First impact papers meant to help business and society following this unprecedented pandemic

Associate Dean for Research and Chairs Pramuan Bunkanwanicha, Professor Régis Coeurderoy and Dr. Sonia Ben Slimane introduce the very first series of impact papers produced by the school’s faculty on “Managing a Post-Covid19 Era”.

Research at ESCP Business School envisions a unique and dynamic environment. We are very proud of launching our research initiative on “ESCP Impact Papers” aimed at providing insights into management knowledge that is applicable to not only practicing managers, but also other stakeholders, namely the European community, students and society.
The ESCP research impact is developed within the four pillars of the B.E.S.T. framework (Business impact, European impact, Society impact, and Teaching impact) as a research-for- action framework.
This first edition of ESCP Impact Papers on “Managing a Post-Covid19 Era” demonstrates how our incisive researchers could react to addressing several insightful, on-time challenges that help further reflections, to better prepare for the possible changes on the future of business and society following this unprecedented disruptive pandemic.

This situation called for an unprecedented reaction from our faculty

Not more than a month ago, and with the active support of the ESCP Business School Executive Committee, we launched a call for impact papers "MANAGING A POST-COVID-19 ERA" to the ESCP Business School academic staff. The aim was to provide interpretations of the corona virus crisis and its impact on European business and society, based on the expertise and experience of the ESCP faculty, thus stimulating creative ideas and innovative perspectives that could inspire our many stakeholders.
The underlying idea is expressed through a simple question: Is there a before- and an after-coronavirus crisis? With such a question, we wonder whether we can anticipate the consequences of this exceptional situation and whether we can identify transformative factors, or continuities, particularly regarding the potential changes in consumer behaviour, the organizational challenges for management and leadership, or the strategic and financial issues in the markets that this crisis may generate. From a broader perspective, we can also ask what the implications of this crisis are for public policy, innovation; national, regional and global economic development but also for many societal issues. As a higher education institution, it is also important to explore the implications of the crisis on the transformation of higher education, particularly in terms of studying and teaching management.
The subject areas for contributions were very open and reflect the diversity of expertise within the faculty. We were pleasantly surprised to receive in just a few days, proposals from almost 50% of the faculty. We were even more pleased with the transformation of these proposals into full contributions – our first impact papers.
One month further on, we are able to offer you unique analyses and proposals from the ESCP faculty. As you will see, there is a great wealth of contributions, both in content and angles of approach. This diversity reflects as much the diversity of the expertise and knowledge of the faculty, as the diversity of their concerns in the face of this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.

As part of this collective mobilization, we have grouped the contributions under thematic headings that fall within the framework of our BEST strategy:

Each of these contributions is first and foremost that of its author(s), who had complete freedom in choosing the subject and the manner in which it was dealt with. ESCP Business School is fundamentally respectful of its faculty’s academic freedom.
With a mobilization that has extended to the school's doctoral students, as well as to external collaborators, we are delighted to see this academic and human challenge succeed so quickly, an exceptional mark of solidarity from all those involved in the realization of this project.