RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Academic referents
Kea collaborates with reference personalities
Alone, without academic foundations and without openness to intellectuals, we could not have sought to master this "art" and create what Kea is today. It is by collaborating with personalities and university research circles that we have been able to nurture our innovation and produce new ideas and approaches.
Over the years, we have built a school of consulting, with the desire to provide leaders with a certain perspective on the transformation of organizations, a distinctive execution strategy… a sort of signature in the art of transformation.
Jean-Christian Fauvet, deceased in 2010, came to meet us from the outset. He wanted us to progress with him on the management doctrine he founded : sociodynamics. We worked with him for ten years, in particular to write "The letter of sociodynamics". In fact, the associated tools are part of our fundamentals and we have built a methodological corpus around sociodynamic transformation, which are reported in issues 12, 14 and 17 of La Revue. And to write the fourth page of this discipline, we co-founded the Institute of Sociodynamics in 2014, an association at the origin of a major event : the Managerial Innovation Campus, which takes place every two years.
Jacques Jochem was Kea's Director of Innovation from 2001 to 2005. He pushed us to be different, to go beyond traditional consultant methods. It gave us the basis of our methodological corpus. The vision, the action on behaviors, the 4 modes of transformation or even the program are approaches resulting from our cooperation. The first six issues of La Revue testify to this. In 2014, a new collaboration gave birth to the book "Le mix-organisation" which is the cornerstone of our R&D in terms of autonomy and accountability – a key concept in business performance today.
Michel Saloff-Coste helped us explore the strengths and weaknesses of mimicry and singularity. From the confrontation of our points of view was born our approach of creative strategy. This initiated the work of reflection on intangible assets. Issues 8 and 10 of La Revue summarize our exchanges. The book "Les immatériels Actifs" and the involvement of Jérôme Julia as President of the Observatoire de l'Immatériel attest that development is continuing.
François Jullien brings us his view of philosopher and sinologist ; he questions us about Western culture through the detour of Chinese ancestral culture. China thought about the transformation more than 4000 years ago… here is what arouses all our interest ! He allows us to take advantage of this gap in thinking to open up new perspectives in terms of strategy and management. This leads us to develop concepts of silent transformation, where the notions of "mature" or "creating favorable conditions" are central. François Jullien signs two enlightening articles in issues 12, 14 and 19 of La Revue .
Laurent Bibard - professor at ESSEC, doctor of philosophy and management, former director of the Edgar Morin chair of complexity - has been collaborating for several years with the Kea Group, in particular within the framework of the Managerial Innovation Campus. Intervening in companies as an independent consultant or speaker, he articulates philosophical theory and practical analysis. His favorite subjects concern complexity, ethics, crisis, responsibility and, more generally, the dynamics of vigilance in contexts of uncertainty. His speeches are enlightening for all, thanks to his philosophical gaze combined with a talent as an orator and pedagogue.
Discover his intervention alongside Thibaut Cournarie , at the 2019 Managerial Innovation Campus "our future is in our common goods".
Jean Staune, philosopher of science and essayist, contributes to the development of research programs in more than twenty universities and collaborates regularly with Kea. He has written seminal works on the philosophical implications of science, including “Does our existence have a meaning?” (Presses de la Renaissance) and “Keys to the Future” (Plon). In this book, he analyzes the five revolutions - scientific, technological, managerial, economic, societal - simultaneously at work which will profoundly impact our way of producing, consuming and living, thus upsetting all our traditional benchmarks. On this occasion, he signs an article in La Revue 22 of Kea & Partners “ The Alert Company, an endangered species ".
Kea supports academic work
If our practice of advising general management allows us to work concretely on the transformation of the main instrument of the economic system - the company -, we believe that the social sciences and the associated research are rich in education.
Because a company, before being a system, is a human community that must be brought together around a shared vision, from which the energy that creates value must be released. Understanding the sociological springs, deciphering the evolutions of society, enriching oneself with unusual points of view, all of this feeds innovation, whether managerial or strategic.
Sociologists, ethnologists, philosophers… bring us their methodological rigor and are sources of new ideas for leaders. By taking an interest and collaborating in their work, we aim to create bridges between research and business, between the intellectual world and the entrepreneurial world, with the aim of :
bring out new paradigms in management,
get out of the classic strategic analysis diagrams,
find and renew the sources of development.
This is why we have supported the work of the Chair of Otherness, at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Foundation.
This is why we approached Laurent Bibard, professor of philosophy and management at ESSEC, within the framework of the Campus of managerial innovation.
This is why we regularly discuss with Thibaut Brière, business philosopher, on issues of autonomy and accountability.
This is also the reason why we are involved in the Chair “Futures of industry and work: training, innovation, territories” (FIT2) within Mines ParisTech.
This is why, finally, we are partners of Philonomist, an online media approaching the world of business and the economy from the angles of philosophy and human sciences - a media that relies on the expertise of the editorial staff of Philosophie magazine.
