The MESD Association

Multinational Enterprises and Sustainable Development – the MESD association is a non-profit organization established under the French Law of 1 July 1901 and the decree of 16 August 1901. It was founded and declared to the prefecture of Nancy on July 4, 2013 by its president and founder member Mr. Silvester Ivanaj, professor at ICN Business School (Nancy, France) and coordinator of the Chair IRCASE ( International Research Chair in Art and Sustainable Enterprise). This association brings together faculty and researchers from French and foreign universities and schools.

This association aims to:

• promote research on strategy of multinational enterprises for sustainable development;
• encourage exchanges between international teachers, researchers and professionals
• contribute to the development and diffusion of knowledge in the field above mentioned, through international conferences, research projects, and publications;
• develop contacts with international organizations with similar or complementary objectives.

 

Origin of MESD and its global contribution

MESD pursues a mission of development and opening of its international activities. Conferences provide opportunities for relationships with foreign academic communities by sharing knowledge in an international level. In recent years, several conferences were thus included in this perspective. MESD's international relationships are also based on an membership network.

The role of members is to stimulate the process of exchange between colleagues from different backgrounds and locations, both institutionally and individually. Since 2004, MESD is a scientific international network engaged in exchanges with colleagues, experts, scientists and policy makers from all around the world focused on research and practices at the core of sustainable strategic management. Two books and a journal were published, and some conferences were organized. Moreover, MESD has promoted and co-organized three International Conferences bringing together teachers, researchers and French and foreign participants in 2006, 2009, and 2012. They used to be jointly organized with the contribution of the ICN Business School (Nancy-Metz, France), the CEREFIGE (Nancy, France) and Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA).

MESD 2006: the first MESD International Conference was hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA) and organized through its Center for International Business Education and Research and the Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development (USA), ICN Business School (Nancy, FRANCE) and CEREFIGE (Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - a multi-university European business research consortium)( Nancy-Metz, FRANCE). The conference raised the key question of “the role that multinational enterprises play in the conception and implementation of sustainable development policies, in the context of economic globalization.”

MESD 2009: the second MESD International Conference was co-organized by the ICN Business School, Nancy, France, the CEREFIGE (Nancy-Metz, France) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA). The 2009 MESD Conference focused on "the issue of Strategies for Sustainable Technologies and Innovations."

MESD 2012: the third Multinational Enterprises and Sustainable Development International Conference was co-organized by the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College (Delhi, India), ICN Business School (Nancy, France) the CEREFIGE (Nancy-Metz, France) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA). The 2012 MESD Conference focused on the "Managing MNE Dynamics and Sustainable Development: Best Strategies, Practices and Models."

For more details: MESD'06, MESD'09, MESD'12