#1Month1EngagedAlumna – Angela SUTAN, PhD, Research Professor at ESSEC – “CSR is a lever for transformation, not just another report.”
05.01.2026
Angela is a Professeure HDR and researcher in Sustainability within the Department of Law, Political Science and Society at ESSEC. She serves as Scientific Director of the Experimental and Behavioral Laboratory and Academic Director of the Executive Master in Strategies for Sustainability (EMS2).
Her research leverages tools from behavioral and experimental economics and has been published in leading journals such as Management Science, Ecological Economics, and Games and Economic Behavior. Angela has secured multiple national and international research grants and is also active in media outreach (including Harvard Business Review, The Conversation, Le Monde, as well as radio and television) and pedagogical innovation.
She was featured in the French Ministry of Research exhibition “145 Women Speak About Science” and coordinated the large-scale participatory experiment conducted during the Night of Researchers.
ESB: What is your background, and what led you to take an interest in CSR?
A.S : It was through my research on intergenerational dynamics that CSR became an obvious focus. When you study how individuals make decisions that affect those who come after them—without knowing their position in the generational sequence (are we the first, or the last to use available resources?)—you quickly realize that good intentions are not enough. What is needed is a strong institutional framework, aligned incentives, and above all, education that truly empowers individuals to act. That is precisely what CSR is meant to build within organisations.
ESB: CSR in your day-to-day life?
A.S : CSR lies at the heart of two key dimensions of my work at ESSEC. First, the EMS2 Master’s program, which I direct, trains senior executives to make sustainability a strategic lever rather than a regulatory constraint.
Second, my research: I am involved in projects funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) on waste management and the circular economy, as well as a territorial initiative on this topic in partnership with Cergy Agglomération.
This close connection between field research and the training of decision-makers gives real meaning to the approach, as the objective is to provide practical, actionable tools that can be deployed on the ground to drive systemic—not just individual—change.
ESB: How do you define CSR?
A.S : For companies, CSR refers to the set of methods used to integrate and implement the three dimensions of sustainable development—economic, social, and environmental. It shapes how decisions are made, how trade-offs are managed, and how responsibility is embedded into day-to-day operations. CSR expands the scope of managerial responsibility beyond shareholders and short-term financial performance.
We can distinguish three forms of CSR: instrumental, when it reduces costs or manages risks; transactional, when it responds to stakeholder pressures; and transformational, when it challenges business models themselves.
It is this third approach that particularly interests me.
ESB: How can it be useful for business?
A.S : The concept of shared value, for example, clearly illustrates how CSR can generate economic value by addressing social or environmental needs. Developing low-carbon products, circular economy models, or accessibility solutions is not a constraint—it is an opportunity for differentiation and innovation.
The ROI is not always immediate, but it is real: reduced regulatory and reputational risks, greater attractiveness for talent and investors, and increased resilience to shocks. Companies that embed sustainability into their strategy by default build a lasting competitive advantage.
ESB: What would you like to say to ESSEC Club alumni and others?
A.S : I would like to talk to them about what I call “carbon capacity.” We tend to measure a lot the carbon footprint—what we emit—but we underestimate our capacity to reduce emissions and to influence systems and those around us.
Research shows that the most affluent individuals, those with the greatest objective resources to act (investment decisions, organisational influence, normative power), are also those who tend to underestimate or externalise this capacity. As ESSEC alumni, you fall precisely into this profile. You have not only the personal capacity to act, but also the collective capacity to transform organisations, industries, and norms.
This is an active role, not a passive one. The transition will not happen without you.
Comments0
Please log in to see or add a comment
Suggested Articles
