Research teams and projects

Given the skills and resources it requires, entrepreneurial management is the core topic of CEREN research. Our four teams work on one aspect of research or on the implementation of research in one of our region’s leading sectors. Each team is involved in national and international academic networks and maintains partnerships with companies. Each team also has the responsibility to enrich courses in its specialty.

• LESSAC (Laboratory for Experimentation in Social Sciences and Behaviour Analysis) directed by Dr. Angela Sutan
• ICE Research Team « Innovation, Clusters and Entrepreneurship », coordinated by Jean-Guillaume Ditter
• SDP Research Team « Sustainable Development and Performance », coordinated by Isabelle Allemand
• Health Group, coordinated by Dr. Isabelle Chalamon

Sustainable development and performance (SDP)

In its desire to train responsible managers, who will be both citizens of the world and aware of the ethical issues of their future function as managers, the research group has developed a strong axis of research and expertise on sustainable development and performance. The "Sustainable development and performance" team is working on these main themes:

IAS – IFRS – balanced accounting and performance management

Reputed for the excellence of its courses in finance and audit, the school has naturally developed an axis of expertise in new international accounting standards. This programme is run by two accountants who have a strong interest in technology transfer and regularly publish in both academic as professional journals. Professor/researchers: Odile Barbe-Dandon and Laurent Didelot (accounting and international accounting).

Corporate governance and performance

The school has developed a research programme on corporate governance and launched a Research Chair dedicated to this topic. The Chair holder is Dr. Isabelle Allemand.

Innovation, clusters and entrepreneurship (ICE)

For many years, Burgundy School of Business, located in a region with a strong entrepreneurial culture, where the industrial fabric is composed of many SMCs working in close collaboration with large groups, has been developing its expertise in the management of small and medium-sized companies. The growing interest in the creation and operation of clusters at the regional level has further strengthened this interest. The principal axes of the ICE team include:

Clusters and SMCs

Once again, the strength of this team lies in its multidisciplinary nature: the economy of Europe, regional economic development, strategy and innovation, strategic management of SMCs, entrepreneurship, business creation and takeover and marketing. The work of the team ranges from analysis of the potential creation of clusters in the lumber or wine industry, to the study of "business" models for SMCs and their specific characteristics. In synergy with the Mastère Spécialisé en Commerce International des Vins et Spiritueux (Specialised Master's Degree in International Wine and Spirits Trade), the team works with the Wine Management Institute, created in January 2009. Professor/researchers: Dr. Jean-Guillaume Ditter (the economy of European), Dr. Marcel Truche (strategic management), Dr. Stephan Bourcieu (institutional entrepreneurship) Joëlle Brouard (clusters and the wine industry), Damien Wilson, PhD (marketing and wine industry).

Entrepreneurship and innovation

In harmony with the dynamic innovation strategy initiated by the Region of Burgundy, the school is working on the specific nature of SMCs with regard to innovation and the creation of innovative companies. The work of the team ranges from analysis of the strategic management of intellectual property of SMCs to international comparisons of the management of innovation by SMCs, to the study of innovation in the health-care industry. Professor/researchers: Valérie Ballereau (entrepreneurship), Sabine Muller (entrepreneurship and creativity), Dr Sophie Reboud (innovation and strategy in SMCs), Dr Fabrice Galia (innovation and organisation), Dr. Céline Soulas (innovation in pharmacy), Dr. Olivier Masclef (entrepreneurship and venture capital)

Patient behaviour and Health-care systems

Around the academic and professional expertise developed by the Mastère Spécialisé en Management de l'Industrie Pharmaceutique (Specialised Master’s Degrees in Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry) and the Mastère Spécialisé en Marketing Alimentation Santé (Specialised Master's Degree in Marketing of Health and Food Industry), the school has built several teams. The work of these teams has been stimulated by the creation of the Vitagora Competitiveness Pole, which has opened the door to many exchanges and opportunities for synergy.

The Health Group

The recruitment of new faculty has gradually allowed the school to build a team of specialists in the health sector around the initial core of experts. The themes tackled are related to changes in health-care policies and systems, and the impact of these changes on the economy, society and management. This team is still being formed, and joint research on this topic is just beginning. The Professor/Researchers are: Dr. Christelle Havard (HRM, CSR), Dr. Isabelle Chalamon marketing and patient behaviour, Dr. Céline Soulas (health economics, drug policy), Dr. Matthieu Poirot (stress at work, Dr. Christian Kuhlmann (marketing, patient behaviour), Patrice Piccardi (marketing, consumer behaviour).

The LESSAC and Experimental Economics

The researchers involved in this field conduct and contribute to national and international research programmes studying decision-making and economic behaviour. Their research is based mainly on experimental methods, using voluntary participants. Experimental economics is thus a field of research in its own right, and a set of research methods to explore themes related to decision-making. The specialist researchers thus work with several other teams, internally and externally, to help them enrich their methods of investigation.

The uniqueness of this field of research is that it is organised around a laboratory, the LESSAC, (Laboratory for Experimentation in Social Sciences and Behaviour Analysis). The CEREN is able to provide material support to conduct the experiments in various forms and in different contexts. For example, it can allow decision-making procedures to be set up with isolated individuals or with individuals interacting with other participants, and brings together all of the elements necessary to conduct laboratory experiments in economics: computer rooms (80 work stations) that comply with standards in laboratory experimentation, a computer program to create interfaces in experimental games, and an accounting procedure for the payment of the experiment's subjects. The environment is also suitable for setting up field experiments - a cafeteria, an on-site restaurant, the existence of active student associations (which organise events that may be used as a support for behavioral observations). The major ongoing projects include:

• Managerial decision making: Dr Angela Sutan, Dr Fabrice Galia, Valérie Ballereau
• Consumption of products with a health message: Dr François Allaert, Dr Djamchid Assadi, Diana Bratu, Dr Christian Kuhlmann, Dr Fabrice Galia, Dr Angela Sutan

Manipulation of financial markets: Dr Arvind Ashta, Dr Serge Hayward, Dr Angela Sutan