Rodolphe Durand joined HEC Paris in 2004 and currently is the Joly Family Chaired Professor in Purposeful Leadership at HEC-Paris and the academic director of the Society and Organizations Institute which he launched in 2009. Previously, he chaired the Strategy & Business Policy department (2009-2013), served as the MSc in Strategic Management’s Academic Director (2012-2015), and was Visiting Professor at New York University (Stern Business School, 2011), Cambridge University (Judge Business School, 2011) and London Business School (2013), and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School (2012).

Rodolphe’s primary research interests concern the sources of competitive advantage and the interplay between the cognitive and normative determinants of organizations’ performance. Why do organizations supersede rivals? Can new norms, interests, and behaviors (such as Corporate Social Responsibility and inclusive business) bring an advantage to firms and diffuse in markets? Should firms and organizations really innovate or rather conform to established logics to be successful?

For his work on these questions that integrate research streams from sociology, philosophy, and management, Rodolphe received the American Sociological Association’s R. Scott Award in 2005, the European Academy of Management/Imagination Lab Award for Innovative Scholarship in 2010, was inducted Fellow of the Strategic Management Society in 2014, and granted a Honoris Causa Doctorate from UC Louvain in 2019.

Rodolphe’s research is featured in national and international press. As senior advisor and (non executive) board member, he advises large companies and international organizations in their major strategic moves and decisions.