Ever since he published “Strategic Management”, Edward Freeman has been at the forefront of a theory that stakeholders are interconnected. For his collective body of work, the economist from Darden School, Virginia, received an Honorary Doctorate from HEC Paris, adding his name to the 48 illustrious scholars on the HEC Honoris Causa list. The March 4 ceremony was followed by several thousand spectators, both live and online. Freeman’s visit to the Jouy-en-Josas campus was the occasion to discuss his stakeholder vision with a prism of the 21st century. Extracts from the exceptional Breakthroughs podcast, recorded for Knowledge@HEC.
Recent news cast some doubts about the effects of shareholder activism on firms’ strategic orientation. Hence, the question: 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 Institute) 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.
By Mark Desjardine , Rodolphe Durand
Danone’s CEO had to leave his position under the pressure of increasingly powerful and influential activist hedge funds. With their controversial tactics aimed at maximizing shareholder profit, they undermine sustainability practices, which they consider wasteful. Indeed, not only do they tend to suppress the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of the companies they target, they also target companies with stronger CSR records in the first place, as a new study reveals. But its authors Mark DesJardine, Rodolphe Durand, and Emilio Marti also show that these companies can divert the attention of activist hedge funds, and that policymakers and socially minded investors can intervene, too.
With online shopping, loyalty programs, smart devices and many other aspects of business and daily lives, companies collect vast amounts of our personal data. The risk is that they may be leaked or misused. A team of researchers designs measures that regulators and companies can undertake to preserve consumer privacy.
By Ruslan Momot
We, individuals and society, are faced today with many important decisions involving radical degrees of uncertainty. To better communicate on the current state of knowledge about uncertainty, and incorporate it into decisions, Brian Hill, CNRS and HEC Paris Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences, initiated the "Uncertainty Across Disciplines" project, interviewing 10 leading experts on the topic of uncertainty.
By Brian Hill , Itzhak Gilboa
Legal Data Mining Conference gathered professionals and academics from the technology, Artificial Intelligence and Law fields to discuss the future of Law. The two-day workshop focused on both the fundamental and practical issues of legal data mining. The event was organized by David Restrepo Amariles (Assistant Professor of Law at HEC Paris) and Ken Satoh (Professor at the National Institute of Informatics of Japan) in March 2019 at the Barreau de Paris.
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 (including Rodolphe Durand and Magali Delmas) arguing for political transparency in a paper that won the California Management Review’s Best Article Award 2019.
By Rodolphe Durand
Ratings and rankings have become powerful tools in global governance, frequently used to motivate companies to be good corporate citizens. A wide range of environmental and social matters such as access to medicine, climate change, obesity and working conditions increasingly transcend national borders and escape the reach of national regulators. For such issues, who should set the rules about the responsibilities of corporations? How can corporations that are by definition designed to generate profit, be guided towards making decisions that benefit society as a whole? Afshin Mehrpouya and Rita Samiolo explore the process behind the production of these rankings.
By Afshin Mehrpouya
Five years after its launch as a core course, Ethics and Sustainability is now one of the most successful courses in the HEC MBA program. Through a lively combination of debate, discussion, game playing, and surveys, see how this course leads students to question their own beliefs, gain an understanding of other points of view, and become better decision makers in the process.
Should whistleblowers be compensated or prosecuted? In their latest research, professors from HEC Paris Nicole Stolowy and Luc Paugam, together with Lawyer Aude Londero, shed light on the different realities faced by whistleblowers depending on jurisdictions, in France and in the United-States.
By Nicole Stolowy , Luc Paugam
