Responsibility, Business and Peace Workshop – 3-4 April 2025 – ESSCA Paris

Miklian's primary topic of study is of the role of businesses as peacebuilders, specifically the 'Business for Peace' paradigm of business engagements in global peacebuilding and development activities in conflict-affected and fragile states. This thematic interest explores the arenas where conflict, governance and commerce meet, studying how demands for social responsibility (Primarily through the ESG paradigm) and market access by international consumer goods firms can influence how business, governance and violent conflict intersect in fragile countries and how these interactions contrast around the world.

Miklian holds a PhD in Development Studies from NMBU (Norway) and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Miklian has conducted extensive fieldwork in South Asia, Latin America and Africa since 2005, with over one dozen medium or long-term fieldwork visits, leading projects with international partnerships and institutional collaborations. In addition to extensive publication on the above topics, Miklian has written for or been cited in an expert capacity by the New York Times, the BBC, The Economist, Agence France-Presse, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, France 24, The Guardian (UK), NRK (Norway), The Hindu (India) and National Public Radio (USA) among various media outlets.

Read less

Joanne Murphy is Chair of Inclusive Leadership at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. Her research explores leadership, change and organisational development in political volatility, including environments affected by ethno-political conflict. Her latest book is ‘Management and War: How Organisations Navigate Conflict and Build Peace’(Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

Read less

John E. Katsos is a Professor of Management, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship. He researches how business can act ethically and profitably through crisis.

Katsos has published over 40 academic and practitioner articles on business responses to crisis based on work with businesses in Syria, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Lebanon, Ukraine, and Myanmar. John sits on the Boards of the UNGC UAE Local Network, the UNPRME Business for Peace Working Group, and DiverseCity, a social enterprise. John has his JD and MBA from George Washington University and his BA in Religion from Haverford College. He is licensed to practice law in New York.

Read less

Mark van Dorp is an economist with over 25 years of professional experience in the field of value chain analysis, responsible business conduct, assessing ESG (environmental, social and governance) risks and impacts, security & human rights, peace responsive investment, conflict-sensitivity, human security, and heightened human rights due diligence.

He has worked in Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Colombia, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan. Over the last 15 years, Mark has focused on action-oriented research and consultancy work on how to strengthen investors’ and companies’ strategies and operational capacity to work in a responsible way in fragile settings, as well as to improve value chains and support SMEs, with the ultimate goal to contribute to equitable development and peace building.

In 2018, Mark founded Bureau Van Dorp, a consultancy firm specializing in responsible business and private sector development in emerging markets and fragile and conflict-affected settings, working in partnership with a network of international and local consultants. Since 2022, Mark is a Research Associate at LSE IDEAS, the foreign think tank of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Read less

Ian is a Veteran with 24 years’ service in the British Army, where he commanded an arctic warfare troop, a parachute squadron and a communications regiment as part of the United Nations (UN) and NATO Peacekeeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He then worked for 14 years in the telecommunications industry including construction of two of the national fibre optic networks for broadband across the UK. In 2010 as Programme Director of a £1.96billion UK/Saudi government defence procurement contract in an Airbus subsidiary, he uncovered corrupt payments to the Cayman Islands and blew the whistle to the Serious Fraud Office. The resulting prosecution impacted the whole of the Airbus Group, leading to a Euro3.6 billion fine and the replacement of the whole Group Board.

Ian received a BSc (Hons) in Applied Science at the Royal Military College of Science (1981), an MA in Applied Human Rights (2018) and his PhD in Politics (2023) at the University of York, researching the root causes of why people do not speak up. He founded Parrhesia Inc (2021 – present), a whistleblowing research and support organisation focused at providing organisations and policymakers with evidence and advice on whistleblower processes and procedures for the better protection of the organisation and the individual.

He was a Panel Member at the British Standards Institute for the formulation of an international standard for whistleblowing management systems (ISO 37002). He is a member of the International Whistleblowing Research Network and established the Whistleblower Programme at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (CISOEC). His vision is for an independent body for the protection and support of whistleblowers in the UK and an international network to ensure enduring protection for those who speak up about wrongdoing

Read less

Anna Dimitrova is Professor at the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and International Business and Head of the Master program in International Business & Management at ESSCA School of Management in Paris. She is also a researcher at the EU*Asia Institute (also at ESSCA) and at CIFE (Centre international de formation européenne).

Her research interests are on the intersection of International Business and Political Science and focus on foreign policy analysis, country risk management, firm internationalization and non-market strategies in conflict zones, especially the impact of different types of political risk (terrorism, cargo hijacking, kidnapping) on firm location choice and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to conflict-affected countries. Her research has been published in journals such as International Business Review, Multinational Business Review, Management Learning, Management Decision, New Political Economy, Policy Studies, Journal of Common Market Studies and Millennium Journal of International Studies. She is also author of several book chapters (e.g., Transatlantic Relations Now and Then: In Search of a Balance between “America First” and “America Is Back” in: Hoerber, Bohas & Valdemarin, EU in a Globalized World, Routledge, 2023) and policy papers such as “NATO at Seventy: The Need to Redefine the Transatlantic Bargain” (CIFE policy paper, 2019) and “The State of the Transatlantic Relationship in the Trump Era” (Robert Schuman Foundation policy paper, 2020).

Read less

Christopher Williams is Professor in the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and International Business Department at ESSCA School of Management in Paris. His research interests include international strategy, innovation in international firms and contexts, health R&D and organizational resilience.  Before entering academia in 2007, Dr Williams spent two decades in industry, mostly in innovative and international environments, including 10 years with IMS Health.

His research appears in journals such as Research Policy, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Technovation, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, International Business Review, Journal of Business Research and Journal of International Management. He has also published a range of teaching cases on strategy and innovative issues in international contexts with Ivey Publishing and is author of Venturing in International Firms: Contexts and Cases in a High-Tech World (Routledge, 2018), Management Consultancy for Innovation (Routledge, 2019), Organizing for Resilience (with J. You) (Routledge, 2021), and Strategic Business Case Analysis (Routledge, 2023) and FDI and Cities (with M. Kaspar) (Routledge, forthcoming, 2025).

.

Read less

Melin’s research and teaching interests are in the areas of international relations and foreign policy decision-making, with emphasis on international conflict and conflict management. Her current research focuses on third party interventions in ongoing international conflicts, the role of the private sector in conflict prevention, and UN peacekeeping.

She regularly teaches classes on international conflict processes, business and world politics, and conflict management, as well as the introductory International Relations course. She runs short study abroad courses to Colombia and Northern Ireland to teach students about civil war and peace building. Her Oxford University Press book, The Building and Breaking of Peace: Corporate Activities in Civil War Prevention and Resolution, examines corporations’ conflict roles in building and preventing peace using original data and in-depth case analyses of corporate actions and outcomes in Colombia, Northern Ireland, and Tunisia.

Read less

Justine Apollin has been working within the shareholder engagement platform of the Forum for Responsible Investment (FIR) for 3 years. She is responsible for co-piloting the written questions to the 8 French companies questioned by the FIR as part of their general assemblies regarding the continuation of some of their activities in Russia. In the coming weeks, the FIR will enter into dialogue with these companies following the receipt of their responses.

For the past few months, the FIR has been drafting a statement in collaboration with 3 NGOs specializing in conflict and high-risk areas (CAHRA) to promote responsible policies and practices of companies in conflict-affected and high-risk areas. She will present this work during her intervention.

Read less