Management Sciences and responsibility of Business Schools’ Academia during the globalized crisis
 
“Primum non nocere”, Hippocratic oath
“Plus de conscience appelle plus de science”, P.G. de Gennes, Nobel-prize winner
« Dem lebenden Geist », Heidelberg Universität Portal

Gerard Valin, Past Dean (Ancien Directeur Général du Groupe : 1998-2000), ESSEC Business School, France(*)
ANDEFI President (H), in charge of forensic investigations (finance), Court of Appeal
(Paris)(**)
 
 gerardvalin@gmail.com / 0612224266

(*) Founding  Member  of  ESSEC-IRENE : Institut de Recherche et d’Enseignement sur la Négociation en Europe
(**) Association Nationale des Experts Financiers Indépendants
                                              
2014

Executive summary
The ethical basis of academic discussions about business practices relies on specific cultures prevailing on the five continents. At the beginning of this century, the management sciences are mainly developing according to northern and western standards across the globe. These confrontations of cultures in business life take place during the hardest times of economic, financial, and social crisis. A deep rethinking of management education is urgently needed to successfully face the challenge of shared understanding among various business circles. Academia and the business communities should reconsider most of their practices from a responsible perspective of the ethical universalization versus the current globalization of behaviors. For that purpose, this paper proposes a specific methodology, relying on the good use of “current” and “acquired technical (or generally speaking scientific) data” by management professors.
In order to correctly bridge the detrimental gap between “current theoretical data” (CTD) and “acquired theoretical data” (ATD), management sciences have to integrate a more responsible culture of innovation. Management professors should teach ATD with due respect to ethics applied to each of their own academic discipline. The faculty of business schools could, under these specific conditions, become major actors of a vital “transcultural mediation”. This ambitious process will benefit simultaneously to all stakeholders, thanks to new risks-adjusted ethical standards in business life.
 
Keywords :
Management sciences. Business ethics. Academia responsibility. Medical malpractice. Stakeholder. Transcultural mediation. Transnational companies (TNC). Responsible innovation.


Introduction : The responsibilities of  business schools’  faculty in a globalized world
The good use of mediation is an essential human ingredient in the process of economic and geopolitical universalization. The key drivers of the current globalization (communication, finance and technology) do not spontaneously promote a universal- and ethical- model of human behavior. These powerful factors do not naturally take account of individual wishes for harmonious lives, personal and professional achievement. In contemporary theories regarding economy and management, the models palatable to financial establishment are those of unlimited - and today uncontrolled - competition. As a result, global competition appears to be the major “weapon of war” between, no longer countries, but transnational companies, mostly issued from recent corporate mergers and acquisitions in various countries. Immoderate risk-taking attitudes have lead in many cases to unbearable human and financial costs. An unparalleled globalized crisis within financial, economic and corporate areas began in 2007 and is still the main cause of unusual unemployment levels: many countries are still waiting for sustainable recovery. Under those circumstances, the hypercompetitive model of the global economy continues to run out of control of the major stakeholders.
It is not really surprising that people from “Main Street” may raise a stabbing and pertinent question: could the future success of globalization - in whatever historically specific shape it eventually takes - rely on the reconciliation of economic and social aims, through a shared universal vision of humanity?  In the current context of extreme economic conflict between various cultures, the implementation of transnational (or supranational?) corporate governance guidance is regularly delayed, since economic, social and geopolitical tension increases significantly. However, the power wielded by companies makes the human factor an unavoidable concern for responsible managers, directors and CEOs. Significant decisions are made today, with vital consequences for individuals and their families, at corporate more than at government level. Managers assume an increasing responsibility in the decision making process that shapes also societal bodies on the short and long run. The leadership of companies, regarding investments, employment, products and services, makes them global players, simultaneously on the human and the material levels of many activities. Under such conditions, it has become pressing for those involved in teaching management sciences, to suitably benchmark their activity along reference points of ethics. These ethical backgrounds may find their roots in various moral philosophies around the world. The new role of Academia notably consists in seeking, proposing and teaching the most appropriate concepts of - financial as well as non financial - values to the global world of competition.
The respect and diffusion of such values will improve the various aspects of advanced corporate governance in the first decades of 2000s. This new way of thinking about management has heavy implications far beyond the field of corporate governance. According to our proposed line of argumentation, the corporate governance “hope” for ethics appears to be only the tip of the iceberg that should lead Academia and practitioners to a genuine humanistic attitude. It becomes truly urgent to educate all the concerned stakeholders on the major principles of philosophical concepts pertinent to the practice of management, such as those of persuasion, debate and acceptable risk taking. Due to this revised focus, Academia of business schools shall turn to be - essentially on a global scale - “transcultural mediators”, in a world of turmoil, growing frustration and economic strain. In the future, these stakeholders will legitimately hold the business schools’ faculty accountable for their ethical - or non ethical - teaching.

1) What is transcultural mediation in a globalized world?
Trans-cultural mediation is the process which lies at the meeting point between the concepts of individual responsibility, professional behavior, and risk taking, as described in exhibit 1. It aims to create a transversal and integrating dynamic for current developments in management sciences, in the present and foreseeable future, within various social and economic environments. It aims to avoid a “closed door” innovation process. Representatives from Academia, companies or alumni networks, constitute the potential actors, and benefactors, of this trans-cultural mediation. They all contribute to adapt management sciences to a world which is rapidly globalizing, but is not yet universalized, for better and for worse. Agenda of transnational investors are often at odds with those of other stakeholders:employees, customers, governments, NGOs and civil society at large. We point out the main similarities and differences of the two possible perspectives in the context of a possible transcultural mediation : current “globalization”, on the one hand, and ethical “universalization”, on the other hand.
EXHIBITS 1 : Transcultural mediation.
During the current global transition period, professors of management should, but generally do not play, a positive part. They nevertheless represent the potential for a specific type of mediation due to their professional vocation for teaching future manager generations. Their commitment and personal responsibility enable them to proceed from theoretical research to practical instruction,suited to each professional activities linked to their own academic fields. We identify these pedagogic processes as closely depending on what I have called transcultural mediation. This mediation should hopefully take place within an enlarged and enlightened consensus between the academic community, various stakeholders of companies and individuals. Academia should contribute to this new opportunity of “positive” universalization, promoting the responsible evolution of management sciences. This implies more research and teaching directed towards the lifecycle of innovation and shared information, relying on a strategic but critical vision of the societal framework. This new approach should effectively be conceptualized on a transnational or supranational basis. Common knowledge, consensus search and understanding of ethics applying to a regional and global scale, will lead to a more acceptable basis for human behaviour in business life.
 
Ethics and academic discussion integrating philosophical concepts and pertinent debate
Academics could assume this new responsibility if they are aware of the pertinent sociological and philosophical concepts issued from the various civilizations. These concepts constitute the fundamental links between the long story of cultures and the contemporary ways of thinking. A major northern and western tradition in moral philosophy relies, in a nutshell, on an action-oriented discussion, and depends on the rational conceptions of an historical chain of thinkers. I briefly recall the principal stages of this specific tradition, stressing both the value of the outstanding north-American developments (J. Rawls, especially, since 1988) of the last century and many more ancient European contributions. However, Academia should not neglect the alternative philosophies, leaving the duty of their implementation to specialized competencies, which have to take care of actual and specific constraints, in each area of economic and management fields.
 
Sociological and philosophical roots for management thinking
My account of philosophical background of the sciences of management is necessarily selective. After the first Socratic dialogues, various forms of persuasion developed in Greek cities, particularly focused around Aristotle’s rhetoric. These roots came to later fruition in the dynamic harmonyof Cicero’s Republic, within the Roman Empire.
Most of Western philosophers from Cicero (70 BC) to Hegel (1806), including Erasmus, Aquinas, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Descartes, Hume, Kant, were concerned by the principles of action coordinated with various comprehensive “Weltanschauungen” of their times.
Many centuries later, elaborate types of debate appear in philosophical discourse through the “dépassement” (“Aufhebung”) concept, inspired by Hegelian dialectics. The preceding wide detour through the scholastic “disputatio” of the Middle Age was a necessary academic phase, which may already be considered to anticipate, to a certain extent, our modern “case study method”. However, this tradition had not yet been enlarged to encompass collective discussion, nor was it aimed at lay subject matter before the twentieth century. This generally accepted way of thinking underwent a deep renewal with E. Husserl’s (1913) phenomenology at the beginning of the last century. Further developments were achieved in the works of the theoreticians of the so-called “Frankfurt school”, including the writings of H. Jonas (1990) and H. Arendt (1970). G. Simmel (1910) gave also eminent sociological and philosophical contributions concerning conflict resolution some years before in Munich. The term “ethics ofthe discussion” was used with philosophical rigor by German colleagues, and later, more specifically, J. Habermas (1973). This concept was defined as a “moral obligation” following the Europe-born world conflicts that had sprung from the nationalisms of the twentieth century, putting an end to the first globalization. It creates the basis for post-nationalist organizations, for the integration of economies and for truly transnational companies that have gained in power to the detriment of states.
This intellectual process has shaped much of the European post-war political and socio-economic development. The dramatic wars between nations-states were largely the result of serious gaps in authentic cultural communication between government, “elites” and “common people”. These dangerous misunderstandings were used by the political masters of these times to gain national, or imperial, hegemonies, at infernal rhythms. They appeared to be unbearable on a global scale and lead to dramatic world wars.
Much was to be learnt from such negative and fatal experiences. The official phraseology of that time encouraged the confrontation of national prides in Europe by stigmatizing “foreigners” as scapegoats. Such misbehaviors effectively kept each civilization’s potential out of sight and enhanced the image of the enemy (regarded as “scapegoat” according to R. Girard). Consequently, the opportunity of mutual encounters was belittled and the chance of collective enrichment reduced, if not eliminated. Even today, this past bestows on us an imperative duty to “reconcile memories”, as P. Ricoeur (2004) wrote, in order to manage positively the ongoing globalization.
This duty was inescapably felt as a strong individual and professional and finally moral obligation by certain European thinkers like J. P. Sartre, E. Levinas, B. Russell, after the Second World War.
 It became a personal commitment for those scientists who accept the implications of Einstein’s dictum that:
“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest: A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our individual desires and to affection for a few human beings nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.”
 
These obligations apply equally to all scientific disciplines that underlie the practices of management. This duty is naturally not limited to Europe. The “enemy concept”, as explained by R. Girard, is omnipresent in history of the world. It underlies many of the philosophical bases of economic competition as it is understood in business education. Northern and western behaviors today are mainly concentrated on economic warfare and the desperate search and capture of further human, energetic and natural resources at the lowest price. This strategy, at best, spoils long-achieved partnerships. At worst, it lays at the source of global poverty, ethnic conflict and genocide.
There is an urgent need to return to enlarged philosophical basics in management teaching at high level. I argue with E. Levinas (1988) that debate on ethics should be a priority especially in business life, since corporations hold sway on the economic and social environment. Ethical discussions should at the same time take account of the whole set of contemporary realities and respect the precious lessons of the past. In other words, Ed. Freeman shared this point of view more than two decades ago: “What our species needs, above all else, is a generally accepted ethical system that is compatible with the scientific knowledge we now possess” (1996). This responsible attitude regards especially the fields of management and business education and should be globalized, through mediation of management professors, condemning hazardous financial practices and misused communication technologies. If I return to the classical writers on ethics, we should find these concerns reflected in the language of other ages. D. Hume (1737) already pointed out the potential of the economic systems of his day for creating social justice when he recalled that:
“We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation of man;  we must reject appearances, which may be , though specious; and must search for those rules, which are, on the whole, most useful and beneficial”.
The elaboration of a new management science is, today, like some centuries ago, fundamentally interconnected with ethical practices.
Exhibit 2 : Current globalization versus ethical universalization of behaviors
 
From moral philosophy to modern professional responsibility of management Academia
For professors of management, the use of ethic mediation is not limited merely to moral, philosophical or political theory. Academia has to search and exert concrete influence in the practice of its professional activities, a duty common to all educators. The principles of action for the entrepreneur or manager have to be carefully revisited, in a world of discord due to the uncontrolled evolution of its main economic and social components. Among others, it is worth referring to H. Jonas (1990), who, with the “responsibility-principle”, defined the bases of an active realism, as opposed to the E. Bloch’s optimistic “hope-principle” (1954-1959). In certain domains, this type of questioning and introspection aimed to structure action in a non-determinist world was later developed in the USA and Europe by P. Ricoeur. E.  Levinas (1988) laid down the renewed philosophical bases of alterity.
A source of companies’ ethics, coherent with the evolution of management sciences, could be inspired by certain aspects of the medical deontology.
At this point, I need to introduce some definitions and a fundamental distinction between CTD and ATD, as it has important implications for the professional expertise required of business schools’ professors.

- “Current Theoretical Data” (CTD) result from the last stage of economic and management theories, as they may be known through research papers, conferences and ongoing discussions between academics.

- “Acquired Theoretical Data” (ATD) gather the approved sets of practices in each field of management, after consensus of concerned stakeholders.  In this respect, professors of management sciences assume a special responsibility, since they are called upon to exercise the singular function of “connoisseurs”, as recognized independent professionals.

- Academics have first to develop their research among peers, formulating the basis of new CTD, looking day after day, for specific ATD available for valuable teaching.

For management practitioners however, any successful implementation of ATD requires the enlightened consent of all actors concerned as “stakeholders”. This use of ATD implies professional responsibilities and deontology, recognized by jurisprudence and eventually submitted to forensic investigation.
EXHIBIT 3 : CTD versus ATD
For a better understanding, let us refer to medical responsibility and its negative counterpart, the malpractice. In that area, professional mediations between theories and therapies are - or at least should not - be shaped in respect mainly of individuals (“patients”) and do not concern companies.
These rules aim to constrain the medical profession to act responsibly and must be combined with the traditional principle of “primum non nocere” (“Do No Harm”). In the medical field, this professional oath leads to an attitude of prudence and of humility in consideration of the immensity of “the unknown”, in the current state of knowledge. They establish the limits between error and harm, even on the judiciary and forensic basis of professional responsibility, notably in most occidental countries (See note 1: Aidsgate in France, 1984-19995). This comparison between medicine and management sciences is, however, strictly limited because of the large number of actors involved in the latter. Doctors interact principally with individuals, since managers’ work mainly with organizations. In areas like hospital, public health and drug companies, healthcare professionals are nevertheless involved with the corporate world.
Management disciplines are hopefully considered today as being able to promote new solutions to societal problems. In a similar way, the “art” or “science” of medicine, contributes to the health of individuals. The personal responsibilities of health professionals are subject to a severe deontology, which results from a sustainable and international consensus: this comparison with “evidence based” medicine should also be taken in serious consideration for business matters.


2) Is it possible to bridge the detrimental gap between current theoretical and acquired data (CTD and ATD) in the field of management sciences?
The actual and potential gaps between CTA and ATD are sources of major crisis for the business community. Academia may help to overcome that gap in an acceptable delay to avoid ethical failures, thanks to their collaborative networks, using on line information technology.
 A tragic example of the time lag regarding conversion from CTA to ATD was the critical situation in France, between 1984 and 1989; it was concerning the inappropriate treatment of Aids pandemia on a national basis. A weak managerial consensus hindered the timely diffusion of the new “theoretical data” (the effectiveness of heated blood, information supplied at the 1984 Atlanta congress), which uncontested research had already recognized. These “theoretical data” were only ready to be put, especially in France, into practice not before 1989, after hectic transnational recognition. Other examples are those of the “mad cow” disease, or, coming back to the economic field, those of Enron and WorldCom mismanagement, among many others. Contrary examples of over-hasty applications are abounding elsewhere, for instance premature market authorization for pharmaceuticals, or excessive recourse to anabolics whose side effects were ignored for too long.
A focus on corporate issues brings us to severe audit failures, mainly due to not yet harmonized accounting standards. Most of national accounting standards cannot be “generally accepted” in a globalizing world, because of fierce influence wars between auditors, various-financial and non-financial- stakeholders and the business community at large. Similarly, academic creativity has to provide serious background for the development of CTD in each management discipline. This should really improveprofessional practices through an effective process, leading to new generally accepted ATD, giving the basis of a validated professional deontology, combined with the “precaution principle”.


Discussion about Academia’s responsibility
 The management professors’ responsibility consists in both stimulating - in each of their own  discipline - the creative dynamic in the most advanced domains of business sciences. They have to formulate clearly the practical requirements which result from contingent and evolving professional practices. This attitude has to be carefully applied to each type of activity within companies (research, supply chain, production, distribution, marketing, finance, information technologies, ... ). This professional attitude implies that management professors do carefully take into account the degree to which practices are more or less advanced in the various cultural zones of the world. In other words, the professors have to take a precautionary position on a global scale. They also should be aware, with genuine and mindful  humility, of what they may not know. The resulting open-minded and cultural approach requires the knowledge and the respect of “regional” (not only northern or western), cultural, economic, social and geopolitical particularities.
EXHIBIT 4 : Management and mediation, the professional responsibilities of Academia
Consequently, management professors are called upon to adopt, in this area, an ambition which is singular and eminent. They are not so much acting as “prescribers”, or even rule givers, than as accountable “transcultural mediators”. They engage their own professional responsibility within the cultural framework of their academic discipline or, sometimes, of various interdisciplinary overlappings or business activities. Their responsibility consists in putting their knowledge of CTD and ATD, simultaneously, at the joint service of the scientific community, students and companies. The “enlightened consent” of these three main categories of professional stakeholders constitutes the first phase of this collaborative process. Companies will have access to analytic tools, enabling a risk-reduced evolution towards new domains. Teaching and academic research should remain constantly at their disposal, helping them also to find, and educate, by specific tailor-made programs, the new human resources required. Doing so, management professors will effectively have a chance to stay at the head of the responsibility chain in real business life.

The emergence of management sciences in various areas of the globe
Participants of various levels of teaching programs are prepared to exercise professional responsibilities, on an individual or collective basis, in highly differentiated contexts. It is too easy, and at least a proof of irresponsibility, to teach the state of the art without referring to the identified gap between CTD and ATD, concerning each management discipline and business activity. Depending on the situation, “acquired” or “theoretical data” are referred to, in order to take account of the different levels and specializations in the various management school programs. At the same time, the contents of teaching and the professional experience evolve permanently thanks to new bases of communication that are today transcultural and multilingual. Every transfer of knowledge is liable, in some degree, to intersubjectivity of the stakeholders concerned. This inescapable confrontation reflects various cultural, social or political perceptions as a result of a specific “Weltanschauung”.
EXHIBIT 5: Ideal scenario-Harmonious convergence of technical data recognition
In the multi-face domain of company management, there is no unique way of thinking, which would dominate both the various cultural environments and the different actors involved. Certain management fashions, perceived as more efficient than others, are strongly promoted by consultants during ever shorter periods of time …as (northern or western) best practices.
The current systems of referees, who exert, a priori, control over scientific and academic journals, constitute, from this viewpoint, an other instructive illustration, which remains probably perfectible in order to gain peers’ recognition. On the one hand, referees and reviewers are legitimate decision – makers, due to their “acquired” level of knowledge and academic distinction. On the other hand, because of their anonymity and their high degree of specialization, some referees might run the risk of encouraging a rather closed system, limited to a single intellectual sphere, or favoring certain pressure groups, directly or indirectly. The same critique might apply to the organization of certain academic conferences or the intellectual cronyism induced by rankings of quotations. Practitioners often express their fierce frustration about the missing applicability of research undertaken by Academia. The research suffers from closed abstraction of thought, due to absence of the current reality, as experienced by practitioners in day to day life.
The facilities offered by a sometimes unique, introverted school of thought, a “pensée unique”, constitute a permanent temptation in all professional milieux. Thanks to the maintenance of confident, but non-complacent, discussions, new bridges between theoretical and practical data can be built through these new processes of mediation. These new theoretical data get the opportunity to become ATD of tomorrow’s management sciences, which are, inevitably, in variable stages of evolution, in each part of the world.
It requires courage and determination for Academia to remain in the spirit of philosophy’s true concepts of debate and of mediation between various business communities. For this reason also, the contribution of competent and trans-cultural mediators will be ever more necessary in every business fields. Professors of business schools should be able to build up ethical consensus – however always provisional – within the diversity of social, economic and geopolitical settings, regionally and, sometimes, globally. This transcultural mediation constitutes an essential duty for schools of management in the current context of geo-politico-economic conflicts. This challenge concerns the American business schools, as well as the management Academia in Europe and in many other parts of the world. It is a highly valuable help to avoid inconsistency and companies’ misbehaviour, or even malpractice, in order to reduce potential conflicts between economic and social aims.
Located at the core of each management discipline, the mission and vision of each business school is conditioned by a genuine respect for the diversity of our globalizing world. The usual typologies of management sciences appear today to be highly relative. Are they accurate (“exact”) sciences or rather not? Are they “human” or “inhuman”? Should they be considered as “hard” or “soft” disciplines? The corresponding academic debates remain, for the most part, sterile – because of too static “frontier wars” between professors. The main risk consists in neglecting the concrete requirements of societal action of companies in relationship with their cultural, economic and social environments. The research and teaching international business has enhanced the multidisciplinary approach, reducing the traditional and unrealistic division of disciplines. At the end of the XVIII century, I. Kant (1789) had already stigmatized the “contest of the faculties”, in Germany, as a quarrel which became famous between disciplines that were supposedly modern (notably, philosophy) or traditional (among them, theology, medicine and law). More recently, A. Jacquard (2001) wrote that we should speak, not of “exact” sciences, but of rigorous science. Of course, that is just a pleonasm: “What is not rigorous is not scientific.”
Due to the continuing adaptation of their abilities, the contributions of professors of management sciences will lead to new developments of the various types of transcultural mediation. They should be thought in regional or, possibly, global or even supranational contexts, with the aim of contributing to the sciences of collective action in the different cultural zones. The best theories - and practices - will benefit from this diversity by enhancing knowledge and ethical behavior of stakeholders. Under those circumstances, management sciences, as such, could soon become a legitimate part of the much wider range of academic disciplines. To learn how to be a manager of the 21th century is a hard path, involving recognized technical abilities but also the dialectical and rhetorical capabilities of a transcultural  mediator.

3) By narrowing the gap CTD-ATD, could the management sciences reach their true human dimension, guarantee of a lasting social and academic recognition?
Returning to the individual in the corporate world, a precondition for developing the capabilities for positive mediation appears to be a strong respect of diversity, cultural roots and personal behavior of each individual. Given the current transnationalization process of Academia, student body and corporate environment, the importance of mediation becomes more necessary and progressively assumed.
For firms, heavy constraints through world-sized markets condition the conception of their products and services. Renewals induced by positive actions of managers in response to perceived market tendencies upset global strategies for many companies. They have to face, at the same time, discrepancies of cultural, political, economic and social realities. The engines of globalization are heterogeneous and not synchronic. They are fed by numerous roots that are difficult to grasp clearly from a single company viewpoint. The key of successful universalization, for the future, lies in sound articulation of these different rhythms of social and economic evolutions. They cannot and should not - be dissociated from the cultural realities which arise in different civilizations, at various time and speed.
 EXHIBIT 6 : Worst case scenario-Timely divergence of theoretical data recognition
Dynamic interdependences occur according to different rhythms in various cultural contexts. Causes and consequences must be analyzed with discernment, from various points of view which are - by necessity - subjective. Only genuine and continuous dialogues and debates between cultures will enable Academia to work out ethical concepts of management for the future, on a universal basis.
Globalization advocates have to face the risk of “standardization” or, worse, the disintegration of the fair discussion that normally aims to promote exchanges of opinions and search for consensus. Alumni who have already experienced their practice should also contribute to this improvement of management education by bringing valuable feedbacks. In this context, management sciences need to emphasize each individual’s harmonized fulfillment by enabling the alumni of business schools to take their own part in this meaningful educational mission. The individual responsibility and the reality of external environments have to be reconciled with legitimate individual ambitions. The different motivations of social and economic stakeholders, including alumni, should be incorporated at the very heart of management sciences. They are shaped by discussion, both reflecting culture and identity, and leading to deeper knowledge and better understanding. The natural and legitimate contradictions between all these actors, arising in periods of quick evolution, create legitimate tensions within companies and business life.
Under those circumstances, it seems pressing to orient the present and future contributions of core-management sciences around three major purposes:

  • Deepening each human being’s personal and collective identity, enabling him or her to develop new roots according to life experiences, and hence creating common philosophical bases legitimizing individual responsibility taking.
  • Recognizing others’ diversity, through their individual stories, their consequences, and their future projects, thus positioning any professional decision-making into the context of current challenges of the globalizing world.
  • Promoting mutual enrichment through genuine exchange, in a time frame adjusted to each project, and serving the enlightened transposition of “current theoretical” (CTD) into “acquired” data of management sciences (ATD).
Experienced professor in management sciences should be a party to this undertaking, according to his or her personal responsibilities, his or her ability for constructive mediation. According to a sound recommendation of the famous A.W.Schlegel, on the subject of the so-called “median critique”:    “The world is a big place and many things may co-exist there. Too often in the search for simplistic unifying paradigms, this insight is lost. However in the domain of art, a connoisseur is not he who only feels an instructive sentiment, partial in preference, but on the contrary, he who freely places himself above contradictory opinions by denying his own inclinations”. According to that wise advice, the transformation of CTD into ATD requires original and truly transcultural mediation implying the personal responsibility of teachers and researchers vis a vis the business community. It is the price to be paid, in order to avoid the risks of a new “trahison des clercs”,in front of the social and economic evolution of the current world. “Trahison des clercs” (“clerics’ treason”), is referring to the position of Julien Benda, famous European scholar, who, in the 1930s, pointed out the political blindness of most of his colleagues, his fellow “intellectuals”,  at the awakening of the second European “civil” war, which rapidly turned out to be really “global”!
Efficient mediations are thus a matter both of individual attitudes and professional behavior and their integration into a triple “plan of action”, with the objectives to:
Ø Guarantee freedom of thought for the benefit of debate; the scientific community, has continually to validate the pertinence, in real time, of the right use of “current theoretical” and “acquired” data, as well as the acceptance or rejection of certain concepts of management for the present and near  future.
Ø Expressrespect due to participants in academic programs by teaching in a way adapted to the level and capacities of students, professionals and researchers. Each academic program should require appropriate proportions of CTD or ATD for each population.
Ø Bring in the best attitude for implementing operational solutions to companies in simple terms. The management languages have to be clear and consistentwith the enlightened consentof the largest possible number of actors concerned within the business community.
These conditions are rarely met at present. These commitments to the related stakeholders give management science their renewed reasons for existence for the 21st century. The dynamic balance maintained in relationships with these three communities will enable the validation of principles of professional responsibility assumed by the professors of management. A measure of this, and a positive response, rely in the satisfaction of these three groups vis-à-vis their respective environments. In other words, this professional responsibility exercised towards these groups supposes, at the same time, consultations and surveys that are based on:

·         the creative imagination necessary to renew CTD in each management discipline, using rigorous scientific reasoning and research in real time ;
·         the deepening of technical knowledge of the ways jobs are done incompanies, on a day to day basis, so as to validate theATD of each management science ;
·         the general adaptation of teaching content to the identified expectations and capacities of each group of participants (beginners, advanced, researchers, specialized professionals), while attempting to bring out the creative spark of each human being, and supporting hereby the actual aim of transcultural mediation.

Each business school should be involved in the framework of this ambitious vision. Deans and their close teams have to explain, in due time, to each of their department members, the content of this three-branched ethic mandate: “Create CTD- Propose and implement ATD- Teach selectively ATD”. This mandate is given, implicitly or explicitly, by business stakeholders to the professors of management. This duty, which would gain by being more and more carried out, must necessarily take account of the heterogeneity of each human groups concerned, in their relationships with various institutions. In that perspective, ethic should not be taught only by professors specializing in philosophy, which is the often used -and easy way out- solution adopted right now by business schools.
Most of the American, European and Asiatic business schools are probably ready to respond with sympathy to this decisive challenge for the future. By co-operating with all the “milieu” involved in the most concrete ways possible, they should avoid any hegemonic ambitions on each other, which could harm the peaceful way to universalizes ethic. The tragic end of the first attempt of globalization with two world wars should remain an unforgettable warning for all, especially hose who have the responsibility to transfer knowledge.

4) Are unsustainable economic, financial and social requirements, set up as international standards by capital markets, the end of the story?
The needs of professional mediation may be described and understood more clearly by two examples: international finance and transnational risk management, pension funds and social governance.
International finance and transnational risk management
The supposed innovation of financial science since the 1990s, as well as its credibility crisis at the end of the first decade of 2000s largely result from an abuse of heterogeneous and misappropriate concepts. The hypothetical reconciliation of physical and financial sciences is inadequate and needs to be severely criticized. The academic approaches based on hazardous application of physical laws to financial markets, have been often described as genial innovations. Professors of finance, paid by banks or insurance companies, do not however constitute a hotbed of genius... These researchers were looking for suitable formula of economic calculations, notably those which aim to supply the pricing and risks classes of financial assets:Capital Assets Pricing Model (CAPM), Fama-French Model, Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WAAC), Value at Risk (VAR). The famous Black and Sholes formula (1973), for instance, is considered today as belonging to prehistoric times of financial computations. Most of the time, these econometric models, which may appear esoteric, are in fact very far from the real life: they rely on many unrealistic assumptions and far-fetched arguments. They exclude every human and social dimension, which are not easily measurable as such. Neither do they take appropriate account of human responsibilities and “libre arbitre”, which are nevertheless essential in understanding behaviors of markets operators and strategies of financial institutions. They give a misleading assessment of the present and future migrations of values and wealth around the world. We hint here at the usual methods which have been commonly accepted, such as the creation of value measured by the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of investments or the Economic Value Added (EVA) of corporations.  The risk-free rate of interest, the fair value as accounting rule for illiquid assets are progressively criticized as inadequate tools for financial computations, after the global crisis of 2007-2013. These generally accepted but sloppy concepts, although not recent in professional practice, belong still to ongoing academic work. Because they are immediately operational, these approaches of academic research provide convenient informations to validate companies’ strategic choices, as they are expected by the financial community. The common motto consists today in optimizing “global value chains” by all transnational corporations. However, lucid professionals wonder if the high profitability required in terms of cost of capital is correctly expressed in terms of risks. The usual presentation of the classes of risks that investors are prepared to accept, within various time-frames, are increasingly criticized as inadequate. In spite of certain progress in the venture capital and risk economy, these methods continue to integrate oversimplified notions of actualization of time (linear, continuous, real, transactional), and flawed application of probability laws (especially by abuse of Gaussian law versus “fat tails”). They rely on really reducing actuarial concepts leading to implementation of misleading ideas. Most stochastic calculations need to be more closely related to an environmental, human and social reality, which is ever more dynamic and increasingly complex, on a transnational scale. In addition to that, the subjectivity of investors generally leads them to under-estimate the level of risks attached to an expectation of very high returns (exceeding 15%, for example, as required rate of Return on Equity: ROE). This critical consideration turns especially true in a context where the curve of interest rates moves rapidly in their short, medium and long term segments.
Academic mediation is needed in these cases, even more since there is no universally recognized definition of “efficiency”. This would probably be in contradiction with the very notion of “market” as predominant form of new ideology or even intellectual totalitarianism.
The same default exists for the notion of “transparency”, which despite the considerable progress in techniques of audit, still refers to instable systems of accounting standards and judiciary or forensic norms. They are today, unfortunately, not yet coordinated on a global basis. Beyond “transparency”, it is the more modern notion of “traceability”, which needs to be carefully developed in the future. The introduction of complex stochastic reasoning has not really changed the situation, which still seems oversimplified even by the most eminent scholars. Fields of investigation are still limited to quantifiable data on the basis of parameters which remain reducing and volatile with regard to human realities. Today companies need new, more pertinent notions taken from new typologies of risks as they are perceived by each type of stakeholder involved. The latest advances in so-called “exact” sciences appear to be a long way from grasping the complexity and the diversity of social, cultural and environmental perspectives, on a global scale. What is still lacking is a true capacity of global synthesis, in real time, regarding the behavior of the human being, as a “unique” actor (versus the standardized and over-simplified “homo oeconomicus”), on the societal levels. Corporations and markets operators are now progressively recognizing the bias introduced by “behavioral” (and often irrational!) finance. More than a century ago, K. Gödel (1913) formally demonstrated that human intuition cannot be reduced to a mathematical formulation, in any place of the world.
The “clash of civilizations” anticipated by S. Huntington (1996) contradicts the optimism of F. Fukuyama (1992) as a superficial reader of A. Kojève (1969): the two latter authors implicitly rely on the E. Bloch’s Hope- principle
The “quiet river” of an accelerated globalization now appears to many as a high risk utopia, full of uncontrolled dangers and lost opportunities. This unmastered process in fact collides with the realities of cultural diversityandmutual misunderstandings. The new dangers, which Beck (2003) identified as a “risk of civilization” would in fact be those that will challenge the conditions of the survival of our common heritage. According to Nobel Prize (1991) P.G. de Genne’s formula, “more mindful awareness calls for more responsible science”. This applies also to management science. Management scientists and practitioners alike however persist in believing that, with the adoption of the next simplifying gimmick, be it  MBO, JIT, MBWA,… most of our present troubles will be over.
It is necessary to check, project by project, company by company, whether the creation and diffusion of wealth does not cause, immediate or future hidden costs, notably under the form of major social exclusion. Only common understandable and shared anticipations are able, in the last analysis, to reduce societal risks with regard to any project conducted on a transnational scale. In this redefined context, the messages of financial markets remain only one interesting tool of neutral and normalized transactions. These signals must be interpreted correctly with due regard to the modalities of wealth global management. The financial markets have to be put to the service of an effective transnational measure of this value creation, in real time. We need a generally accepted legal framework that holds financial executives personally responsible for their actions that civil society deems harmful. At a global scale, the role of academia, teaching current business paradigms, appears crucial in these difficult matters of unmastered wealth migration in a world of turmoil.
Pension funds, risks-adjusted  performance  and social governance
On the contrary to the partial, biased and often truncated presentation displayed in certain countries, pension funds can - and should - assume decisive responsibilities in the specific domain of the distribution of wealth. This applies in particular to C.E.O. compensations. The principles of “socially responsible investments” (SRI) and social governance are debated and progressively implemented. According to the concept of “global remuneration” used by most of transnational companies (TNC), they should benefit from numbers of contributors and pensioners who are located throughout the world. The continuing progress of Assets-Liabilities Management (ALM) and Liabilities Driven Investments (LDI) techniques, associated to longer time frames and new risk typologies, are promising in this respect (See Note 2 : Under and over-funding of pension funds according to FASB 87 and IAS19). Under those circumstances, the costs of capital linked to social commitments have to be made more explicit for all stakeholders involved. Actuarial financing of pensions, in the context of progressive lengthening of life expectancy, has a mechanical repercussion and a significant impact on higher yield requirements, currently imposed through long term capital markets. The limits of these demands do not yet appear to be clearly identified by all the stakeholders, notably because of the distance between corporate discourse and social reality. Transnational mediation appears to become a crucial tool to promote the “ethics of debate” among stakeholders belonging to various cultures, countries and generations.
Management sciences need to be firmly reoriented towards the search for harmonious integration of professional behavior. They will prove increasingly useful, as soon as these sciences put quantitative methods back to the right level and give them the careful, but limited, attention they really deserve. These sciences, sometimes qualified as “hard”, will therefore find their true - i.e. relative - use by playing a less “predicting” role. Prediction - and extrapolation - becomes more hazardous as complexity increases; paradoxically, once this is recognized, the necessity of real controls ex post by stakeholders should increase. The technical and actuarial approach is useful, though always insufficient, in the face of unpredictable change of human behaviour. The level of forecasting always remains, very fortunately or not, dependent on the individual will and liberty of attitudes – relying heavily on intuition and individual conscience – of the various stakeholders concerned. Management Academia can contribute to make these concepts more understandable for each of the multiple business communities around the world, in order to monitor that process aiming at mastering long run forecasting.
In this way, pension funds will be able to return, for the greatest number of participants in these communities, to new margins of maneuver. These are limited, by over rigid constraints of  short term financial yield. Strongly enough, the supply of long term capital looking for sane investments is today particularly abundant, on a worldwide scale, and should not be lost in short term speculations.
 Thus, “money, which is always a bad master, could turn into a good servant”- thanks to a positive conception of business life worldwide. That ambitious management approach needs to be conceptualized, debated, communicated and properly taught, as appropriate ethical ATD, to specific actors involved.

Conclusion : Quid nunc?
Successful management sciences will rest upon the universalized diffusion of trans-cultural mediations at the service of the business community and of the stakeholders at large.
Accelerated globalization and the consequently too long awaited universalization of ethical concepts have strongly harmed socialrelationships and human links. Far from this, management Academia is - by the very nature of this new profession - at first hand in the constant effort to mediate personal behavior harmoniously within business communities. Professors of management may monitor and control effectively the transfer between “CTD” and “ATD” in order to avoid the “worst scenario” in each discipline (Exhibit 5).This worst case is due to the timely divergence of CTD recognition by specific business communities. This detrimental situation relies on the uncontrolled or poor transfer between CTD and ATD regarding specific industries or services in various geographical areas.
My comparison with medical (mal-) practice finds here one of its principal interests. The proposed approach through mediation helps to structure a company’s “unique” identity. Nothing today should be considered a priori as “acquired”, or taken for granted, in our constantly evolving business environments. Hence, real data play always an essential role in the field of entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation.
Most of these new concepts still need to be worked out, on the basis of intercultural consensus in order to build a “personalist” market economy, a new conceptual framework of business life. As a recent example among many, the new management models proposed by M. Sakakibara and H. Takeushi (2000) or 1988 Nobel-Prize winner A. Sen (2000) have been more and more appreciated in Japan, India or China in recent year, in reaction to imported western and northern  business models. Since the global crisis of 2007-2014, Business Schools have to deeply adapt their curriculum, including ethical behavior in each discipline.
Reconsidering the philosophical, ethical and humanist dimensions discussed here, management sciences will be able to promote realistic and vigilant attitudes towards current social, cultural, geopolitical and economic developments on the global scale. These new developments will shape new ways of leading corporate activities and enhance responsibilities of the management professors on the long run.
The ambiguous role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a world of hypermediatization and affinity networks
Current times face new financial, geo-economic and social challenges. They regard as well the dominant position of the USA in the world, or that of China and emergent countries, as the ongoing socio-economic elaboration of a political Europe. Given the role of the corporate sector in this world of current globalization but possible universalization, Management Academia is thus the “facilitator”, uniting the conditions for the success of transnational mediation, to the service of the business community. The increasing power and yet unimproved control of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) allow however instantaneous and interactive exchanges to take place. This mediation process should be an efficient way of creating transversal paths to link the principal academic disciplines, generations, cultures and professional communities. Multimedia online forums open continuously for enlarged public new forms of discussion in collaborative networks. They also involve the potential of coordinating the capabilities of experts around the world. The collective I.Q. – and why not E.Q.? – of competence networks will probably be increased and improved in the future. This will bring about dialogues, which will be more constructive, more mastered, more interactive … and possibly more democratic, between the corporate world and its human environment. Such dialogues, in structured but open and interdisciplinary networks, which take time, should be considered as the future ways of trans-cultural mediation which would be promising, demanding and risk reducing for all concerned. Would not, as ever, the shared mastery of languages and attitudes ideally be one of the first and principal steps of monitoring potential conflicts and collusions? At this stage, we should accept to integrate new perceptions and relationships which are, on no account, limited to the traditional northern and western approach in its scientific, philosophical, religious or artistic roots. Following the ambitious pathways lay out by H. von Keyserling, V. Ségalen, P. Teilhard de Chardin and some others, these exchanges favor harmonious integration of behaviour on all levels of human activity. In this vein, developments in technologies of information cannot, in their current state, conquer alone the problems of “plurivocity of language”, to use the specialist vocabulary of semiotics. This promising discipline presupposes that the “bi-univocity of signs” does not remain an unreachable myth. The use of a common language, according to U. Eco (1973, 1979), on a transnational scale, is problematic, especially in business life. Planetary “chit chat”, the development of noises and rumors, would no longer lead us inevitably to this hopeless “global confusion” due to the present state of the art of communication, as it is pertinently described by U. Beck (2003) and J.  Habermas (2005) and commented by Taleb (2012) in financial circles.
R. Girard (1984-2012) already explained the existence of universal and mimetic behaviour of humanity. The origin of common attitudes of the principal civilizations to the ontological issues shapes positively the future of mankind. Many think, along with Girard, that these efforts towards positive universalization, connected with our common past, would not lead to an impasse: it will constitute an unique opportunity for present and next generations …possibly driven by specialized professors of management (and surely not only those of business ethics). The intellectual, as well as the practical responsibilities, that these expectations require, are very demanding. They require wide-ranging intellectual capabilities, as well as real practical experience. In my opinion, every Member of Business Schools’ Faculties should have an excellent command of three languages:their native tongue, English-american and a third one. These practical knowledges should rely on continuous exchanges with colleagues, alumni and students belonging to these various cultural areas. Probably, few management professors are nowadays ready to meet these high standards and notably to teach correctly in three different languages.
Exhibit 7: From current globalization to ethical universalization process
 
How the globalized crisis could pave the way of a universalized business ethic?
The complex contributions of rich and ancient civilizations, especially from Far, Middle and Near East, but also from Southern areas, have proved to be particularly promising in the perspective of stimulating exchange between cultures. These elaborate dialogues constitute a necessary transition towards a more ambitious progress of civilization through the challenge of the current second globalization. This controlled attitudes favor self-examination and acceptation of others’ behaviors. At the same time, it develops the state of mind wich leads to the respect of each individual personality.
The active participation of management professors in ethical evolutions of the world, where transnational firms exercise today decisive powers, will supply the basis of a truly lasting hope, which aims to restore the priority to the human being, as such, and not only the reference to the supposed rational “homo oeconomicus”. If it is reduced to itself, the economy, as in the past, will remain a powerful factor of submission rather than of liberation of the individual. The price to pay would be then a disintegration of cultural exchanges and the exclusion of many actors who, however, are all relevant and necessary components of a harmonized world. The new space of freedom and liberty offered by technological and financial evolutions reduced time and space dimensions and increased those of risks and of  intellectual totalitarianism. The hope of an ethical universalization calls upon individual and collective responsibility within a renewed framework of management sciences integrating risks adjusted to the entire lifecycle of innovations. Necessary epistemological breakthroughs, according to Bachelard’s terminology, will consecrate the necessary adaptationsof management sciences in 21st century’s business schools in various parts of the world. Academic cooperation on a progressively shared ethical basis with the major actors involved will help the business community, thanks to a renewed way of thinking, to master the good use of CTD and ATD during  the current, and future (?) transnational crisis.

One of the greatest European voices of universal reconciliation, at the end of the second globalised war, expressed already the best human attitude in such lucid terms:
“Humanity stands now at crossroads: it could take the wrong way, and choose the human anthill or collective suicide, instead of opting for true progress which consists of dominating
thanks to the mind, the conquests of science and technology, to keep them in the service of mankind.”                                               
(Franz Stock, Chartres, April 1947)

Note 1: “Aidsgate” in France (1984 – 1995)

As it has been described (Nature, Vol. 353, 19/09/1991), the management of the Aid crises in France is illustrative of a dramatic misuse and misunderstanding of ATD.

Before 01/08/1985, no tests regarding blood donors were implemented, in spite of specific proposals made, for instance, by Abbot Laboratories, a year before. The situation was highly critical since most of blood donors in France were lying in prisons for a long time, and were very often drug addicts. These instructions came from the Ministry for Justice (“Direction de l’Administration Pénitentiaire”) itself…

After the 01/08/1985, the CNTS (State owned National French Blood Bank) still delivered infected blood, without informing, for instance, people with hemophilia.

Many medical experts (Pr. Montagnier, G. Mathé, J. Ruffié) stressed strongly and specifically the high risks, incurred, due to this improper professional attitude. They were not able to stop the technocratic and financial process, managed by the national authorities and CNTS (“Centre National de la Transfusion Sanguine”).

At that point, it is clear that the ATD could not be fully recognized, but the “precaution principle” (“Primum non Nocere”: “First do not harm”) should have been, at least, respected by all informed stakeholders.

The end of the story is surprising and depends on the political context of that time:

-          A national scheme was built up (Fonds d’Indemnistation du Sida : 31/12/1991), in order to indemnify victims, at the cost of French tax payers

-          Individual Doctors prescribing infected blood were note condemned, since it was judicially acknowledged that they were not aware of ATD in that matter, according to the French medical deontology code (article 32)

-          Management of CNTS, first considered as scapegoat, was largely “forgiven”, since, as individual actors, they did not have the will of giving dead through “poisoning” … For that reason, CNTS itself didn’t pay anything to victims!

The first lesson is that, because of dubious political conflict of interests, recognized medical experts (Pr. Montaigne, Mathe, Ruffié) were, unfortunately, not able to convert CTD in ATD, in real time, in France.

The second lesson teaches that most of the victims and stakeholders had to take their own defense in hands through strong counter power organization, such as the “World Federation of Hemophilia”, using new ways of transcultural mediation.

The third negative lesson, probably not accepted and understood by many, was given by the French Minister for health of that sad time, considering herself, in that matter, as “accountable, but not liable” …, and of course not guilty!
Everything is possible, even the worst, when ATD are not clearly defined, expressed, and understood by the main stakeholders, in spite of active, but ignored academic transcultural mediation.



Note 2: Measuring under- or (over-) funding of pension funds according to accounting international standards: FASB 87, IAS 19


Since most of “Pay As You Go” schemes know financial difficulties because of increased life expectancy and unemployment, pension funds are generally underfunded since 2001. This dramatic situation regards defined benefit plans in a context of:

-          massive investment in shares(60%, in the US, 80% in the UK of total assets) which suffered heavily from the burst of the bubbles after 2001 and 2008.

-          discounting of liabilities at very long term interest risk-free rates”(between 3 and 5% in $ or € , at the end of 2005 and only 1,5% in 2013)

-          unsustainable mismatching between various assets (bonds, shares, real estates, cash), on one hand, and liabilities to retirees or future retirees, on the other hand.

These financial measurements rely on current international accounting standards, and more specifically: FASB 87 (US) and IAS 19. These international standards have been conceptualized and implemented more than thirty years ago…

Their main defects come from:

-          the absence of analysis of various conditional liabilities, regarding retirees (annuities), on the one hand, and contributing employees (before retirement),on the other hand,

-          inadequate basis for assets/ liability management, built on very long term horizons,

-          insufficient consideration and understanding for Liabilities Driven Investments (LDI)

-          inadequate approval of executives compensations

Generally speaking, FASB 87 and IAS 19 have to be reformulated on new basis, thanks to the:

-          introduction of main topics of behavioral finance and fractal calculations, taking specifically into account extreme situations (financial crisis, unemployment, ecological disasters,)

-          obligation of continuous and appropriate matching between identified conditional liabilities and various classes of assets defined by maturities,  yields and  a new typology of  risks

-          control and monitoring of pension funds through a specific “social governance” framework relying on long range LDI and correctly understood by trustees

The appropriate transformation of CTD into ATD is more than pressing because of dramatic decisions currently taken by companies, such as closing of pension funds or frequent shift from DB (Defined Benefits) to DC (Defined Contributions) schemes, massive layoffs of workers in many industries (aeronautic, automotives, …), risk of relocation in low wages countries, problematic results for reinsurance schemes (PBGC in the US, PPF in the UK, …).

Professorial mediation is today necessary, on a transnational basis, in order to improve the conceptual framework of generally accepted accounting standards for pensions plans. The aims are to avoid mimetic behaviors in the fields of investments and implement social governance regarding all stakeholders involved. For instance, current massive reinvesting in long term bonds by pension funds contribute to lower interest rates, reevaluating de facto the pension fund liabilities. The opposite is also true and not less misleading…

Some management professors specializing in these long term financial schemes finance have already begun to reconcile research (CTD) and best practice (ATD), becoming active working party in that due process in Europe and the USA. However, there is still a long way to go in order to improve a correct matching between assets and liabilities of pension funds on a global scale.

The opportunity to avoid major discrepancies thanks to a new conceptualization of IAS 19 and FASB 87 are clearly understood by most of the main stakeholders, and especially by the Boards Members of FASB and IAS. In that field, the need for transcultural mediation is obvious for all stakeholders who welcome the new contribution of management professors, especially in the areas of accounting, finance, law and HR.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank the editors and referees, for their critical comments and positive suggestions (especially those of the Journal of business ethics).
 I express also my gratitude to reviewers of earlier versions, at EURAM and The Academy of Management Annual Conferences, for their reception.
 I specially appreciated the encouragements of Professor Mireille Demas Marty (Collège de France), of Mr Pierre de Lauzun (DG-FBF), of Mrs Nathalie Lugagne, executive Dean for Faculty and Research (HEC-Paris)  and of Professor (E) Didier Pène (HEC-Paris).
I am very grateful to Professors Gabriele Suder and David Weir for their intellectual contribution.

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