RESEARCH

MAIN PILLARS 

Our strategic approach of organizations is based on three main pillars:

  1. The analysis of organizational forms allowing innovative strategies management;

  2. A reflection on the entrepreneurial spirit and responsible behaviours as guidelines for managers using these new strategic applications;

  3. The study of change management inducing an internal renewal of companies on the organizational as well as on the individual levels.

Based in the heart of Europe, CRECIS develops, within the Louvain School of Management, research activities in the fields of entrepreneurship, organizational change, innovation and strategy. Through scientific conferences, international networks, research seminars and academic publications, CRECIS builds up a strong expertise and an original knowledge

In particular, we develop an original approach focusing on three dimensions :

  1. The management of organisations and human resources, promoting innovative strategies;
  2. The role of entrepreneurial and responsible behaviours;
  3. The dynamics of organisational change and crises management.

 

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Senior scientist
Thierry ZINTZ

Research Field and Subjects
Action research on the French-speaking Belgian Community "strategy for sport"’s policy 2010-2012

Services & Consultancy

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
French-speaking Belgian Community and the Catholic University of Louvain (The Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet Latour - Jacques Rogge in Management of Sport Organizations)


Senior scientists
Evelyne LEONARD, Armand SPINEUX

Research Field and Subjects
The Institut des Sciences du Travail (IST) has developed an expertise in comparative industrial relations in Europe, in the context of the European integration, and specifically of the development of the European social dialogue.
European integration impacts the national systems of industrial relations and creates increased inter-dependency between national institutions.
The research projects, conducted in the field, analyse and compare the developments in collective bargaining structures and processes, mainly at cross-industry and at sector level, in the member states of the European Community. They also analyse developments at the European level.
The expertise includes adapted methodology to collect empirical data that are comparable across the countries.

Services & Consultancy
IST has conducted several research projects for the European Commission, on the representativeness of trade unions and employer organisations in diverse sectors of activity, in all EU member states.
Other projects include expertise for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin, as a national correspondent for Belgium and for comparative research projects.
IST also coordinates projects for other institutions such as the Cedefop, Thessaloniki.

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations 
Observatoire social européen, Brussels HIVA/Kuleuven
Numerous research teams in universities around Europe a.o.: Università degli Studi di Firenze, Universität Trier, London School of Economics, Universiteit van Amsterdam, University College Dublin, Stockholm University, etc.


Senior scientist
Frank JANSSEN

Research Field and Subjects
The aim of this research is to identify the specificities of corporate governance within small and medium-sized businesses and family firms

Services & Consultancy
Conferences and consulting missions for SMEs and public organizations.

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
Partnership with UQTR (Canada)


Senior scientists
Laurent TASKIN, Evelyne LEONARD, Matthieu de NANTEUIL-MIRIBEL, Armand SPINEUX

Research Field and Subjects
Critical Management Studies (CMS) comprise a range of alternatives to mainstream management theory, with a view to transforming management practice. At its core is a deep skepticism regarding the moral defensibility and the social and ecological sustainability of prevailing conceptions and forms of management and organization. In the context of a growing interest in CMS, we propose to question Human Resource Management mainstream and practices. This results, especially, in a critique of the limits of those "orthodox" approaches and of taken-for-granted or unquestioned issues (such as for instance power and control) and in the development of alternative perspectives.

Services & Consultancy
The approach is based on in-depth fieldwork that highlights human and organizational processes from a renewed point of view. There are various outcomes such as, for example, organizational diagnosis or analysis of change processes. Those are either conducted at management‘s request or in the context of a broader research project.

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations 
Cardiff Business School, University of Cardiff, UK Critical Management Studies Group, Academy of Management IRRU, Warwick Business School, UK Institut des Sciences du Travail, Université catholique de Louvain.


Senior scientist
Paul BELLEFLAMME

Research Field and Subjects
The research concerns the analysis of (i) the economic rationale of various intellectual property rights, and (ii) firms‘ incentives to innovate in various market structures. Fields of applications are, among others, pharmaceutical products, information goods and information technologies.

Services & Consultancy
Management of intellectual property, Innovation strategies

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations 
Member of the board of AIDE (Association Internationale de Droit Economique)


Senior scientists
Régis COEURDEROY, Benoît GAILLY, Frank JANSSEN

Research Field and Subjects
Our research in the field of entrepreneurship corresponds to four main themes.
Our first research theme is about firm growth and concentrates on three particular sub-themes: managerial, firm-related, strategic and environmental growth determinants; analysis of growth paths; firms‘ performance and growth measures.
Our second theme concentrates on support mechanisms to promote entrepreneurship. What is the actual effectiveness and efficiency of popular approaches such as entrepreneurship education programmes, business plan competitions, corporate venture capital units, incubators, new business development units, clusters/platforms, etc.? How to evaluate the business and societal impact of those mechanisms? Are other/new approaches better suited?
Our third research theme covers social entrepreneurship. It focuses on the differences between new ventures created on the basis of push or pull motivations, on firm creation by workless people and, more broadly, on the specificities of social entrepreneurship. Although our research has an international perspective, its aim is also to meet national and/or regional problems.
Our fourth theme is international entrepreneurship and, especially, the mode of entry on international markets.

Services & Consultancy
Conferences and consulting missions for SMEs, large corporations and public organizations.

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
EM Lyon, Appalachian State University (USA), Université de Nancy


Senior scientist
Régis COEURDEROY

Research Field and Subjects
In a knowledge-based economy, innovative companies create competitive advantages from intellectual assets. If these are powerful sources of market leadership, they also raise specific managerial issues concerning their property rights: issues of valuation, issues of appropriation and issues of implementation. IPRs issues are no more limited to the office of lawyers but are a concern for the management of the company on a whole.
We precisely address the governance of property rights in strategic alliances and other forms of cooperation. So far, we have focused our attention on technology licensing agreements and on technology transfers. We also explore the dynamics of IPRs management in large-scale organizational networks.

Services & Consultancy
Consultancy in technology transfers and network diffusion

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
EconomiX & Paris Nanterre


Senior scientists
Evelyne LEONARD, Laurent TASKIN 

Research Field and Subjects
The research project focuses on the interpersonal and inter-group dimension of knowledge transfer. The knowledge-based view (KBV) is traditionally the leading approach used to study knowledge creation and sharing. Research in the knowledge-based view adopts a collectivist approach to knowledge phenomena and generally assumes that organizational members behave non-opportunistically and trust each other. Our aim is to take individuals and their motivation to share knowledge into account, by looking at the issues of control and individual resistance.

Services & Consultancy 
Action-Research (intra-companies investigation), Executive education (inter-companies seminars)

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations 
Universiteit Antwerpen Management School Institut des Sciences du Travail, Université catholique de Louvain, UQAM


Senior scientist
Thierry ZINTZ

Research Field and Subjects
The management of not-for-profit sport organizations currently undergoes tremendous changes due to the evolution of their environment.
The Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet Latour & Jacques Rogge in Management of Sport Organizations focuses on these change processes, on the evolution of organizational configurations, on the organizational performances and on the governance of these organizations.
The Chair also develops adapted management tools for not-for-profit sport organizations.

Services & Consultancy 
The Chair has several applied research and consultancy contracts with sport organizations. The aim is to conduct an adapted change process of their management. The Chair also cooperates with national and international sport bodies and public authorities on the issues of governance and education of sport managers.

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations 
EURAM (European Academy of Management) – Track dedicated to the management op sport organizations EASM (European Association of Sport Management) 
International Olympic Committee (IOC) and several National Olympic Committees (NOC‘s)
MEMOS Program (Executive Master in Sports Organizations Management) 
EOSE (European Observatory on Sport and Employment) 
TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange is an instrument of the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission) 
European Union Research programs: Study on Sport Agents in the European Union (Public Contract No DG EAC/13/08), Professionalizing training and mobility for Outdoor animators in Europe bridging the gap between sector Competences and Learning Outcomes (Public Contract Leonardo da Vinci N °UK/08/LLP LdV/TOI/163_178.), European Accreditation - Fitness Project (Public Contract Leonardo da Vinci N° UK/08/LLP-LdV/TOI/163_110)


Senior scientist
Laurent TASKIN

Research Field and Subjects
Relying on the spread of information and communication technologies (ICT), new forms of work organization (NFWO) emerge and constitute nowadays a component of a flexible way to manage work that challenge traditional human resource management practices. We particularly focus on the re-regulation process it involves in the management of remote employees by especially considering two main fields of enquiry: A human resource dimension exploring the management of NFWO and remote employees, namely by focusing on control issues; A strategic dimension exploring how NFWO challenge knowledge transfer.

Services & Consultancy 
Action-Research (intra-companies investigation) Executive education (inter-companies seminars)

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations 
Centre de recherche Travail & Technologies, Fondation Travail Université, Namur Teluq, Université du Québec à Montréal Onderzoeksgroep strategische communicatie, Universiteit Antwerpen Institut des Sciences du Travail, Université catholique de Louvain Belgian Teleworking Association


Senior scientists
Régis COEURDEROY, Alain VAS

Research Field and Subjects
Most large companies today evolve in fast-moving environments. Business models need to be continuously challenged and transformed: organisational innovation and change processes are now key drivers of competitive advantages. This implies to improve both academic knowledge and managerial practices in this field. Indeed, we develop research by focusing on theoretical foundations of corporate transformations and innovative networks. We also develop studies on the speed of strategic change deployment within organisations. Our research is academic but also explicitly oriented towards managers in action.

Services & Consultancy
Consultancy in organisational strategy (business and corporate) and in change management
Executive education

Partnerships & Scientific collaboration
HEC Montréal, CETO ERASMUS UNIVERSITY, Strategic Renewal Center, Rotterdam CENTIVE, Cass Business School, London.


Senior scientists
Laurent TASKIN

Junior researcher
Michel AJZEN

Research Field and Subjects
The 3 years research partnership aims at identifying the conditions for developing sustainable innovative workplace practices and the impact it may have on organizational performance. The project will pursue two main objectives:

(a) Defining ‘innovative workplace practices’ in reference to both scientific and professional literature on new forms of work organization and the so-called new world of work;
(b) Measuring the impact of such innovative workplace practices on sustainable organizational performance, both through the conduct of a longitudinal qualitative case study and through the development and testing of a model.

Partnerships & Scientific collaboration
SD Worx


Senior scientist
Laurent TASKIN, Charles HECKSCHER, Graham SEWELL

Research Field and Subjects
Co-chair of a stream on new forms of (work) organization at the 7th International conference on Critical Management Studies (Naples, Italy, July 13-15, 2011). Weblink: http://www.organizzazione.unina.it/streams/25.pdf

Services & Consultancy

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, USA
Department of Marketing & Management, University of Melbourne, Australia


Senior scientist
Ginette HERMAN, Evelyne LEONARD, Marthe NYSSENS and Donatienne DESMETTE

Research Field and Subjects
Associating several disciplines (socio-economics, social psychology and management), this research programme addresses the following core questions: what are the institutional, organisational and inter-group processes that produce employment integration, particularly for ‘low-status’ workers and jobseekersω And how do institutional, organisational and inter-group processes act together to produce employment integrationω

Services & Consultancy

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
A.R.C. (Action de Recherche Concertée)


Senior scientists
Alain VAS, William D‘HOORE

Research Field and Subjects
Our research addresses the issue of change within the context of specific organisations: hospitals.

Services & Consultancy
Strategy (business and corporate), Change Management

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations
Ecole de Santé Publique, UCL Woluwé HEC Montréal, CETO Solimut, Mutualité Chrétienne Centre d'Etudes en Transformation des Organisations, HEC Montréal


Senior scientists
Laurent TASKIN and Nathalie SCHIFFINO

Junior Researcher
Julien RAONE (Ph.D. student in Political Sciences) and Laura VANDENHOVEN (Ph.D. student in Management)

Research Field and Subjects
Studying the regulations of organizations managing societal risks in a knowledge-based perspective, the objective of this research project is threefold. First, it aims at questioning internal regulations produced by each organization when facing societal risk. Second, by comparing the way societal risk has been tackled at different times within the same organization, we intend to identify how this organization has transferred its knowledge on societal risk management from one situation to another. Third, it will compare how several organizations regulated societal risks and what kind of knowledge transfer occurred. The main research questions can be summarized as follows: (1) Considering organizational regulations, how do organizations answer to societal risks? (2) Considering knowledge transfer, do we observe a learning effect on the long term? (3) Do organizational patterns exert an influence on risks handling?

Services & Consultancy

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
ARC, Action de Recherche Concertée


Senior scientists
Paul BELLEFLAMME, Bernard REMICHE (UCL-Jur-I)

Junior Researcher:
Ignace Adant (Attached to CORE)

Research Field and Subjects
Base de données en ligne pour une plate-forme virtuelle d’information relative aux licences de brevets
Partnership & Scientific collaboration
SERVICE PUBLIC FEDERAL ECONOMIE, PME, CLASSES MOYENNES ET ENERGIE (July 2010 – February 2012)


Senior scientists
Laurent TASKIN
François PICHAULT (HEC ULg - LENTIC)

Researchers
Michel AJZEN
Dr Giseline RONDEAUX (HEC ULg - LENTIC)

Research Field and Subjects
The 3 years research partnership aims at identifying the innovation and the performance of practices within the human resource management field through SMEs and VSEs in Wallonia and Brussels. The project will pursue three main objectives:

(a) Defining and analyzing the “innovation” and the“performance” concepts through the specific contextual approach of SMEs;
(b) Analyzing the human resource ‘best practices’ within SMEs which meet the innovation and performance criterias defined;
(c) Testing the implementation of these practices within SMEs.

Partnerships & Scientific collaborations
ACERTA
HEC ULg - LENTIC


Senior scientists
Evelyne LEONARD, Pierre REMAN, Pierre-Paul VAN GEHUCHTEN

Research Field and Subjects
Researchers in law, economics and industrial relations join their efforts to conduct multi-disciplinary projects on social dialogue and collective bargaining.
Current issues cover the developments in the Belgian system of industrial relations, industrial relations and social security, economic and social change and collective bargaining, new forms of governance and industrial relations, European integration and national industrial relations.

Services & Consultancy
Applied research for national and European agencies: Belgian federal institutions, European Commission, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Cedefop, etc.
This is completed by training sessions and conferences for practitioners, such as, for instance, a training program for the Institut de Formation de l‘Administration Fédérale, in Belgium.

Partnerships & Scientific collaboration
- collaborations in Belgium: Fondation Travail Université, CERISIS, Observatoire social européen, FUSL, KUL, ETOS.be
- other European universities, such as: University of Warwick Università degli Studi di Firenze University College Dublin Universiteit van Amsterdam Universités à Amsterdam, Nantes, etc. Université Paris 1 Sciences-Po Paris


Senior scientist
Nathalie DELOBBE

Junior Researcher
Roxane De HOE

Research Field and Subjects
This study aims at:
- Analyzing, in a multi-level research device, the effects of various dimensions of well-being at work, measured by the instrument VOW / QFT of the SPF Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, on individual and organizational performance indicators,
- Identifying organizational characteristics and management practices that maximize individual and organizational performance through their positive impact on the well-being of workers.

Services & Consultancy

Partnership & Scientific collaboration
SPF Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, Department for the improvement of working conditions