5 questions to Ludovic Cailluet about his research on the history of businesses

Why are you interested in historical subjects?

Ludovic Cailluet : I am primarily interested in it because historical research is my profession. I studied history, which led me to a doctoral thesis in business history (1) as part of a CIFRE agreement within the Pechiney group, a metallurgical company that no longer exists.

Having become a professor of management science, I continued to take an interest in historical subjects because they allow in-depth multidimensional research thanks to access to archival data and retrospective interviews. Approaching a question about strategy through the past makes it possible to analyse and understand the complexity of phenomena and to contextualise them. It also allows one to take a step back...

What are the topics you have worked on in recent years?

Ludovic Cailluet : In recent years, I have worked on several subjects at the crossroads of history and strategy. I am particularly interested in the use of the past by organisations and the emergence of new markets.

With regard to the first theme, in a research article published in Organization Studies (2), I developed a management model for a particular strategic asset, the historical strategic resource (HSR). Using the example of Abbé Pierre and Emmaüs, my co-authors and I developed a model for managers to make the best of a historical resource, while highlighting the challenges and risks associated with this very specific type of asset - in particular the difficulty of ‘privatising’ history.

On the second theme, that of market emergence, in 2023 I published an academic article entitled ‘Radiant rivalries: competition, coopetition and non-market strategies in the emergence of skincare and beauty services in France, 1900s–1970s’ (3). In this paper I examine the emergence of the skincare and beauty industry in France between 1900 and the 1970s, focusing on the creation of a new market category. The article draws on a wide range of archives to highlight the contributions of the various actors and institutions in this entrepreneurial ecosystem. In particular, I focused on the clashes and negotiations that took place between customers, products, competing distributors, regulators and influencers during the creation of a market.

What forms do your works take - scientific articles, case studies, books, etc.?

Ludovic Cailluet : Like all researchers, I am encouraged to publish in academic peer-reviewed journals, so this is a format that I use regularly (4).

However, I very much appreciate the freedom offered by other modes of research dissemination. Case studies (5) are very interesting for their pedagogical use and have the merit of being quicker to produce than articles.

I also really like interventions in the public debate in the form of opinion pieces or interviews (6), again because of the effort of clarity they require to address a wide audience, unlike the readership of scientific journals.

I have also written or edited several books (7) and would like to return to this long format if I have the opportunity. Unfortunately, books are not highly valued by international rankings in particular, even though they have a potentially greater impact and duration of use (and citation) than articles.

How do you use and pass on your research to the students at the school? Are they receptive?

Ludovic Cailluet : I regularly use the research I conduct in my teaching. The history of organisations is an inexhaustible source of illustrations, such as the testimonies of the managers I interview. This allows me to put some ‘flesh on the bones’ and to shed light on certain elements that are sometimes abstract for the learners.

I have also designed a pre-master's elective course entitled ‘The making of strategy’ in which students are invited to handle archives in order to understand the historian's method. This enables them to develop their critical faculties by questioning the documents available to them, as well as the discourse and narratives that the company and entrepreneurs make about themselves.

Finally, professionals are increasingly interested in the potential of their organisation's historical assets, particularly in terms of employee mobilisation; I noticed this during a recent training course for young administrators of the AFFO - Association Française du Family Office.

Are professionals and companies interested in your work? What do they expect when they contact you?

Ludovic Cailluet : I have led several projects at the request of companies. What they generally expect is the perspective of a business school professor who is sensitive to their concerns as practitioners, strategists, managers or directors; but with the rigour of a historian who does not avoid problematic questions about the past, the role of context, of crises but also potentially of failures and mistakes, in order to understand and perhaps learn from them.

Family businesses also have a dual challenge: that of the history of the family and that of the business, which are intertwined in a very emotional fabric with an emotional dimension that should not be neglected and which we study within the EDHEC Family Business Chair, headed by Associate Professor Rania Labaki.

Références

(1) Stratégies, structures d'organisation et pratique de gestion de Pechiney des années 1880 à 1971. Thèse de doctorat (1995) Université de Lyon II - https://www.culturalu.org/biblio_numerique/fr/piece.php?id=446

(2) Cailluet, L., Gorge, H., & Özçağlar-Toulouse, N. (2018). ‘Do not expect me to stay quiet’: Challenges in managing a historical strategic resource. Organization Studies, 39(12), 1811-1835 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840618800111

(3) Cailluet, L. (2023). Radiant Rivalries: Competition, Coopetition and Non-Market Strategies in the Emergence of Skincare and Beauty Services in France, 1900s–1970s. Entreprises et histoire, 111(2), 32-46 - https://doi.org/10.3917/eh.111.0032

(4) See Ludovic Cailluet's personal page : https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/faculty/professors-and-researchers/ludovic-cailluet

(5) See for example

- Emmaus: the founder as a resource? - https://accueil-bibliotheque-nice.edhec.edu/Record.htm?record=19257398124910755709&confirm=on

- Yuka: changing the world one barcode at a time - https://www.pearson.com/en-gb/subject-catalog/p/exploring-strategy-text-and-cases/P200000007156/9781292428833

(6) In 2024-2025 :

- Going Beyond CSR: A Necessity (EDHEC Vox - 2025) - https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/going-beyond-csr-a-necessity-net-positive-business

- [#dataviz] Entrepreneurs: have you heard of the "ESG Debt"? (EDHEC Vox - 2024) - https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/dataviz-entrepreneurs-have-you-heard-esg-debt

- How the Abbé Pierre Foundation and Emmaüs can overcome their founder’s cumbersome legacy (The Conversation / EDHEC Vox - 2024) - https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/how-abbe-pierre-foundation-and-emmaus-can-overcome-their-founder-s-cumbersome-legacy

(7) Ludovic Cailluet, Chedde, un siècle d'industrie au pays du Mont-Blanc, PUG (1997) - https://www.pug.fr/produit/135/9782706107313/chedde-un-siecle-d-industrie-au-pays-du-mont-blanc

Ludovic Cailluet, Yannick Lemarchand, Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (dir.), Histoire et sciences de gestion, Paris, Vuibert, coll. « Fnege » (2013), 218 p. - https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-01521646