Rethinking Strategy: Reflections on Pascal Demurger’s L’entreprise du xxie siècle sera politique ou ne sera plus (‘The Twenty-First-Century Company Will Be Political or It Will Cease to Exist’)

Lionel Garreau; Éric Soubeiran

doi:10.37725/mgmt.2026.14753

Lionel Garreau Université Paris Dauphine Paris, France – PSL https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5592-5797
Éric Soubeiran Livelihoods Paris, France

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.2026.14753

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Lionel Garreau, Université Paris Dauphine Paris, France – PSL

Lionel Garreau is associate professor of strategy (HDR) at Université Paris Dauphine – PSL, where he serves as director of the master’s programme in research in management and of the executive PhD programme. He is also co-director of the Systemic Innovation & Management Institute (SIMI) at UM6P Rabat. His research focuses on positive-impact business models, strategy-as-practice, and systemic approaches to strategy. His recent work explores hybrid, sustainable, and regenerative business models, as well as the role of organizations in economic, social, and ecological transitions. His research has been published in international journals, including M@n@gement, Strategic Organization, Scandinavian Journal of Management, British Journal of Management, and Management International. He served as associate editor of the European Management Review from 2016 to 2020 and as co-editor-in-chief of M@n@gement from 2023 to 2025.

Éric Soubeiran, Livelihoods Paris, France

Éric Soubeiran is chief executive officer of Livelihoods Venture, a social enterprise specializing in nature-based solutions and the financing of high-impact environmental and social projects. He began his career in strategy consulting and mergers and acquisitions before holding several executive leadership positions in the medical device industry. He later joined Danone, where he led the company’s dairy sourcing strategy in Europe, contributed to the integration of sustainability into supply chain management, and subsequently served as vice president for the group’s sustainability strategy. In 2021, he joined Unilever as managing director of the Climate & Nature Fund and vice president, Business Operations Sustainability. Since 2024, he has served as CEO of Livelihoods Venture. He holds an executive PhD from Université Paris Dauphine – PSL, completed in 2022, with a dissertation examining the strategic implications of natural resource depletion for firms.

References

Acquier, A. & Aggeri, F. (2015). Une généalogie de la pensée managériale sur la RSE. Revue française de gestion, 41(253), 387–413. 10.3166/RFG.180.131-157

Acquier, A., Mayer, J. & Valiorgue, B. (2024). Anthropocène, limites planétaires et nouvelles frontières des sciences de gestion. Revue française de gestion, 50(315), 11–36. 10.1684/rfg.2024.18

Afnor. (2024). Afnor Spec 2315. Économie régénérative. Retrieved from https://www.boutique.afnor.org/fr-fr/norme/afnor-spec-2315/aspec-economie-regenerative/fa209119/426267

Dahlmann, F. (2025). Conceptualising sustainability as the pursuit of life. Journal of Business Ethics, 196(3), 499–521. doi: 10.1007/s10551-024-05617-y

de la Cruz Jara, M. F., Spanjol, J. & Doppstadt, T. (2025). Strategic social value orientation and sustainability performance: A commensuration perspective. Organization Studies, 46(5), 635–666. doi: 10.1177/01708406241242900

Demurger, P. (2019). L’entreprise du XXI^e siècle sera politique ou ne sera plus. Éditions de l’aube.

Durand, R. (2013). La désorganisation du monde. Le Bord de l’eau.

Ferraro, F., Etzion, D. & Gehman, J. (2015). Tackling grand challenges pragmatically: Robust action revisited. Organization Studies, 36(3), 363–390. doi: 10.1177/0170840614563742

George, G., Schillebeeckx, S. J. D. & Liak, T. L. (2015). The management of natural resources: An overview and research agenda. Academy of Management Journal, 58(6), 1595–1613. doi: 10.5465/amj.2015.4006

Hahn, T. & Tampe, M. (2021). Strategies for regenerative business. Strategic Organization, 19(3), 456–477. doi: 10.1177/1476127020979228

Kelly, K. (1995). Out of control: The new biology of machines, social systems and the economic world. Basic Books.

Laasch, O. (2018). Beyond the purely commercial business model: Organizational value logics and the heterogeneity of sustainability business models. Long Range Planning, 51(1), 158–183. doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2017.09.002

Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J. & Behrens, W. W. III. (1972). The limits to growth, a report to the Club of Rome’s project on the predicament of mankind. Universe Book.

Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press.

Segrestin, B. & Hatchuel, A. (2012). Refonder l’entreprise. Le Seuil.

Serres, C., Hudon, M. & Maon, F. (2022). Social corporations under the spotlight: A governance perspective. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(3), 106192. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2022.106192

Soubeiran, E. (2022). How natural resources depletion challenges rent appropriation, changing the competitive landscape of the firms? Executive doctoral thesis, Université Paris Dauphine – PSL. Retrieved from https://univ-paris-dauphine.hal.science/hal-05131043v1

Tykkyläinen, S. & Ritala, P. (2021). Business model innovation in social enterprises: An activity system perspective. Journal of Business Research, 125, 684–697. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.045

Yunus, M., Moingeon, B. & Lehmann-Ortega, L. (2010). Building social business models: Lessons from the Grameen experience. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 308–325. doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2009.12.005