Lead faculty:  Louis-François Durret, Director of MS and Pierre Aubry, Areva


The Case Study is a 70-hours work that is as close as possible to a real project and will enable students to put their knowledge and skills into practice.


Syllabus: The energy needs of a potential customer will be given to the students, who will also receive a brief description of the site where the energy is to be delivered, as well as some general informations regarding the relevant local regulations. The students, working in small teams, will select the appropriate technology able to fulfill the needs and will elaborate a simplified business model, these two elements being the basis of an offer that will be submitted to the customer.  EPC or EPCM contracts will be negotiated. The teams will also set up the adequate industrial set up and supply chain, as well as the project organization and tools. The financial evaluation and financing mechanisms will be worked out in detail. The project risks will be identified and mitigation plans specified. The project will be run until the startup of the facilities.

The case study also includes a number of expert coaching sessions and dedicated conferences, including on business ethics, which has become a key challenge for Project Directors. Indeed, the extraterritoriality of anti-corruption laws and embargo directives, worldwide development of personal data protection laws, limitless potential of frauds and thefts offered by world-wide on-line information circulation and money transfers and finally the international and multicultural ecosystem in which project organizations operate are exposing Project Directors (and the companies to which they belong) to important penal, financial and reputation threats. Project Directors have to take the most appropriate decision out of various alternatives so as to protect their project and company to the maximum possible extend.


Learning objectives

  • Understand how large projects are managed
  • Making the best use of the academic courses in a case that is very close to a real one
  • Working in teams and improving intercultural management capabilities by roleplaying
  • Understand the main anticorruption laws, embargo directives and data protection laws, how they are enforced and how they impact Project Directors and their company; elaborate and implement reflexes and quick-wins; apprehend the possible frauds and thefts to which a project organization and company are exposed; reflect on how to detect threats and weak signals. Design and implement counter measures; identify within a Project organization ecosystem, the areas of threat to ethics; design risk mitigation actions, chose between them.


Assessment: Each team will prepare a final presentation of its project. Grading is done on presentations and reporting in teams (50%) and individually 50%