ESCP and Groupe Renault, Co-founders of New Chair for Intercultural Management

Groupe Renault and the ESCP Business School announced the inauguration of a Chair for Intercultural Management.

The new Renault Chair for Intercultural Management at ESCP Business School aims to advance knowledge in managerial practices that afford full consideration for cultural diversities, and to offer the academic world a research corpus on multicultural organisation and management.

In endowing the chair, Groupe Renault contributes the experience of a French group that has attained global reach, with a workforce of 120,000 spanning 127 countries. Intercultural management is a key factor behind the success of Groupe Renault, member of the world’s leading automotive alliance alongside Nissan and Mitsubishi, two Japanese groups that also have strong national identities.

The chair endowment convention, administered by the ESCP Foundation, specifies three focuses for the new chair:

• Expertise: Academic research and operational projects, and the ensuing publications
• Education and training: Development of capacities for adaptation to different cultures, both among students and across the teaching and administrative personnel of ESCP, with Groupe Renault benefitting from research conducted through programmes that address members of its personnel involved in intercultural management situations.
• Community: Propagation of research findings and best practices in intercultural management through conferences and workshops run cooperatively with researchers at ESCP and elsewhere.

 In the words of Frank Bournois, Dean of ESCP, “ESCP’s mission is to teach management in complex environments. In today’s multipolar world, questions of cultural diversity and social responsibility have an increasingly direct impact on business. The purpose of a school like ESCP is to prepare the coming generations of transnational leaders. On this important mission we’re delighted to have a partner like Groupe Renault along with us”.

The chair will be managed by Marion Festing, ESCP professor based in Berlin and head of the school’s Intercultural Management Excellence Centre, for whom “This Chair will benefit the six European campuses of the School”. She adds: “the partnership materializes our wish to develop a sound understanding of managerial practices adapted to cultural diversities and to offer the academic world capabilities for research on multicultural management organization.” And she concludes: “This Chair fits perfectly with our multi-campus structure and our values”.

For Mouna Sepehri, member of the Groupe Renault Executive Committee and executive VP, CEO Office, “While remaining true to its French origins and industrial, commercial and human values, Groupe Renault has become a global, multipolar and multicultural organization. One of the secrets of our success is the diversity of our workforce and the respect afforded to each individual’s culture and identity. We’re very enthusiastic about this new chair, which will be making a valuable contribution to the promotion of diversity and intercultural management in business”. 

Carlos Ghosn, Groupe Renault chairman and CEO, also sponsors the first year of ESCP’s new MBA in International Management, and was there on the school’s Paris campus to give a conference and talk with students.

About Groupe Renault

Renault has been making cars since 1898. Groupe Renault today is an international group that sold more than 3.5 million vehicles through 12,700 outlets in 127 countries in 2016. It employs more than 120,000 people and operates 36 manufacturing facilities worldwide. To address the major technological challenges of the future and pursue profitable growth, Groupe Renault places a strong emphasis on international development, drawing strength from complementary coverage across its five brands (Renault, Dacia, Renault Samsung Motors, Alpine and Lada), a leading position in electric vehicles, and the unique alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. With its new Formula One team and front-line profile in Formula E, Renault practises motor sport as a powerful force behind innovation and brand recognition.

The Groupe Renault diversity policy, a long-standing commitment to inclusion 

Diversity is a powerful lever on performance, motivation and engagement for Groupe Renault personnel, and lends a decisive competitive advantage. Because diversity in training, experience, backgrounds and personalities is highly conducive to innovation, the promotion of diversity is a central feature of the group’s human resources policy.

Equality and diversity

To prevent all forms of discrimination and ensure equal opportunity for employment and career development within the company, the Groupe Renault diversity and inclusion policy addresses the main issues of: disability; generation mix; gender balance; sexual orientation and gender identity; and international background. The company’s approach on inclusion seeks to understand and develop individual contributions and differences, thereby creating an environment capable of nurturing the expression of individual talent and collective performance.