans s'y limiter, les contraintes climatiques, les inégalités sociales, les perturbations technologiques et la responsabilité sociale des entreprises.