Business Strategy in a Fragmenting World: Firms, States, and Civil Society

Lundi 02 juin 2025

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Business Strategy in a Fragmenting World: Firms, States, and Civil Society

 

IRSEM – HEC Paris
École Militaire, Paris – Amphithéâtre de Bourcet
 Monday, June 2nd, 2025 | 8:30 – 18:30

 

Place and date: 2 June 2025, École Militaire, Paris 7th arrondissement

Access (Pre-registration is mandatory)

  • 8:00-9:30: 17, place Joffre
  • After 9:30: 1, place Joffre

Room: Amphitheater de Bourcet

 

To register

Organizers:

 

Motivation

Businesses and the private sector are increasingly embroiled in national security issues in a world that is transitioning away from the heyday of happy globalization. While the economy remains globalized, all actors are now aware that the interdependence it creates can be leveraged to exert power. Firms are key actors as the networks and supply chain they established are a terrain on which states are waging their rivalries through, for example, the imposition of economic sanctions. The capabilities firms develop (e.g., New Space, AI, semi-conductor fabrication) have become the stakes of acute inter-state rivalries, motivating clashes between states as well as a renewal of industrial policies.

This conference will help establish a dialogue among (1) academics from business schools, (2) think tank researchers, (3) businesses, and (4) policymakers to address these issues in a multidisciplinary way. The presenters will be drawn from these four communities. Thanks to the conference’s location in central Paris, we plan to reach an audience comprised of policymakers, businesses, and academics (from business schools and from policy school).

 

Tentative Program (All session in Amphitheater de Bourcet)

 

8:30 – Welcome Coffee, Pavillon Joffre

 

9:00-9:30 Introduction and Opening

 

9:30-10:45 Panel 1: A Fragmenting World: Are Firms Actors or Bystanders?

 

10:45-11:00 Coffee Break, Pavillon Joffre

 

11:00-11:15 Panel 2:  Civil Society and the Crisis of “Doux commerce”

 

12:15-13:00 Lunch break, Pavillon Joffre 

 

13:00-14:15 Panel 3: Industrial Policies and Supply Chains: Can Resilience be Engineered?

 

14:15-14:45 Keynote

Olivier Blum, CEO

 Schneider Electric

Interviewer: Jeremy Ghez

 

14:45-15:00 Coffee Break, Pavillon Joffre

 

15:00-16:15 Panel 4: Developments in AI: Convergence or Divergence?

 

16:15-17:30 Panel 5: New Dilemmas for Firms

 

17:30-18:00 Conclusion