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View from the Top: Hervé Crès from HEC
HEC has a reputation for being one of the best schools in France. Its innovative teaching styles and course curriculum attract qualified staff with only one thing in common – the desire to succeed. Hervé Crès is no exception. The Associate Dean of the school’s Master of Science in Management talks to ANN GRAHAM
Hervé Crès loves the power of the scientific language. Trained as a mathematician he combined his love of numbers with an interest in humanities and social sciences, discovering along the way that the language of maths was also used in economics.
“It was the neo-classic economic theory that interested me. But both fields can be developed through accomplished theories that rest and rely on the power of the language of maths,” he says.
Now, a professor of finance and economics and Associate Dean of the Master of Science in Management Graduate Program at prestigious French university HEC, Professor Crès is sharing his passion of numbers, economics and humanities with the next generation of Masters students.
“HEC deanships are very entrepreneurial and I’ve got a lot of interesting things to work on and implement: new programs, new potential students, new academic policies but it means there is very little time left for research and teaching. I teach a PhD class in micro economics, and as a result of a sabbatical year four years ago, I’ve still got some research projects to work on, although I do need to revive my research agenda.”
A model for the future
HEC has topped the Financial Times ranking for its Masters of Science in Management (MSc) for the last three years. Professor Crès says during this time there has been a model of pre-professional experience at the Masters in Management level. “In France, you can have a Masters in Management before gaining any professional experience and I think that’s going to be the model for the future.” HEC has been an integral part in developing this model and Professor Crès wants to see his institution making the most of the current advancement they have over the market.
“France’s nationwide system of competition means the brightest kids in high school are going to business school. There is an elite going on to study management who are intelligent, clever, hardworking and mentally tough, which sure is good for HEC.”
These students are a product for France to market. They are ideal candidates for firms recruiting graduates, they have impressive salaries and careers and perhaps most importantly for HEC they are a powerful alumni network. Professor Crès says it is this network that allows his current students to experience the best internships in the best firms. “In between the student’s first and second year of study is when they have the opportunity to gain experience through a forty-week internship. And because of the quality of our students, they are learning to deal with strategy, data and operations at a high level during this time in the company. They are very much involved in the most strategic aspect of the firms they are in and this is due in part to our alumni network operating as a family. Our alumni have very influential positions in the firms they are in such as Jean-Paul Agon, CEO - L’Oréal, Henri De Castries, CEO – AXA, Pascal Cagni, Vice President – Apple, Pascal Lamy, Director General – WTO, Dominique Strauss Kahn, Managing Director – IMF, François-Henri Pinault, CEO – PPR Group (Gucci, YSL, Puma), Sydney Taurel, CEO – Eli Lilly Company.
Another important aspect of HEC’s internships is the soft skills that the students gain. Professor Crès says his students come back from their internship with a valuable skill set that benefits their second year study and also their future career moves.
HEC is not the only school to rank highly in the Financial Times for its Masters in Management program. Five other French schools are also in the top ten: ESCP-EAP, ESSEC, EM Lyon, Grenoble Graduate School of Business and Audencia. So what is it about the French Masters in Management that puts them so far ahead from the rest of Europe? Professor Crès puts it down to France’s ‘know-how’ attitude to teaching management. “Here in France, and at HEC, we know how to teach management to students who don’t have any work experience, and we advertise that ‘know-how’.
