ESSEC Business School’s first Honoris Causa Doctorates: two American researchers rewarded

Professors Kathleen M. Eisenhardt (Stanford) and Sidney G. Winter (Wharton) received on Friday, May 25th the ESSEC Honoris Causa Doctorate. This diploma, awarded for the first time by ESSEC, is a recognition of these two scholars' contributions to the fields of management, economics, and entrepreneurship.

“The title Doctor Honoris Causa reflects ESSEC’s values, and these first recipients exemplify the concepts of humanism and innovation, which are embedded in our DNA. Their seminal work in economics, strategy and organization theory has been a source of inspiration for generations of students, researchers and practitioners, and has a particular resonance with the structuring values and pioneering spirit that has driven ESSEC Business School since 1907. Their interdisciplinary scientific contributions to business and management knowledge define them as true incarnations of the scholar in all its rigor, universalism and humanism” stated Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi, Dean and President ESSEC Business School

Two internationally renowned researchers

Professor Kathleen M. Eisenhardt is the Stanford W. Ascherman M.D. Professor and Co‐Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University in the USA. Professor Eisenhardt's research focus is strategy and organization, especially in technology‐based companies and high‐ velocity industries. Her work has contributed to a deeper, more complete understanding of innovation and product development, change in fast moving environments, and the use of heuristics to deal with complexity. The method of building theory from case study research she perfected has brought rigor to management scholarship around the world. Professor Eisenhardt has mentored generations of scholars, and her consulting and advising work has had a positive impact on firms in a variety of industries.

Professor Sidney G. Winter is the Deloitte and Touche Professor Emeritus of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. He is a leading figure in evolutionary economics which portrays firms as routine‐based, learning entities.
This ground‐breaking theory revolutionizes the understanding of the nature of the firm, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Professor Winter’s work also illuminates both the dynamics of industrial change, and the processes of generation and selection of technological opportunities in firms, and the mechanisms driving firms’ dynamic capabilities. Professor Winter’s research has been a source of inspiration for professors and students worldwide who have sought to understand the foundations of economic development. His work has also helped practitioners and business firms make more informed decisions.