Chair in Governance and CSR
Chairs and projects
Chair in Governance and CSR
Officer: Amélie NOTAIS
The Chair in Governance and CSR was established on 21 May 2019. It aims to bring together stakeholders from different backgrounds (businesses, associations, communities, academics and students in particular) engaged with the themes of governance and CSR in the Grand Ouest region of France. With its first partner, the liquid food-processing company LSDH (Laiterie de Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel), the Chair has initiated a dynamic of action-oriented thinking with feedback from stakeholders whose approaches are significant whether in terms of governance or CSR.
To achieve these aspirations, the Chair focuses on three levers:
Research
The Chair promotes the scientific outreach of researchers in management sciences at the Le Mans Université and encourages the creation of knowledge related to governance and/or CSR. It supports the communication and the publication of the scientific work of researchers from the ARGUMans laboratory around these two themes.
To date, two axes have been the main focus of the Chair’s researchers:
- responsible governance. This first axis is directed by Mehdi Nekhili, a professor of finance whose work is recognised internationally. It deals with governance in its internal and external challenges and dynamics and its connections with corporate CSR practices.
- sustainable entrepreneurship. This axis is directed by Amélie Notais, Senior Lecturer. Entrepreneurship is discussed in all its forms and in particular from the perspectives of business transfers, female entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.
Teaching
From the start of the 2019/2020 academic year, the launch of the Chair in Governance and CSR is accompanied by the opening of a Masters dedicated to management and sustainable development (MDD) within the context of the Master Management of SMEs SMIs at Le Mans Université. This Masters aims to train the executives and leaders of the future by giving students the fundamentals in management sciences in order to get them to think and act in the context of CSR and SD issues.
The Chair plans to use inclusive and active teaching techniques with the help of a business game. This business game will involve the students studying for the MDD Masters to manage a virtual company as a team, with the performance of the company to be measured according to financial, but also social, environmental and societal indicators (triple bottom line).
The conference cycle
The purpose of the conference cycle is to stimulate discussion on governance and CSR and to contribute to the emergence of new knowledge and new questions. The Chair wishes to organise academic meetings but also to bring academics and professionals closer together.
One of the ambitions of the conference cycle is to bring together stakeholders from different backgrounds: academics, students, companies, associations and local authorities in order to contribute to the emergence of a network of stakeholders involved in particular in the Grand Ouest region.
Achievements
Creation of a new Masters dedicated to Management and to sustainable development
The Chair in Governance and CSR and the MDD Masters (Masters in Management and Sustainable Development) will be closely associated. The Masters model was created to allow students to respond to the new challenges posed by the implementation of CSR practices in organisations. Masters students will be regularly involved with the events pertaining to the Chair.
21 May 2019 - The inaugural conference entitled “Business transfers, a sustainable growth strategy”
Jointly organised by the CCI Le Mans Sarthe and the Transmission Lab (a public interest body), the Chair's first conference took place on 21 May 2019. This professional conference addressed the topic of “Business transfers, a sustainable growth strategy” With contributions from the directors of LSDH and the Cosme meat delicatessen, and with informed input by experts from Family and Co and Fidal, this first conference suggested how much the transfer of a business should be conceived as a long-term project within which governance and CSR issues are decisive.
10 February 2020 - Second conference of the Chair in Governance and CSR of Le Mans Université entitled “Sustainable Development:Different perspectives on local initiatives”.
Thanks to the collaboration between partners from various sectors, including both public and private, there is a commitment to the implementation of real change in the context of the new environmental challenges. This conference has made it possible to address these various partnerships and to take into consideration citizens’ initiatives in conjunction with sustainable development.
Various speakers were invited to discuss these themes, within the framework of the Chair:
- Samuel Guy, sustainable development manager at Le Mans Métropole, will put the initiatives in context from the concept to the implementation of projects around three main axes, namely energy, mobility and catering (in particular with the “Pays du Mans” label).
- Magali-Alix Toupé, CEO of the “French Tech” association, will present the actions linked to mobility encouraged by this label.
- François-Xavier Vinçot, director of Crédit Mutuel Solidaire, will share with us the many actions taken by his company in favour of sustainable development.
- Nicolas Bouvel, sales director Engie west delegation, will present on how the work undertaken with Le Mans Université around energy savings in buildings has encouraged Engie to learn and modify its practices in a more global way.
