I am a PhD candidate in Strategy at HEC Paris. I study how firms hold and pursue multiple purposes, and what corporate purpose does to performance.
I am a PhD candidate in Strategy at HEC Paris. I study how firms hold and pursue multiple purposes, and what corporate purpose does to performance.
Arthur Bert
PhD Candidate in Strategy and Business Policy, HEC Paris
1 rue de la Libération, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
arthur.bert@hec.edu
Research Interests
Multi-purpose organizations, corporate purpose, behavioral theory of the firm (Carnegie School), institutional logics, agency of the firm in the age of AI.
Education
PhD in Strategy and Business Policy, HEC Paris 2024 – 2029 (expected)
Degree awarded by Institut Polytechnique de Pairs (IP Paris Doctoral
School).
Advisor: Rodolphe Durand.
Includes a Research Master in Management Science.
Master in Cognitive Science, ENS-PSL 2022 – 2024
Major in Social Science.
Master in Management, HEC Paris 2020 – 2024
Major in Applied Cognitive Science for Business.
Classe Préparatoire ECG, Sainte-Marie Lyon 2017 – 2020
Maximum grade in mathematics (top 1%, HEC Maths I, EMLyon, EDHEC) and philosophy (top 0.1%, ESSEC) in the competitive national entrance exams.
Working Papers
Purpose as Pharmakon: How Distributing Purpose Across Units Shapes Financial Performance
With Rodolphe Durand. In preparation for submission.
Mapping the Rugged Terrain: Re-Interpreting NK-Models
With Rodolphe Durand. Initially aimed at a special issue of Journal of Management Studies.
Work in Progress
A Paper on Firm Agency
With Co-Authors. In preparation for a special issue of Organization Science.
A Paper on Institutional Logics and Corporate Purpose
With Co-Author. Draft in progress.
Conference Presentations
HEC Paris Purpose Day & Bella Purpose Group April 2026
Firm Performance and Corporate Purpose: Disentangling Corporate Purpose Strength and Individual Purpose Diversity.
Academic Workshops
Theory Writing Workshop, ESSEC June 2026
Organized by Paul Gouvard. Faculty discussants: Patrick Haack and Leandro Nardi. Presented Mapping the Rugged Terrain: Re-Interpreting NK-Models.
Grants and Awards
Joly Family Scholarship in Purposeful Leadership 2025 – 2029
Received €20,000 over four years.
HEC Foundation Doctoral Scholarship 2024 – 2029
Received €131,500 over five years.
Research Experience
Research Assistant in Business Law, HEC Paris 2026
For Matteo Winkler. Copy edited the book Too Fast to Be a Woman (acknowledged).
Research Assistant in Accounting, HEC Paris and University of Bristol 2025
For Daniel Martinez and Chiara Bottausci. Built a dataset and conducted preliminary research on Effective Altruism.
Research Assistant in Strategy, HEC Paris 2025
For Ginna Chammas. Collected data.
Research Assistant in Management, HEC Paris 2024
For Audrey Holm. Coded qualitative data.
Research Assistant in Business Strategy, HEC Paris 2024
For Laurence Lehmann-Ortega. Copy edited the ninth French edition and first English edition of Strategor (acknowledged).
Research Assistant in Behavioral Economics, Sorbonne Economic Center 2024
For Bastien Blain. Six-month full-time position. Designed and ran experiments on the effects of intrinsic motivation, schedules, and emotional fatigue on productivity.
Research Assistant in Cognitive Science of Education, ENS-PSL 2023
For Coralie Chevalier. Three-month part-time position. Developed a belonging program for PSL undergraduate students.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant in Engaged Leadership, INSP 2026
For Rodolphe Durand. Executive education program for civil servants. Class assistant for one cohort.
Course Designer in Introduction to Corporate Finance, Euridis Business School 2023
For Cécile Ajello. Designed the course.
Thesis Supervision
Master's Theses for the International Business Master, HEC Paris 2026
Supervised two master's theses.
Undergraduate Theses for the Master in Management, HEC Paris 2025 – 2027
Supervised 32 theses over two years for “L3” students, the undergraduate portion of the three-year integrated Master in Management (“Grande École”).
Grading Experience
Grading Assistant, HEC Paris 2024 – 2026
Eight courses across the Executive MBA, MBA and Master's programs, over 650 hours in total. Strategy, for Gonçalo Pacheco de Almeida, Pierre Dussauge, Bertrand Quélin, Ankur Chavda and Hyejun Kim. Statistics and data science, for Gilles Fortin-Stoltz, Julien Grand-Clément and Nicolas Vieille. Purpose Certificate, for Rodolphe Durand.
Academic Service
Contributor for the Designing AI for Collaorative Learning Report, DEC 2026
HEC Student Representative with the Digital education Council (DEC), contributing to a focus group for the role and design of AI in collaborative learning in business schools.
Organizer of the SMART Talks, HEC Paris 2026
PhD brownbag seminar series for the Strategy and Management departments.
Jury Member in Strategy, HEC Paris 2026
For John Kenneth Mawdsley. Member of the admission jury for the Master in Strategic Management.
Organizing Assistant for the Purpose Committee Creative Workshop, HEC Paris 2026
For Rodolphe Durand. Assisted in organizing the first edition of the workshop.
Societies and Community Life
Founder and Board Member, SEC Student Union, HEC Paris 2025 – 2026
Founder and Director, Les Éclaireurs 2023 – 2025
Student Leadership, HEC Paris 2021 – 2022
President of In&Out (LGBT society), founder and secretary of HEC Handicap and Disability, board member of BNEM, and HEC representative to CAÉLIF.
Scholarly Societies
Theoretical Organizational Models (TOM) 2026
Participant in the PhD brownbags.
Other Professional Experience
Intern, Assistant to the Director, Simplon Foundation 2021
Three-month full-time position. Helped organize the Women and Girls in Tech event at VivaTech 2021. Participated in fundraising and the first annual impact report of the foundation.
Skills
Programming: R, Python, JavaScript.
Methods: NK models, causal inference, qualitative coding, experiments.
Languages
French (native), English (professional), Spanish (basic).