IPAG Business School

IPAG BUSINESS SCHOOL’S REPORT ON ETHICS, CSR, SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESEARCH STRATEGY AND POSITIVE IMPACT FOLLOWING THE PRME & BSIS APPROACHES

The IPAG Business School is a no-profit French Business School (Grande Ecole), established in 1965 under the Association statute, training 4000 students per year in two main campuses in France (Paris and Nice) and associated campuses in Los Angeles, Kunming and Hanoi.

Since its foundation by the President Charles de Gaulle’s Advisor Prof. Jacques Rueff, IPAG has been endorsing a ‘Teleology of the General Interest’, that refers to a ‘Culture of Common Good’.

Accordingly, the School has achieved the French State awarded certification of EESPIG (“Etablissement d’Enseignement Supérieur Privé d’Intérêt Général”) which recognizes its no-profit status, its independence in governance and financing as well as its commitment and effective contribution to public interest.

The IPAG is fully committed to train new generations of open-minded, agile and responsible leaders relying upon their culture, open to both alterity and equality (among women and men), effectively tooled to address the pending social and business issues and contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable growth.

As a member of the Conference of Grandes Écoles, IPAG is authorized by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation to deliver a master’s degree, in consideration of its pedagogical quality, of the international reputation of its research (from 80 to 120 articles published per year in international and national peer-reviewed journals, 200 papers presented annually in academic conferences, Shanghai rankings in Economy and Finance, a fast development of its applied research and R&D activity through Chairs and European Projects contributing to scientific, social and economic development…) and of its positive impacts on Society and Business (through knowledge development and dissemination and best practice sharing).

As an accountable Business School engaged in a long-term continuous-learning strategy, IPAG has been awarded with EPAS accreditation in 2017 and has been re-accredited in 2020 for the maximum duration of 5 years. It is a PRME Advanced Signatory (since 2019) and obtained BSIS (Business School Impact System) label (FNEGE-EFMD) in June 2020.

Placed under the aegis of Prof. Guillaume Bigot (IPAG's Managing Director) and Prof. Frédéric Teulon (Deputy Managing Director), chaired by Prof. Maria Giuseppina Bruna (Dean for Ethics, CSR Strategy & Social Research and a member of the School’s Executive Committee), the Ethics, CSR, Sustainability and Social Research strategy adopts a transversal conception of Social Responsibility.

That way, the School endorses the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PMRE) to design, drive, implement and assess its Ethics, CSR, Sustainability and Social Research (R&D with Positive Impact) strategy. It allocates all the needed (human, operational and financial) resources to match the challenges of tomorrow.

The School holistically adopts the CSR issues: from Corporate Strategy shaping to governance optimization, from implementation of a Socially Responsible Research (providing Positive Impact) to an effective pedagogy-research alignment, from synergies with Institutions to Corporate partnerships, from pedagogical innovation to accreditation and certification, from students’ initiatives to social and managerial approach. That way, by science and teaching, by social action and students’ and alumni’s initiatives, as well, the IPAG contributes to the development of knowledge, methods and tools aimed at identifying and facing the challenges of agility, inclusion, disruption and resilience, collective learning and pluralistic regulation, within the post-modern companies.

In other words, the PRME approach, as well as the BSIS [Business School Impact System] methodology, enlightens the IPAG’s strategy and improves its academic community’s practices. Inspired by French Republic values (freedom, equality, brotherhood), congruent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, contributive to a General Interest purpose, the IPAG’s Ethics, CSR, Sustainable Development and Social Research strategy is aligned with and, in a whole, contributes to the School’s mission.

Convergent with the UN SDG’s principles, aligned with the School’s values (commitment, excellence, openness and agility), it inspires its Corporate strategy. It is structured and specifically assessed through:

- the UN Global Compact PRME approach [in 2019, the School grew to the status of Advanced Signatory of PRME],

- the EFMD-FNEGE Business School Impact System (BSIS) methodology [the IPAG was awarded with the prestigious BSIS [Business School Impact System] label in September 2020],

- the French State EESPIG certification (particularly on social inclusion, equal opportunity, inclusive research and pedagogy issues).


The national and international certifications or labels (Grade Master, EESPIG, EPAS, AACSB...) enhance the IPAG’s Ethics, CSR, Sustainable Development and Social Research Strategy structuring, implementation, monitoring, assessment, and continuous improvement.

The Ethics, CSR, Sustainable Development & Social Research strategy endorses and promotes both a holistic and transformational approach. Embedded in the UN SDGs and UN Global Compact principles, as well in the IPAG’s mission, values, and strategy, it aims as:

• (re)thinking CSR, Sustainability, and Inclusiveness (through basic – theoretical - and experimental research),

• testing and making operational (through applied studies and action-research, scientific consulting and training of leaders, managers and change agents, particularly via the IPAG Chair "Towards an Inclusive Company"),

• disseminating (through academic activity - articles and conferences -, initial and continuing training and advisory and speeches delivered to institutional, professional and media spheres),

• and practicing (through internal action and educational initiatives) agile and inclusive stakeholders’ management.

Thanks to the commitment of the Chair “Towards an Inclusive Company”, an international and interdisciplinary platform for action-research, expertise, training, and publishing addressing the crossed challenges on agility, inclusion, innovation and resilience at work, our School contributes to the debate on Social Inclusion and Responsible Management, CSR and Sustainability, Organizational Forecasting and Environmental Transition.

Founded and managed by Prof. Maria Giuseppina Bruna, the Chair enjoys a great reputation, both in France and internationally, in the fields of gender equality, diversity and inclusion policies, women’s networks, change management and social inclusion. It cooperates with Institutions (such as UNDP, UNRSF, UNECE, European Commission, OCDE, French Ministries for Labor, Territorial Cohesion and Higher Education) and is sponsored by main organizations and companies, among them the UNDP, the FACE Foundation, and its partners (Axa, Engie, Orange, Michelin…), the MICHELIN Foundation, the CBRE France Group, the VYV Group, etc. It is full member and academic partner of the UN Platform of Engagement on Road Safety (UNRSF). It interacts with professional associations and provides (or has provided) with knowledge, enlightenment, tools, and scientifically grounded support to more than 30 companies, 15000 executives, managers and change leaders all over the world.
Implementing pluriannual and multi-partner Research & Development programs, the Chair develops, shares and spreads (by executive and initial education, pedagogical innovation, publishing, executive education and/or opened conferences…) knowledge, innovative approaches, and tools, rooted in a fruitful dialogue between academic literature, empirical experimentation, and professional practices. That way, the Chair contributes to the dissemination and the operationalization of the main achievements of IPAG’s Research & Development programs on Business Ethics, CSR, inclusive management, Corporate Strategy and Organizational Forecasting. It contributes to identify and face the challenges of our time, designing and testing innovative solutions to conciliate social inclusiveness, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. That way, the Chair generates a positive social impact, by science, by teaching, by social action and by its students’ initiatives. Eventually, it contributes to the design, sense-giving and implementation of the IPAG’s corporate strategy in the fields of CSR.

Through a Chair of Environmental Economy and Energy Transition, led by Prof. Frédéric Teulon, Deputy Managing Director in charge of Research and Faculty and Prof. Duc Nguyen, Deputy Dean for Research, and supported by the H2020 MEDRESET Program, the IPAG is strongly involved in high-level international research on socio-demographic, business, and financial consequences of climate change.

The "Entrepreneurship, Digital Innovation and Performance" (EDIP) Chair, led by Prof. Adnane Maalaoui, promotes and/or participates in European projects investigating entrepreneurship and digital issues for disadvantaged people, in particular prisoners, senior citizens, workers with disabilities etc., and addresses how entrepreneurship can help these groups to achieve social and economic inclusion.

The "Quantitative Finance and Risk Management" Chair, chaired by Prof. Hans von Mattenheim, incubates the QUANTIPAG project, training-and-practice fund offering to students and alumni from the IPAG’s Finance Master the opportunity to experiment and embedded knowledge. The investment-strategy is ‘CSR/SRI’ focused (with the contribution of the “Towards an Inclusive Company” Chair) and enjoys a socially positive impact.

The “Circular Economy” research team maintains a close collaboration with the Institut National de l'Économie Circulaire. The IPAG was the winner of the second edition of the “Trophées de l'Économie Circulaire 2015” in the “Education” category. Dominique Bonet also contributed to the design of the government's roadmap for the 2019 Circular Economy Act.

The IPAG Lab supports and co-organizes international top-leading congresses and events as:

- the 2021 Kapuscinski Development Lecture on Road Safety & Sustainable Mobilities, promoted by the UNDP, the UN Road Safety Fund, the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the European Commission, in partnership with the IPAG Chair “Towards an Inclusive Company”, under the leadership and the co-chairmanship of Prof. Maria Giuseppina Bruna, IPAG’s Dean for Ethics, CSR and Social Research and Managing Director of the Chair);
- the 2018, 2019, 2021 Vietnam Symposiums in Banking and Finance, at the initiative of Prof. Duc Nguyen, IPAG’s Deputy Director for Research,
- the 2021 ICSB, DIANA and AEI Congresses, in the field of entrepreneurship and small business (with a focus on women in entrepreneurship, CR and inclusion), under the leadership of the EDIP Chair, headed by Prof. Adnane Maalaoui.

Rooted in the School’s values and vision, nourished by its mission and enlightened by its Chairs’ achievements, the IPAG’s pedagogy promotes ethics of otherness and open-mindedness as well as civic enlightenment and (Corporate and individual) social and environmental commitment, agility and efficiency, reflexivity and continuous learning. It supports entrepreneurship and innovation.

Adopting a partnership-oriented approach, the IPAG includes business world and civil society representative within its strategy shaping as well as its pedagogy and research decision-making.
That way, IPAG enhances a new leadership, grounded and inspiring, responsible, and effective, reactive, and reflexive, agile, and inclusive.

Following the BSIS’ approach (the IPAG achieved the Business School Impact System certification in 2020), IPAG is fully committed towards its ecosystem. Anchored in the Parisian and Nice’s environments (geographical, institutional, socio-economic, academic, and cultural as well), it contributes to their scientific and pedagogical dynamism as well as to their social and business attractiveness, particularly in the fields of social and environmental transition, sustainability, inclusive management and CSR, climate change management, green finance, forecasting of works and organizations.

The Board of Governors and the Executive Committee actively supports the IPAG’s CSR strategy that awarded the following national and international labels: EESPIG (2019), PRME Advanced Signatory Status (2019) and BSIS (2020).

As a humanistic and pragmatic Business School, the IPAG is strongly committed to endorse and implement PMRE principles adopting a long-term and continuous learning approach. It shares and discuss on effective and innovative practices and tools related to these Principles with other academic institutions, through the PRME Advanced Signatories network as well as the PRME Chapters events.