 |
|
 |
|
| Fall 2009 - No.1 |
|
Welcome to ESSEC Insight…
...a fresh look at ESSEC Business School’s international activities, academic and research expertise, and increasingly important role in the global arena. As the latest version of the ESSEC ‘International Newsletter’, ESSEC Insight aims to respond to the growing global diversity of the ESSEC community. As we embark on this new communication initiative, we hope to bring you up-to-date on the highlights of ESSEC Business School using an interactive, attractive medium that gets straight to the point and puts matters into the global context in which we live.
Innovation has been a central part of ESSEC’s paradigm since the school’s conception and it continues to be a crucial part of our teaching and research philosophy today. Whether it is reflected in cutting-edge research, the latest teaching methods or student class projects, innovation is constantly permeating and sculpting our environment. Sharing these rich experiences illustrates the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation that runs through the veins of the ESSEC community and the inevitable way it has a positive impact on the world around us. 
Martine Bronner
Director of Marketing & Communications, ESSEC Business School
Tell us what you think!
Take a few moments to complete our online questionnaire
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| Innovation? Now more than ever… but with caution |
On April 9th, ESSEC hosted ESSEC Innovation Day – a two-part day dedicated to Innovation in the Time of Crisis: Balancing Prudence and Risk, that kicked off with the second conference of ESSEC's Interdisciplinary Forum, ‘Questioning the Crisis’. The forum assembles members of ESSEC faculty and professional experts in different management fields for academic debate about pressing business issues, and this year, took place in les Salons de la Maison des Arts et Métiers in Paris. In a difficult economic climate, how can innovation be a survival tool? Managing innovation in a time of crisis means being able to balance measured risk-taking with prudence was the main message, conveyed by the forum’s chair and coordinator, Alain Lempereur, Professor of Public and Private Policy and head of the Negotiation and Mediation Chair at ESSEC.
“In a classic crisis situation, we must on the one hand, question certain innovations of the past and, on the other hand, develop new innovative responses by adopting a new approach to risk-taking…”
Alain Lempereur
For the second part of the day, Themes d’Entreprises brought together professionals from leading international companies to discuss issues such as accounting standards, organizational design, crisis management, marketing, business ethics, sustainable development, real estate, and the internet, in light of the current economic climate.
Professor Radu Vranceanu, director of the ESSEC Research Center discussed the importance of research as a source of innovation and Pierre Tapie, Dean and President of ESSEC Business School, emphasized the importance of encouraging young managers to innovate for the future.
Round tables covered creativity, human resources and diversity and included contributions from Christian Sauzin, Director Marketing, Fenwick-Linde, Wynne Lewis, Director R&D, 3M, Jean-Paul Manet, Director Innovation, Nestlé, Anne Broches, Director HR, LCL Group, Gontran Lajeune, President Center for Young Directors, Luis Molina, Director HR, EDF Commerce.
Questioning the Crisis is back in December 2009 with a closer look at the political and financial responses to the financial crisis and an analysis of the impact of rescue packages that have been put in place, both in Europe and in the United States.
Don’t miss the next edition of ESSEC Insight for more details. |
 |
 |
 Research Publications |
OPERATIONS: How does regulation affect the strategic evolution of electricity markets?
Authors: Fernando Oliveira & Derek Bunn
For almost two decades, governments around the world have been trying to create more competitive electricity markets through various regulatory policies. Our main objective in this paper is to analyze the impact of regulatory interventions on the evolution of market structure. The computational model presented in the paper can be used both by regulators and generation firms to study the possible long-term impacts of regulatory interventions.
Read full summary |
|
HR: How new human resource management policies are impacting India's economy
Author: Ashok Som
The importance of strategic human resource management in improving organisational performance has become a mantra in today’s western economies. Using HRM strategically is seen as an essential tool in enhancing organisational effectiveness, profitability and survival in competitive markets. But is this also true for the world’s emerging economies, especially a country like India?
Read full summary |
|
FINANCE: A First Look at the Microstructure of the CDS Market
Authors: Andras Fulop & Laurence Lescourret
A common belief is to qualify the credit default swap market as very liquid. However, looking at intra-daily CDS data on GMAC from a major inter-dealer broker, we find only limited support for this view ...
Read full abstract |
|
|
|
MANAGEMENT: An Investigation of Time Inconsistency and an Application to Loyalty Programs
Authors: Ayse Önçüler & Serdar Sayman
In many situations, individuals show interest in long-term outcomes early on but then get tempted by short-term alternatives, such as spending money on a lavish vacation instead of saving for retirement. This behavior is labeled as time inconsistency in economic literature ...
Read full abstract |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Orange spot-on at CPI Trade Show |
|
For the 4th year running, 173 students from ESSEC Business School, Centrale Paris and Strate Collège Designers presented their work on innovation at the “CPI Trade Show” which took place on May 26th on the ESSEC Cergy campus.
Based on a concept created at Stanford University, the CPI (“Création d’un Produit Innovant” or literally, “Creation of an Innovative Product”) initiative is an interdisciplinary innovation program, enabling students from different disciplines to collaborate on management, engineering and industrial design concepts.
Orange SMS product a winner
Amongst the fourteen projects displayed, the Orange project, « SMS on the spot » was selected by a jury consisting of faculty from the three schools and professionals from Capgemini Consulting, i-Nova, les Echos and Apple. The innovative product is designed to locate individuals by sending and receiving SMS.
Companies, Gemalto, Orange, Orange TV, La Pose, SFR, Cofiroute, Le Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et Européennes (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Thalès, Guist’hau and Vallourec renewed their support and confidence in the students on the CPI program.
Visit their blog to see live footage of the CPI Trade Show 2009 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Business Model
Turning a passion into a business
After 40 years of investing all his spare time in building helicopters and airplanes, ESSEC alumnus, Yves Bienenfeld, decided to develop his passion for engine modeling into a veritable business. Read how his burgeoning online portail has witnessed rapid growth in only 4 years and is helping to put the world of technology innovation at our fingertips ...
Read full article |
|
 |
|
Business worlds collide at ESSEC's Singapore campus
As multi-national companies continue to flock to Singapore, ESSEC’s campus in Asia’s commercial hub continues to attract students from East and West alike. Learn more about the magnetic force behind this thriving city-state and why ESSEC students on the Singapore campus consider the experience to be a strategic part of their career development.
“ESSEC decided to establish a campus in Singapore to put more ‘Asia’ into existing programs.”
Christian Koenig, Director, ESSEC Campus, Singapore
|
|
Learning the Art of Getting Ahead
ESSEC's International Hospitality Management MBA
Take a closer look at the vibrant cross-cultural experiences available through ESSEC’s International Hospitality Management MBA and find out why IMHI graduates are taking the industry by storm.
“The entire industry in Europe is dominated by former IMHI graduates.”
Puneet Chhatwal, Senior VP & Chief Development Officer for the Rezidor Hotel Group and an ESSEC IMHI graduate. Interviewed during the IMHI Industry Leaders Conference in Paris, February 2009.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
“I am an ESSEC”
ESSEC’s first annual reunion a huge success
|
 June 6th 2009 marked the very first ‘ESSEC Day’ – the inaugural annual reunion of the ESSEC Business School community, planned in partnership with the Paris-based, ESSEC Alumni association. Over 500 guests descended on the Cergy campus to reunite with faculty, students, alumni and staff and take part in a myriad of social and educational activities. The afternoon kicked off with theatre, sport and wine tasting, in addition to a stunning dance performance by alumnus Catherine Motol (1996) in the brand new, state-of-the-art restaurant. The notorious ‘Mardis de l’ESSEC’ – the school’s debating society – broke tradition and hosted a ‘Samedi de l’ESSEC’, inviting contributions from ESSEC professors and evening festivities included a gourmet buffet, dancing, and a concert-style performance including amusing poems and songs, in addition to the free-flowing champagne that one would expect from a French business school! The event proved to be a truly convivial affair that brought together the ESSEC community and provided an opportunity for the various communities that contribute to the school’s exceptional diversity to demonstrate their skills and interact with “ESSECs”, past and present.
 Photo gallery
“In addition to the satisfaction we got from taking part in this event, we thoroughly enjoyed the great ambience and atmosphere. ESSEC Day deserves to be repeated and go down in history as one of ESSEC’s legendary moments…”
Jerôme Adam, (ESSEC Alumni 2000) Creator EasyLife Conseils
For further information, look no further than www.essecday.com and save the date – 5th June 2010 – for the second ESSEC Day! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Visualizing and Actualizing
ESSEC Ventures fostering entrepreneurship |
| |
Welcome to the Cergy campus, site of ESSEC Business School but also the universal HQ of ESSEC Ventures, France’s largest business-school run start-up incubator and the only school that operates its own private equity fund dedicated to students.
ESSEC Ventures has supported over 100 student-run projects since 2001 – 75 of these have gone on to create veritable companies and run independently of the incubator. Open to all students who are studying at ESSEC and who have completed a business plan, ESSEC Ventures offers motivated students an on-site, fully-equipped office, coaching twice a month by the incubator’s director, Julien Morel, legal and specialist advice, fundraising assistance and access to a gold-mine of contacts, for an average period of 9 months. In 2008, ESSEC Ventures also funded 10 of these start-ups and assesses projects on the same criteria as other business angels: ambition, innovation, feasibility, potential profitability and the quality of the team.
By creating an atmosphere that fosters hands-on, concrete application of the skills students are learning every day, ESSEC Ventures provides budding entrepreneurs with a sounding-board for their ideas and encourages them to take responsibility for bringing them to life.
“ESSEC Ventures is the natural result of the burning entrepreneurial spirit that is inherent at ESSEC Business School. We have adopted a dual approach to how we nurture this creative energy, by providing students with both formal training and practical coaching”
Julien Morel, Director of ESSEC Ventures
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ESSEC Ventures Success Stories |
|
| |
|
|
Successful projects have included Planète Reductions, an online shopping experience that allows shoppers to access markets abroad and save up to 75% on purchases. Project Sol’R produces and sells remote-controllable, solar-powered airships or ‘blimps’ that can be used for advertising, travel or telecommunications purposes. The highly popular music streaming service, Deezer, was started by an ESSEC Ventures student, Jonathan Benassaya, not long after having also started his entrepreneurial career in the incubator. The projects are as diverse and creative as the students that run them, covering sport, the internet, media, telecommunications and sustainable development.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Great Minds Don't Always Think Alike
Business and Engineering pool strengths to offer an Advanced Master in Entrepreneurship
|
Are entrepreneurs born or made?
ESSEC’s new Advanced Master in Entrepreneurship, offered in partnership with Ecole Centrale – one of France’s most prestigious engineering schools – is based on the premise that budding entrepreneurs can at least benefit from some serious nurturing, particularly in the globalized, increasingly competitive environment that is the entrepreneur’s terrain today.
A meeting of minds
By bringing engineers and business school students together in the classroom, the new program aims to create a nexus between technical skills, core business concepts and successful entrepreneurial ability. Being able to master a holistic approach to value-creation by simultaneously turning vision into reality and then successfully communicating and managing this concept to the market, is critical for the success of an entrepreneurial project.
By combining forces, ESSEC and Centrale – both leading education and research centers – can provide participants with a unique opportunity to effectively grasp both managerial skills and technical expertise, a factor that fosters the creation of start-ups from all sectors (technology, professional services, non-for-profit etc.) and all types of organizations (company, partnership, subsidiary etc.)
A multi-faceted approach
This flexible program allows participants to customize their timetable to fit in with other commitments and also approaches entrepreneurship from both angles – the entrepreneur and the ‘venture capitalist’. For budding entrepreneurs, training is provided in setting up companies, and managing small or medium sized enterprises, profit centers, business units, or subsidiaries. However, training also focuses on careers in entrepreneur-driven areas such as managing incubators, working in research labs, providing economic and industrial development support, becoming an analyst or an investor, executing mergers and acquisitions, or advising on investment law.
Pedagogical innovation
The partnership equally highlights ESSEC’s commitment to creating valuable educational partnerships with other leading institutions and thus, embracing a move towards integrated, interdisciplinary education. As entrepreneurship becomes the status-quo for the 21st century, this approach almost certainly marks a leap forward in business education philosophy. As American strategic designer, Jeffrey Veen said; “Good design can’t fix broken business models”.
The course began on August 31st, 2009. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
ESSEC Insight Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief: Kate Doherty,
Production & Layout: Marie-Hélène Ravary
Director Marketing & Communications: Martine Bronner
Editorial Contributions:
Céline Leroy, Corporate Communications Manager
Radu Vranceanu, Director of the ESSEC Research Center
Template Design: Smart Agence
Official Mentions
|
|
Photo gallery
