Family Business: An International Elective at the Heart of the HEC Paris MBA

Family enterprises remain the backbone of the global economy. So begins the course syllabus. Part of the HEC Paris MBA curriculum, the elective brought together an international cohort around the unique governance, strategic, and interpersonal dynamics of family ownership. Taught by Professor Anne-Valérie Corboz and supported by the HEC Paris Dieter Schwarz Foundation Center for Family Business, it reflects the Center's very purpose: to develop and support teaching on family enterprise. 

The cases were as international as the room. Working through award-winning case studies of Cargill, Lego, Patagonia and Ayala — participants examined dilemmas of succession, governance, and stewardship in global family enterprises. The course moved from Identity, Governance, and the Family System, built on the three-circle model (family, ownership, business), to Succession, Leadership, and Strategic Renewal, and finally Family Capital, the Family Office, and Impact. By the end, each participant had drafted a Family Legacy & Impact Charter. 

Two family enterprises, invited by Cécile de Lisle, gave this global conversation a local anchor. Sophie Dimich-Louvet shared how she takes the baton of Incept Sport, the family company founded by her father, a former Olympic rower. Julien Wormser told the story of Banque Wormser Frères, a family-owned private bank founded in 1936 and now a mission-driven company. Two generations, two industries, one question: how do you honor a legacy while building its future? The Center thanks them for sharing their experience with the students. 

For much of the cohort, the subject was personal: many HEC Paris MBA participants come from business-owning families, from Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. Helping them lead with stewardship and responsible ownership - wherever their companies are based - is precisely what the Center sets out to support.

Learn more about The Family Business Center