Gaël SABBAGH
Director of Business & Sponsoring Parnterships
To ensure the smooth running of all the school’s activities, closely linked to the arrival of Sébastien Tran, Audencia’s new Dean, as Deputy Dean in 2023, I contributed to implementing new in-house methods aimed at greater transparency, more cross-functionality and greater responsibility for the teams. As part of the process of setting up a “collaborative” organizational structure, a major challenge is to refocus activities while ensuring that they are of interest to Audencia as an institution and provide a more serene environment for all the teams.
Christophe COLLIGNON
Deputy Dean
12
the number of departments carrying out the activities of the School
How would you assess 2023?
To begin this review, I would firstly like to emphasize just how dynamic the school is, which has enabled us to climb up most national and international rankings. It is the fruit of the excellent cross-disciplinary work carried out by our institution’s in-house teams, the results of which will enable us to move forward on a number of key projects so that we can continue to look to the future. Among these structuring projects, pursued or initiated in 2023, our long-term facility near Paris is one of the most fundamental. It is a strong strategic direction and a major development opportunity for Audencia given how dynamic the sector is in the Paris region. It is up to us to quickly weigh up the pros and cons of each site in order to make the best choice for setting up in Saint Ouen, the town that we feel is most appropriate for our future. The objective is to offer the same quality of service to our students and learners on all our sites. More generally, 2023 enabled us to work in-house on optimizing our operations and structuring the departments around a Business Units model, with the leitmotiv of increasing transparency, collaboration and finding new sources of rapid growth to continue strengthening the strong and rapid development of Audencia. This will involve stepping up our efforts on the international stage, accelerating development of our Gaia school, a commitment to CSR in all our decisions, in all our dimensions (including budgetary ones) and a renewed approach to teaching through learning spaces that are increasingly innovative and disruptive. To support these projects and our development vectors linked to diversity and inclusion, the school will also be able to count on the fundraising campaign run by the Foundation and all the initiatives related to our partnerships with local businesses.
What are the CSR commitments that guide your actions?
As Deputy Dean, my roadmap includes the ambition to encourage and free up discussion among employees and with our students, so as to facilitate communication between the various departments. This guideline, in keeping with implementation of a collaborative organizational structure within Audencia, is also intended to contribute to a more serene working environment. This means giving teams greater autonomy by limiting the number of decision-making stages, resulting in a healthier working environment and a clear, shared direction. It also helps to make our environment more inclusive by breaking down uncollaborative practices!
What are your objectives for 2024?
The objectives in 2024 for our school are as high as the stakes: very high! This will of course involve taking a final decision on our future in Saint Ouen, the impact of which will already be felt in September with the arrival of our first Grande Ecole program class. Our development in the region will obviously be supported by recruitment, including several dedicated professors. 2024 will also be marked by our determination to continue to support CSR and ethics as core values of our school. Finally, collectively and across the board, in liaison with all the committed and heavily involved stakeholders concerned, the objective is obviously to refocus our activities to serve the excellence and influence of our institution in order to ensure that this is reflected in national and international rankings.
What is the one word that defines the strategic direction of your actions between now and the end of the ECOS 2025 strategic plan?
I would say “prioritization”: the opportunity to calmly bring this strategic plan to a close by prioritizing certain major projects. This approach will provide the opportunity to promote a number of key vectors to bring the school up to the level where it needs to be (and where it is expected to be), particularly in the context of preparing the next strategic plan and the forthcoming renewal of our triple accreditation.
Audencia’s approach to partnerships with businesses is one of joint construction
“Audencia wants to be a key player in the virtuous transformation of businesses and organizations in our regions. Our position is as an architect of this transformation, developing daring solutions in close collaboration with companies. Audencia’s approach to partnerships with businesses is one of joint construction. We encourage a collaborative, hybrid and operational approach in which our lecturer-researchers work hand in hand with businesses.
We have consolidated our partnerships with businesses of all sizes to carry out joint projects aimed at reinventing business models through the works of our various research chairs in particular. These collaborations have given rise to innovative projects focused on sustainability, efficiency and social, economic as well as environmental responsibility.
2023 was also marked by the themes of diversity and inclusion through continuation of the Sirius scheme. It is an ambitious initiative aimed at developing a free foundation building year offered directly to high-school leavers with a vocational qualification in order to remove the self-censorship and financial obstacles associated with the pursuit of higher education.
As regards research, we have launched a new research-action program on vulnerability management in the workplace to understand, analyze and prevent situations of financial vulnerability. Like our existing research chairs, this project is a platform for exchange and collaboration between academia and industry.
In 2024, we will be deploying new research-action projects, new dynamics focused on skills hybridization with the players in our regions and we will strengthen our value proposition to establish ourselves as the trusted partner of business managers in the Grands Ouest and Ile de France regions, in the virtuous transformation of their organizations.”
