Inclusive Economy Inclusive Economy
At HEC Paris, through the S&O Institute, we aim at contributing to a more inclusive economy, where businesses seek to maximize their social impact together with their economic performance.
The growth of the past decades has not been inclusive. Many business leaders have understood for years that non-inclusive growth is not sustainable, but the rise of global extreme poverty, the acceleration of inequality increased by the current health and economic crisis, and the appearance of social anger have driven the movement to a new stage of awareness and accelerated calls to corporate action.
The Inclusive Economy Center has been working on the contours of inclusive economy since 2008 when HEC Paris created its Social Business/Enterprise & Poverty Chair and jointly set up the Action Tank Social & Business, with stakeholders such as Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and Martin Hirsch (then French High Commissioner for Active Solidarity and Youth). Along the years, it got the committed support of Danone, Schneider Electric, Groupe Renault, Sodexo and Veolia.
The Center draws on 14 years of experience, reflection, and interaction with the private sphere, public sphere, and civil society to address the fundamentals of an inclusive economy and business.
A report “Inclusive Business: What It Is and Why It Matters” was released by S&O as part of the B4IG (Business 4 Inclusive Growth) platform framework. We believe that the inclusive economy does not exclude anyone. It is an economy where each and every person can ‘receive’, namely essential goods and services, at affordable prices, and can also ‘give’ and contribute with dignity and for a decent salary.
We firmly believe that business cannot only be part of the problem, and they can be part of the solution: private enterprise should be an amazing driving force for social innovation and integrating people into society, provided they collaborate with other stakeholders from civil society and public authorities, as stated in sustainable development objective 17, and they co-create new economic models. This is an absolute societal need and is in a company’s best interests. In addition, we also believe that social justice, which is deeply entrenched in the economy, needs to be achieved in order to bring about peace.
We therefore adopted the term ‘inclusive economy’ because we want an approach which would speak equally to philanthropists, impact investors and companies operating within the market economy. We are currently pursuing this objective at the Society & Organizations Institute. We have committed to doing this by rolling out research and new courses and educational programs, aimed at students and managers, involving collaboration by multiple stakeholders.
Building a more inclusive economy
We aim at contributing to a more inclusive economy, where businesses seek to maximize their social impact together with their economic performance.
NEWS
For the third consecutive year, students from HEC Paris joined forces with local residents, entrepreneurs, and municipal representatives from Les Mureaux to tackle some of society’s most pressing...
How can organizations address inequalities and foster inclusion? This is the renewed challenge that the HEC S&O Inclusive Economy Center will strive to meet with the help of its new academic director...
Refugees and global migration; access to health; social connectivity. These were just a few of the issues explored at the second HEC Inclusion Day, organized by the Sustainability & Organizations...
Thursday, May 2, 2024 marked an important milestone in the collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the field, as we gathered for the second edition of Inclusive Economy Day at Fiap-Jean...
Sustainability is the way to stay profitable in a world of changing priorities. Amid the growing urgency for businesses to adopt responsible practices, HEC Paris has overhauled its Sustainable Transition...
Paris, January 16, 2024 — A groundbreaking discussion unfolded in Paris as part of the ongoing efforts to leverage Social Economy Science for sustainable societal change. The event, co-organized by the...
In a recent high-profile conference organized by the S&O Institute and the HEC UK House in London on January 23, 2024, academics and businesses shed light on the complex reality of forced migration and...
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the HEC Paris Inclusive and Social Business Certificate, a significant milestone in the world of social business. For the occasion, HEC Paris organized a roundtable...
How can you engage in an impact-oriented work and contribute to the ecological and social transformation of your country? To democratize impact careers around the world, HEC and Ticket for Change are...
“How experimental research could help real world organizations address concrete social challenges”. This was the ambitious objective set by HEC’s first-ever Inclusive Economy (IE) Day, attended by...
Nobel laureate Esther Duflo called on HEC Paris students to do their part as a lobbying and political force in creating an international taxation system to finance the fight against climate change...
What Gets Measured: Social factors coverage in corporate ESG frameworks is a new report published by Professors Marieke Huysentruyt, Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot, Leandro Nardi, from the S&O Inclusive...
HEC’s 2022-2023 academic year kicked off with talks by a host of outstanding guest speakers largely devoted to the world’s most pressing environmental and societal issues. In the context of geopolitical...
ISSB Chairperson Emmanuel Faber kickstarted the 2022-2023 HEC Talks season with an impassioned plea to students to “reinvent the future” through resilience and a regenerative culture. The September 12...
In the wake of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), HEC Professor of strategy Laurence Lehmann-Ortega along with her academic team shed a new light on companies and initiatives working in...
An expert in the social and environmental aspects of running a business for almost two decades, Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot - Associate Professor of Strategy & Business Policy at HEC Paris, and also...
In recent decades we’ve seen inequalities growing in society, exacerbated in part by the current global health, social and economic crises. It falls to ambitious businesses to recognize the benefits of...
Hilary Matson, HEC MBA alumna 2020 is the founder of Yūgen Earthside that aims at shaping the future of sustainable tourism. Thanks to her new online platform, she helps us to travel better to protect and...
Margault Phélip, HEC alumna 2008 is now CEO of Impact Studio, and Manager at Archipel & Co. She has kindly accepted to answer our questions with authenticity and passion. Focus on her career path and...
In 2020, the Society &Organizations Institute (S&O) marks 12 years of research on the notion of an inclusive global economy with the report “ Inclusive Business: What it is and Why it Matters”. This third...
Graduating from the HEC Paris Master in Management program in 1988, Virginie Hélias is Procter & Gamble’s Chief Sustainability Officer. Having carved out the role for herself, she has made sustainability...
Master 2 students worked between 4 and 12 weeks on inclusive business projects of the L’Accelerateur ESS Ile-de-France. It was a unique experience for them to understand how committed companies can link a...
In the second of a series of online seminars, HEC Paris invited Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus for an hour-long exchange on bouncing back after the COVID-19 health crisis. Led by Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot...
HEC Paris, together with the Ile de France region, supports the leaders of the up and coming companies in inclusive social entrepreneurship by offering them the benefit of a tailor-made programme to...
As Executive Director for Healthcare and Seniors, Sodexo China, Grace Han manages on-site service solutions for hospitals and rest homes. She also has extensive experience in developing major strategic...
Movement for Social * Business Impact Donors Encourage SnO Research on More Inclusive Global Economy
HEC Paris’ Society and Organization Center (SnO) and the Movement for Social*Business Impact (MS*BI), convened for a March 6 meeting between all six major corporate donors to share the fruits of their...
In November, HEC Paris hosted the 2016 Social Business Academia Conference featuring Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. 113 people from around 20 countries participated in the two-day event. The co...
Inspiring Founding Partners
Muhammad Yunus
Martin Hirsch
Emmanuel Faber
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S&O - Inclusive Economy Center Contacts
