Armand Hatchuel

Armand Hatchuel (born January 29, 1952) is a French researcher and professor of management science and design theory at the École des Mines de Paris, affiliated with its Centre for Management Science. His research explores cognitive and organizational dynamics in innovation and management. Hatchuel has also contributed to theoretical developments in the study of collective decision-making and innovation processes.

Academic career Armand Hatchuel graduated in 1973 with an engineering degree and continued his studies at École des Mines de Paris, completing a PhD in management science. His academic career primarily took place at Mines ParisTech and the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, where he served as an assistant lecturer between 1974 and 1985, and as a second-class professor from 1984 to 1994. In 1995, he was promoted to first class professor and then, in 2007, to exceptional-class professor (2007). From 1998 to 2010, he was also the deputy director of the Centre for Management Science.

In 1995, he created the design engineering program at Mines ParisTech, which he directed until 2009. In 2009, he co-founded and coordinated the Chair of Design Theory and Methods for Innovation with Benoît Weil. In 2014, he contributed to the creation of the Chair of Enterprise Theory, Forms of Governance, and Collective Creation, directed by Blanche Segrestin and Kevin Levillain.

From 1998 to 2006, Armand Hatchuel was a permanent guest professor at Chalmers University in Gothenburg and at the Stockholm School of Economics, where he participated in the FENIX Program (business and knowledge creation).

C-K Theory Hatchuel with Benoît Weil invented C-K theory, a design theory that models creative reasoning. Hatchuel also developed a theory of prescribing relationships to explain collective learning processes and the crises they encounter in markets and organizations. He unified his work on rationality and the formation of collectives in his axiomatic theory of collective action. This theory clarified the concept of a "management rule" as an emancipating combination of rationality and responsibility, the history and ancient origins of which the author explored in depth. The theory played a role in the enactment of a French Pacte Law of 2019, specifically in the establishment of the French société à mission (profit-with-purpose corporation) status.