Research Chairs
What is a Research Chair?
A Research Chair is a meeting point where expertise is exchanged between professionals and the School’s professor-researchers. This partnership between the worlds of business and research aims at developing new knowledge and understanding and improving managerial practices in a changing environment.
EM Normandie puts its teams of lecturer-researchers at the disposal of its sponsoring partners to work on common issues in the Management Sciences field.
- In 2018, the School opened two research chairs, one focused on Digital Transformation Management and the other on New Entrepreneurial Models in Agriculture.
- In 2019, the School launched a Research Chair in Competencies, Employability & HR Decision Making.
The "Digitalisation and Innovation in Organisations and Regions" Chair
The use of new technologies has developed widely in all sectors of the economy (services, industry, etc.). Organisational structures, jobs and also relationships with stakeholders have been profoundly modified. For digital transformation to be synonymous with performance and competitiveness, it is important to rethink the global strategy and business models, the organisation of work and also customer relations within companies.
The school's mission is to remain at the cutting edge of knowledge in our fields and to prepare our students as well as possible for the needs of the company. To meet this goal, the Chair is evolving in two complementary ways. Firstly, it studies the effects of the introduction of new technologies on organisations but also beyond them. It is also interested in those who accompany the transformation of organisations. In addition, Crédit Agricole wanted the Chair to be more specifically linked to their start-up accelerator: Le village By CA. The Chair will therefore focus more on innovation and more recent technologies (such as virtual worlds or metaverse for example). The new name of the Chair allows to highlight these two parallel evolutions: Digitalisation and Innovation in Organisations and Regions.
A chair supported by local players
Three sponsors support the Chair: Crédit Agricole Normandie and the PTBG group. The TES competitiveness cluster, a benchmark for innovation in high digital technology, and the Normandy Region are also partners of the Chair and invested in its various projects. Their presence is an additional asset for the development of the digital sector in Normandy.
The "Digitalisation and Innovation in Organisations and Regions" Chair
The "Skills, Employability and HR Decision Making" Chair
In a world undergoing rapid transformation, particularly under the impetus of digital technologies, there is a strong need to renew the study of employment in general and employability in particular. In the end, little is known about changes in the relationship to work and careers. We also know little about how individuals formulate their expectations of companies in terms of employment and employability.
Directed by Jean Pralong, professor of human resources management at EM Normandie, this research centre provides a scientific and objective view of contemporary transformations in the world of employment; it highlights the new skills required by companies to design innovative strategies and ensure their growth. The Chair's work is grouped into three areas:
- Axis 1: Professional trajectories. The Chair analyses career differences by focusing on the cause-and-effect links with individual behaviour.
- Axis 2: HR decision and digital tools: analysis of the decision-making processes of organisations and individuals in terms of career, recruitment or employment.
- Axis 3: Employability.
The "Skills, Employability and HR Decision Making" Chair
The European Chair of Excellence on Circular Economy and Territories
The European Chair of Excellence on Circular Economy and Territories is a Jean Monnet Chair funded by the European Union. Its primary objective is to facilitate the implementation of the circular economy by equipping stakeholders at the territorial level—such as businesses, public authorities, and citizens—with essential tools, knowledge, and support.
The European Chair of Excellence on Circular Economy and Territories
The "Entrepreneurial Models in Agriculture" Chair
The agricultural world has been undergoing profound changes for several years (globalisation, crises, ecological and public health issues, difficulties of certain farms, digitalisation, emergence of start-ups...), impacting the entrepreneurial behaviour of farmers. However, while we might expect a standardisation of agricultural entrepreneurship, we are instead witnessing the emergence of multiple entrepreneurial models (growth by volume, niche strategies, diversification, internationalisation, use of the collaborative economy, etc.).
These entrepreneurial models bring the farm closer to the classic business as taught in management schools and confirm that, far from the clichés, the agricultural world is indeed a land of entrepreneurs with a capital "S". In these circumstances, by creating the "Entrepreneurial Models in Agriculture" chair, EM Normandie wishes to explore (as a research organisation) and disseminate (as a training organisation) these entrepreneurial models. It is also an opportunity for it to strengthen its regional roots and to spread the entrepreneurial spirit of farmers beyond the borders of Normandy and France.