BEST in FRANCE

HEC Research

BEST in FRANCE

News and Updates

The Project

The Best in France Case Study Project identifies and benchmarks adaptations firms make when opening business units in France. France has many "world-class" benefits to offer foreign investors including, its excellent infrastructure, highly skilled technical and scientific workforce, its concentration of high tech research centers, and its widely renowned quality of life. However, taking advantage of these benefits while managing fiscal costs, labour laws, and adapting to French cultural is often a challenge. The winning "Best in France" case studies illustrate how companies can successfully take advantage of France's unique benefits by defining and executing their business objectives, strategies, and implementation.

The History

The Best in France Case Study Project has its roots in a case study prepared by Professor Michael Segalla (Department of Management and Human Resources, HEC) and Mr. Jack Anderson (Partner, Ernst & Young, France) for a pedagogical exercise in 2002. Students enrolled in the HEC MBA program and the joint HEC/Supaero Masters of Large Project Management were asked to recommend a headquarters location for a French company whose sales where primarily global. With less than 10 percent of its revenue coming from its home country did it make sense to keep the HQ in France? Nearly one hundred students distributed among 16 teams participated in this exercise. You can download the case here to review it yourself.

The recommendations of the student teams were astonishing. Nearly all recommended that the company move its headquarters out of France! Intrigued that France's future managers were turning their backs on their country, HEC with the financial support of Ernst & Young and Citigroup established an annual prize. The students competing for the prize the first year synthesized the recommendations of the HEC teams about the attractiveness of France as a business location. The winning team was invited to the French Senate to make their report to an assembly of government and business leaders.

The following year the focus changed to understanding why companies come to France, what problems they encounter, how they adapt and at what cost, what benefits they receive, and what advice they offer to other firms. We essentially hypothesize that firms operate in France because their specific market strategies are supported by the attributes of the French product market, infrastructure, labour markets, and perhaps specific culturally related factors. This approach opens interesting avenues for managerial training for HEC's students, offers specific advise to companies about how they can link their market strategies to country locations, and offers policy advise to French government ministries. The Best in France was born into an environment of change and promise.

The Method

The Best in France Case Study Project follows the established case study framework pioneered by Harvard Business School. Interviews with appropriate managers supplemented with internal company documents are favoured over other sources of information. Teams of HEC students from the Masters, MBA, and the Grande Ecole select companies to interview. These reports are a required part of their normal coursework and are automatically entered into the Annual Best in France and Best in Ile de France Prizes sponsored by the project's corporate members.

Firms participating in the Best in France Case Study Project are asked to make 30 to 60 minutes of time available for each manager interviewed. Managers responsible for areas such as production, logistics, marketing and sales, finance, and human resources will be interviewed to build a complete case study.

The Benefits

The end result of the Best in France Case Study will assist students, companies, and government ministries by identifying and benchmarking managerial strategies that simultaneously add value to the French economy and to firms operating in France. The project is already generating a unique database of valuable information. These case studies offer managerial insights concerning the problems and adaptation mechanisms of companies operating in France. A synthesis of these case studies will be available to decision-makers. Access to the detailed studies will be offered exclusively to participating firms.

Ongoing Activities

The Best in France Project will continue to work toward understanding and developing the attractivity of France. We accepted to continue the development of the European Attractivity Scoreboard in cooperation with the Invest in France and Invest in Germany agencies. We are conducting a survey within the expatriate and mixed nationality family community about the importance of bilingual education to company decisions to invest in the Paris Pole Sud region. The initial results of these activities can be downloaded from this site.

Useful Links

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris

Paris - Ile de France Capitale Economique

L'Expansion Company Database

Invest in France Agency - North America

International Chambers of Commerce

German, Japan, China, UK, Indonesia

American Chamber of Commerce in France

L'Opération d'Intérêt National

UN Initiative to Create Centers of Excellence

IT Offshoring Statistics

Plunkett Research Offshoring Industry Overview

2010 Franco-German Project

2008 European Attractivity Scoreboard

What We Learned?

How to select an investment location is important for the success of any firm. Here are three articles published in Quantum Magazine discussing investment factors for new financial services locations.

Moving Targets

(Quantum – Finance in Perspective. January 2008.)

Judging Destinations

(Quantum – Finance in Perspective. March 2008. )

Prospecting for Talent

(Quantum – Finance in Perspective. May 2008.)