Decisions Under Uncertainty: Lessons for Future Black Swans

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 on line. Freeman’s visit to the Jouy-en-Josas campus was the occasion to discuss his stakeholder vision with a prism of the 21st century. This is an exceptional Breakthroughs podcast, recorded for Knowledge@HEC. Find the written highlights on Knowledge@HEC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unlike the steam engine or the birth of the Internet, AI and LLMs (such as ChatGPT) do not need expensive hardware for access. Hence, a universalization which Carlos Serrano underlines in this wide-ranging podcast. He’s Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Economics in the Department of Economics and Decision Sciences at HEC Paris. With his colleague Professor Thomas Åstebro, he organized a groundbreaking AI & Entrepreneurship Workshop at HEC, inviting top researchers and business experts from different disciplines and backgrounds to discuss how to bridge the gap between research and business. Key points included the transformation of risk management for machines and how, in the words of Serrano, industry practitioners are generally thinking ahead of academics. That, and much more in this frank and often personal podcast exchange. Find the written highlights on Knowledge@HEC here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HEC Professors Laurence Lehmann Ortega and Hélène Muzikas have been working together for over 15 years on a business framework they call Odyssey 3.14. This strategy helps guide companies to better invest in business models that promote innovation and sustainability. The result is a book which entered its third edition in September, entitled “(Re)invent Your Business Model with Odyssey 3.14”. The two academics describe these three pillars and 14 directions which have evolved significantly in the past decades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can the E.U. respond to the growing clamor for more citizen participation in its institutions? In a wide-ranging podcast, the Jean Monnet Professor in EU Law, Alberto Alemanno, proposes a permanent European Citizens Assembly to bring E.U. voters and their representatives closer together. The HEC professor also explores how lobbies can become a force for promoting social change. He also points out structural problems within the E.U. which are stymying the continent’s youth. Finally, Alemanno’s research with fellow academic Elie Sung pinpoints the oft-neglected impact of lobbies on judicial courts by interest groups– which are having devastating effects on societal issues like women’s and LBGTQI+ rights.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The FTX cryptocurrency scandal illuminates the critical caveats to the world of blockchains. Since December 2022 and the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried, this affair has rocked the world of cryptocurrencies and the on-chain features that underpins its entire existence. It also reveals the impact of off-chain factors involved in blockchain operations. Recent research by professors Dane Pflueger (HEC Paris), Martin Kornberger (Vienna University) and Jan Mouritsen (Copenhagen Business School) sheds light on the FTX and other scandals that are unfolding. Their December 2022 publication in the European Accounting Review, explores the issues of governance, organizing, and trust that buttress blockchain accounting. Speaking from the HEC campus near Paris, Pflueger challenges the notion some have that blockchain technology does not need intermediaries like accountants to function.Read the summary on Knowledge@HEC here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Around 1,200 participants congregated in Toronto for the first in-person CDL Super Session in four years. The two-day event featured intense exchanges between startups from the 24 CDL streams, mentors, researchers and academics. There were equally hard-hitting exchanges on AI, geopolitical shifts in innovation and the advancement of humanlike intelligence. HEC Paris sent a strong delegation to Canada to exchange on its growing involvement in this objective-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage companies. A Breakthroughs special brings you an extended program highlighting the key exchanges during this third in-person Super Session. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the eve of the 11th annual D-Tea (promoting Dialogues between Theory, Experimental findings and Applications of decision-making, hence the acronym), we talk to its co-organizer Professor Itzhak Gilboa. Last year, Itzhak was ranked by Stanford University in the world’s top six theoretical economists. His main interest is in decision under uncertainty and decision models whereby uncertainty can’t be quantified. That is called non-Bayesian decision models – as opposed to the Bayesian approach which assigns probabilities based on experience or best guesses. Itzhak questions these axioms, or self-evident truths. He believes his research can help answer unforeseen crises, called black swans, like the war in Ukraine, health pandemics or the climate crisis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HEC Associate Professor Guillaume Vuillemey explores how the maritime shipping industry has evolved in the past 40 years to systematically evade its corporate responsibilities. In his groundbreaking research Vuillemey reveals how this industry – which handles over 80% of global trade flows – uses flags of convenience and limited liability to flout international and moral law. This has repercussions on the environment and basic human rights. In a long interview, Vuillemey outlines his approach of this industry and its links to what some are calling the “dark side of globalization”. The exchange is followed by an on-the-ground report from ChangeNOW 2023 Summit on its analysis to the shipping sector.Read the summary on Knowledge@HEC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doctor Anicet Fangwa's work on health centers and stillbirths in the Democratic Republic of Congo could save millions of lives by better managing health practices throughout Africa. The PhD graduate from HEC Paris describes the managerial tools he's been using to transform treatment in health centers in remote parts of the DRC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been over five years since #MeToo began to draw global attention to the sexual abuse and harassment women have been subjected to in the workplace. But just what impact has this protest movement had on US companies and their boards of directors? HEC Paris Assistant Professor Crystal Shi examined the behavior of over 2,000 American firms to gauge the evolution in policy and attitude of investors and board members in their respective companies. Shi and two fellow academics at New York’s Stern School of Business identified 37 MeToo events in the year after the Harvey Weinstein scandal. They then looked for any abnormal market return based on the boardrooms’ gender structure and culture. Finally, the researchers studied the costs of the companies’ gender-inclusive or -exclusive cultures.Read the summary on Knowledge@HEC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.