Robert Sheldon is an Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurship Department. He is currently the Co-academic director for ESCP Business School’s MSc in Sustainability Entrepreneurship & Innovation and is the Coordinator of the Entrepreneurship Department.
His research looks at entrepreneurship through the lenses of economic sociology and industrial organization. A major focus of his work is on how entrepreneurs create new markets, both on the supply and demand sides, in their quest to commercialize new products and services. He is currently working on projects related to the development of markets for technology in the horticultural industry and to the entrepreneurial opportunities associated with the development of markets for carbon offsets and credits. Another focus of his research is on sustainability entrepreneurship, which is the phenomenon of using entrepreneurship to achieve a specific environmental or societal goal. Sometimes referred to as Greentech or impact entrepreneurship, it includes companies like Impossible, Ynsect Everdrop and many more.
Sheldon teaches Technology Transfer, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Entrepreneurial Acquisition, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurial Methods and Sustainability Entrepreneurship.
He holds a BA from McGill University, an MA from NYU, an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a PhD from Sciences Po Paris (Centre de Sociologie des Organisations).
He is also a practiced entrepreneur. During his doctoral thesis in 2007 he acquired and resuscitated Latour-Marliac, the 19th century nursery that invented the colorful hardy water lily, made famous by Claude Monet, an early customer.