Individual and collective strategies of companies in the renewable energies sector

What project are you currently working on?

I'm currently working on a dissertation in strategy, focusing on the renewable energies sector, and in particular on the individual and collective strategies of companies in this sector. The aim is to shed light on the dynamics of the energy transition; I had begun to think about this through my initial research work during my studies at the École Normale Supérieure de Rennes and the Université Paris 

From a strategic point of view, the sector is interesting in that it is young and in the process of being structured. As it has experienced very strong growth in recent years, given the changes in the economic, political and social context, it's the right time to look at how it has been built and structured. Until now, my thesis supervisor and I have been interested in its history, and in particular the history of the sector's main collective organization, the Syndicat des Énergies Renouvelables, which was the subject of my second-year Master's thesis.

The fact that this subject combines several disciplines (law, economics, sociology...) in addition to organizational aspects is all the more interesting as it echoes my multidisciplinary training in law-economics-management.

How do you see this project evolving? 

This research project should, of course, lead to the writing of research papers and articles that will feed into my thesis. International comparisons can also be envisaged, as the French case is quite specific, with a single union for the whole sector, whereas elsewhere there is a union for each sector. Finally, we're working with students at the École Polytechnique on the case of major French energy companies and their strategic shift towards renewable energies, in order to understand when this shift occurred and why. This should help us study the link between individual and collective strategies.

Interview by Marie Claude Cléon