Biography
Robert Piret holds a Ph.D. in Management, concentration in Strategy and Organization from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA). He’s also a graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a MBA - Concentration in Finance - and a MS in Chemical Engineering. He previously obtained a BA Applied Mathematics from Brown University.
Educated in the United States, Dr. Piret has spent his entire professional career between America and Europe.
Associate Professor at ESCP Europe, Dr. Piret has lectured extensively on both continents in the areas of Strategy, Organization, International Management, Corporate Development and Entrepreneurship, Finance and Venture Capital, New Product Development, and Motion Picture and TV Production and Management. He was previously a professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).
In addition, Dr. Piret has over 20 years of experience as a management consultant in the U.S. and in Europe, specializing in strategic and organizational issues in technology-intensive areas, including the telecommunications, computer software and hardware, life sciences, automotive, materials, chemicals, petroleum and petrochemical, energy and environmental industries, as well as in information-intensive areas, including the media and audiovisual industries. Dr. Piret has also been actively engaged in advising and coaching entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial ventures, primarily in the hi-tech and life sciences areas.
While Managing Director at Newbury, Piret & Company, Inc., (Boston, MA), an investment bank specializing in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Financing in technology industries, Dr. Piret was involved in corporate financings and acquisitions in the US and Europe. He has also taken a leading role in over a half-dozen startup companies in technology and service industries. He has previously had operational experience in both a technical and a managerial capacity.
Finally, through theater (e.g., co-founder, actor, director and producer of the Theatre de l’Orangerie in Providence RI), motion picture financing and production (e.g., “Paysage avant l’Eté”, selected at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, section “Perspectives”), and film promotion (e.g., previously Director-Europe and currently Advisor for the Osaka European Film Festival in Japan), Dr. Piret has been active for more than twenty years in the entertainment industries.
Publications
Books
PIRET R. E., (1978), Analyse de Risque et Evaluation Economique de Procédés, Technip, Rueil Malmaison.
Book chapters
PIRET R. E., (1998), "Stratégie, coordination et connaissance : Chapitre 8", in LAROCHE H., NIOCHE J-P. (eds), , Repenser la Stratégie : fondements et perspectives, Collection Vital Roux, Éditions Vuibert, pp 205-232, 28 p.
Research reports - Working papers
PIRET R. E., (1993), "Corporate Onwnership Structure and Tobin's Q: in Search for the Small Firm Effect", Working Paper, UCLA.
PIRET R. E., (1992), "The role of the Venture Capitalists in New Ventures", Working Paper, UCLA.
PIRET R. E., (1990), "Venture Capitalist and the Management of Portfolio Companies", Working Paper, UCLA.
PIRET R. E., (1985), "A Competitive Analysis of the US Magnesium Industry", Working Paper, MIT.
PIRET R. E., (1985), "Strategic Materials: Technologies to Reduce US Import Vulnerabilities", Report, US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Washington DC, May, OTA-ITE 248, chapter 5.
Dissertations
PIRET R. E., (1997), "Strategy, knowledge topology and coordination in product development", Doctoral Dissertation in Policy and Organization , University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
