The business world is central to EDHEC's research and because it gives rise to products, concepts and processes that are designed for businesses, bought by businesses and actually used by businesses to boost their current practices, it really is "Research for Business".  Its source material comes from the everyday realities of the world of business and it sends its theorised and clearly developed results back to this same world of business in order to optimise the firms' operations.

This innovative research strategy makes EDHEC Business School the European academic institution with the greatest influence on the market in certain areas considered relevant to the business world. The research carried out by the School's faculty and research teams has given rise to numerous publications, many of which are award-winning studies that have earned company funding, and all of which provide quality guidance necessary for use in the industry. EDHEC Business School professors take part in all the leading international conferences and are regularly called upon by global companies such as Air France and Auchan for consulting missions. Awareness of their expertise is quickly spreading throughout the industry, and the need for continual interaction between firms and researchers increases the benefits for both parties. These same professors then share their expertise with students in the classroom.

A prime example of the School's excellence in research shines in the Risk and Asset Management Research Centre which maintains a website devoted to asset management research for industry: http://www.edhec-risk.com . Through its research and via partnerships with major banks, this centre of excellence has developed know-how, tools and even related products.

 With a few exceptions such as the laboratory of the Ecole Polytechnique or that of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, an unwritten consensus left Universities with a virtual monopoly on research while the Grandes Ecoles based their reputation on the strong selection of potential and close links with industry. Today, however, the markets of culture, education and training have become international. The French Grandes Ecoles are in direct competition with the major Anglo-Saxon universities and research has become a dominant criterion of comparison between the various institutions.

Spurred on by the international fame of its Finance centre of excellence, and also by the academic prowess of the Accounting-Audit centre of excellence and the strong links the Law centre enjoys with the business world, EDHEC is today one of the leading Business Schools in management research.