Perspectives
Denis Gromb
Antin I.P. Chair Professor of Finance at HEC Paris
Born and raised in Paris, France, Denis graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, where he also obtained a Ph.D. in Economics. He then served on the full-time faculty at MIT, LBS and INSEAD, and visited the LSE. He is a Full Professor of Finance at HEC Paris since 2015.
Denis has over 25 years of teaching experience at all levels. He teaches courses related to corporate finance in different programs at HEC Paris and has won several awards for teaching and case writing.
His research on corporate finance, corporate governance, banking, and financial crises is published in leading academic journals. He has served as associate editor for top academic journals.
Denis shares his perspectives on why a balance between theory and practice is important in case discussions, how an instructor can help participants organize their thoughts and how the pandemic will accelerate trends that were already underway in case teaching.
Denis: To me, the method serves different purposes to different people. For pre-experience students, it allows them to get a sense of practice and relevance of the concepts covered, which motivates them to learn. For more experienced students, like MBAs or executives, it invites them to make connections between the concepts and their own experience and, in successful sessions, to share those connections with other participants.
There is another aspect of cases that I often take advantage of. People learn in different ways. For some, generality and concepts come first and allow them to make sense of practice. For others, a practical framing allows them to see a problem’s structure and to generalize. I find that case discussions that go back and forth between theory and practice can work for a diversity of learning profiles.
Denis: I’m an opportunistic case writer: I write the cases I need for my courses and that can be used equally – though differently – with undergrads or executives. They tend to follow a simple structure. They are relatively short and start with a lecture of sorts on a given topic – IPOs, private equity, franchising, etc. – albeit in the context of a given company. Then, there’s a problem, often a technical one, around a specific issue the company is facing. The case is simple and revolves around only one or two main issues. However, it also mentions side issues, “drawers” that can be opened depending on how the class discussion evolves.
In terms of teaching, I tend to use the board quite a lot. I have found, by accident, that whenever possible using a similar board structure for several cases (e.g., business issues on the left, finance issues on the right), helps participants organize their thoughts. I also speak much less than in the early days and let others speak more, which is better for everyone.
Denis: I’m not sure. One thing however is that some students come to class with an a priori that finance is “abstract”, “about numbers”, “not linked to reality” which makes them nervous. I teach mostly corporate finance courses so I tend to start the first session talking mostly about a business, leaving finance questions aside. Check out my cases here.
The case allows me to do that and to thus draw in students by gradually illustrating how finance is connected in essential ways to the company’s business and strategy, how you cannot talk about corporate finance in thin air.
The case allows me to do that and to thus draw in students by gradually illustrating how finance is connected in essential ways to the company’s business and strategy, how you cannot talk about corporate finance in thin air.