Dr. Claes is a management scholar (Ph.D., INSEAD) who investigates the socio-cultural construction of worth in markets—how different audiences evaluate producers and their outputs. In fashion and luxury, he studies how evaluative schemas, status cues, and design choices are read by critics, buyers, and media, and how those interpretations translate into visibility, placements, price premia, and talent mobility. Extending the same lens to financial markets, he examines how AI intermediaries, social similarity, and the use of formulas shape price discovery and valuation.
He teaches management courses such as Negotiations, Leadership, Power & Politics, and Competitive Strategy, and designed a Cryptoeconomics & Blockchain class. Beyond academia, he puts his scholarship into practice as an award-winning film producer, applying his research on the construction of worth to the movie industry. Prior to academia, he spent three years on a capital-markets trading floor—experience that continues to inform his finance-related research."
MGMT 5700
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Leadership
NBA 5150
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Leadership Theory and Practice
MGMT 6820
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Negotiations
NBA 6820
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Negotiation 1: Negotiations Essentials
Claes, Godart. 2025. What Keeps the Market Ticking? The Role of Third-Party Audiences and Cognitive Embeddedness in Shaping Competitive Dynamics in Luxury Watchmaking. Strategic Management Journal, Vol 46 (3), pp. 667-692.
Dobrev, Claes, Godart. 2023. Prêt-à-Quitter: Career Mobility and Entrepreneurship in the Global Fashion Industry, 1945-2010. Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 38(5): 106316.
Claes, Vissa. 2020. Does Social Similarity Pay Off? Homophily and Venture Capitalists’ Deal Valuation, Downside Risk Protection, and Financial Returns in India. Organization Science, Vol. 31(3), pp. 576-603.
Godart, Claes, Sgourev. 2020. Aesthetic and Technological Complexity in Luxury Watchmaking. Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 42 (Aesthetics and Styles in Strategy), pp. 33-60.
Godart, Claes. 2017. Semantic networks and the market interface: Lessons from luxury watchmaking. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 53, pp. 113-141.
Godart, Shipilov, Claes. 2014. Making the most of the revolving door: The impact of outward personnel mobility networks on organizational creativity. Organization Science, Vol. 25(2), pp. 377-400.
Ad-hoc Reviewer
- Academy of Management Journal 2016-present
- Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 2018-present
- Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 2019-present
- Journal of Management Studies 2020-present
- Journal of Business Venturing 2020-present
- Strategic Management Journal 2021-present
- Poetics 2022-present
- Venture Capital 2023-present
- Journal of Organization Design 2024-present
- Academy of Management Discoveries 2024-present
- Industrial and Corporate Change 2025-present
Research Grant Project Evaluator, Sorbonne University Alliance (Emergence project)
Conference Reviewer and Co-Organizer, INSEAD Network Evolution Conference 3.0 & 4.0 (2012 & 2014, France)
Co-Organizer for the Retail, Consumer & Luxury Goods Club, INSEAD, Insights on the Luxury Watchmaking Industry 2012 & 2013 (France), 2014 (Singapore)
2015,
Ph.D.,
Management,
INSEAD
2005,
Post Graduate Degree,
Management,
Solvay Business School,
2005,
Master’s Degree,
Actuarial Sciences,
Université Libre de Bruxelles
2002,
Bachelor’s Degree,
Physics,
Université Libre de Bruxelles