Sophie Bacq

Sophie Bacq is Professor of Social Entrepreneurship and Coca-Cola Foundation Chair in Sustainable Development. As a globally recognized thought leader on social entrepreneurship and change, she investigates and theorizes about entrepreneurial action to solve intractable social and environmental problems, at the individual, organizational, and civic levels of analysis.

She has taught and conducted empirical research on social entrepreneurship in Europe, the United States, and South Africa since 2006 and appeared as a keynote speaker at conferences around the world, including the International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC), the European University Network on Entrepreneurship (ESU), and the Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

At IMD, she leads the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, which aims to inspire entrepreneurs, leaders, scholars, and organizations to change the system and to create and share new solutions for positive societal change.

Social enterprises have long demonstrated that it is possible to balance financial viability with positive societal impact. They teach us the challenges to watch for, and the organizational mechanisms to put in place as contemporary businesses contemplate their own impact on society.

Bacq is the author of several book chapters and co-editor of several books on social entrepreneurship and has published research in both English and French. Her research on social entrepreneurship, societal impact, organizational social performance, and civic wealth has been published in top-tier management and entrepreneurship journals, including The Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Discoveries, Academy of Management Perspectives, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, California Management Review, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, and Journal of Management Studies. Her recent work includes co-authoring a forthcoming book which explains how diverse coalitions of citizens join forces to create civic wealth and enable communities to thrive and grow.

Her scholarship has been recognized with numerous awards, including a Journal of Management Studies Best Paper Award (2022) and the Academy of Management Perspectives 2020 Best Article Award for her paper on civic wealth creation and stakeholder engagement. Most recently, she was named on the 2024 Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers to watch in the coming year.

In publishing, Bacq’s work includes being a field editor for the Journal of Business Venturing and membership of the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, and Journal of Management. She has also guest edited several special issues for the Journal of Management Studies and the International Journal of Management Reviews.

She is also Co-director of The Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference, one of the top academic gatherings on the topic, Lead Faculty of the award-winning Social Entrepreneurship Doctoral Seminar, and a representative-at-large for the Entrepreneurship Division at the Academy of Management.

Before joining IMD in 2023, Bacq was the Larry and Barbara Sharpf Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Indiana University Kelley School of Business, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston, and a Visiting Scholar at New York University Stern School of Business. A native of Belgium, she received her doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain.