Business Strategies Facing Uncertain Futures and Major Challenges

Today, businesses, organizations, and territories are evolving in an uncertain future, characterized by major challenges related to climate and sustainability, health, inclusion, digital transformation, and security. These complex, interconnected, and evolving challenges transcend organizational and national boundaries and demand coordinated responses from public, private, and citizen stakeholders, combining governance, innovation, and the creation of shared value (George et al., 2016). In this context, organizations struggle to structure problems and identify definitive solutions (Wang et al., 2025). Governance therefore requires agility, rapid learning, flexible resource reallocation, and the creation of adaptable teams rather than adherence to a rigid plan (Ooi & Husted, 2025).

The literature on “major challenges” emphasizes that effective action relies on cooperative architectures and mechanisms for collective action capable of aligning diverse interests with future horizons, while defining priorities and supporting stakeholder engagement (Adomako et al., 2024; Chuah et al., 2025; Wang et al., 2025; Ooi & Husted, 2025; Drori et al., 2025). At the same time, digital technologies introduce additional levers and constraints; platforms and data can facilitate large-scale coordination, the arbitration of tensions, and a better allocation of created value, provided there is transparency, accountability, and governance of contributions (Nambisan & George, 2024). At the organizational level, addressing these challenges can be supported by AI, cybersecurity, supply chain resilience, and infrastructure sustainability (Karwowski et al., 2025).

Our session explores how innovation, governance, and digital technologies enable stakeholders to anticipate, adapt, and thrive, placing human capital at the heart of resilience and creativity. It encourages research on adaptation strategies, collaborative innovation, human-centered digital transformation, scenario planning, and the integration of emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and digital twins to enhance system robustness and flexibility.

Particular attention is paid to impact-oriented organizations, purpose-driven companies, B Corps, and similar entities, which are contributing to a reconfiguration of corporate purpose (Ebrahim & Rangan, 2014; Haigh & Hoffman, 2012; Ferraro & Beunza, 2018). These models aim to link economic performance and societal contribution,

in a context of rapidly evolving expectations (Gartenberg, Prat & Serafeim, 2019), but they continue to face persistent tensions, trade-offs between mission and profitability, risks of "purpose washing," instability of impact indicators, and increasing pressure from regulators and investors. This session invites participants to analyze how these organizations design, implement, and adjust their strategies, governance mechanisms, and measurement practices to maintain consistency between social purpose, economic performance, and transparency requirements.

Themes (non-exhaustive):

1- Agile governance, management, and decision-making in uncertain environments

2- Collective action, multi-stakeholder cooperation, and shared value creation

3- Responsible digital transformation: platforms, data, AI, transparency, and accountability

4- Organizational resilience: human capital, skills, cybersecurity, supply chains, and infrastructure

5- Impact organizations: strategy, governance, measurement, credibility, mission tensions, and profitability

Keywords: Human capital; Innovation; Participatory governance; Digital technologies; Uncertain future

Track chair:

Kaouther BOUBAYA, EDC Paris Business School, kboubaya@edcparis.edu 

Oswa FERJAOUI, EDC Paris Business School, oferjaoui@edcparis.edu

Patrice SCHOCH, EDC Paris Business School, pschoch@edcparis.edu