Caroline Véran
Published on 31 July 2023
Social, societal and environmental responsibility is a real opportunity for companies, enabling them to create the conditions for sustainable growth. As part of this dynamic, Croissance Bleue helps organizations transform their CSR challenges into development and value enhancement strategies.
What does CSR actually achieve?
CSR is a way of guiding companies towards a more sustainable, fairer and more balanced growth model. CSR encompasses regulatory issues, but goes far beyond them. It offers a tremendous opportunity to activate new levers for competitiveness, growth and the reinvention of organizations.
How do you explain the growing interest in CSR?
Companies are becoming aware that sustainable development issues have a direct and profound impact on their organization and business model, just as digital transformation did at the time.
This has happened gradually within companies, around several strong markers. First in 2015 with the Cop21 Paris Agreements. Then in 2019 in France with the Loi Pacte, which makes a historic amendment to the civil code. The Loi Pacte acknowledges the need for every company to consider the social and environmental issues inherent in its activity. This legal development was initiated by the Ministry of the Economy, not the Ministry of Ecology. Ultimately, it’s a way of underlining the extent to which CSR is a lever for competitiveness and growth.
Today, it’s the issues of climate transition and decarbonization that are mobilizing companies. These are issues of economic survival. Promoting these issues is a winning investment.
Today, it’s the issues of climate transition and decarbonization that are mobilizing companies. These are issues of economic survival.
Who are your key CSR contacts?
We work directly with managers to provide them with the keys to understanding CSR. We also support them in linking CSR to their company’s strategic management. For the time being, CSR strategies are a complement to corporate strategies. Eventually, however, there will probably be just one corporate strategy, with powerful CSR markers. A far more relevant approach.
What is your methodology?
Our starting point is an analysis of the existing situation, enriched by bilateral interviews with the company’s stakeholders.
We don’t copy solutions, but always start from the company’s identity card, its DNA: its business model, its social and environmental challenges as well as its market, brand and sector challenges, its internal resources and its maturity. We analyze and cross-reference CSR data with the company’s strategic data. Once structured, this step enables us to draw up a roadmap and implement appropriate cross-functional governance.
In a second phase, we work more closely with employees on the operational deployment of the roadmap.
Together, we are making concrete progress on subjects such as low-carbon trajectories, the creation of new impact services, territorial anchoring, responsible governance, raison d’être, responsible purchasing, employer branding, etc.
This operational deployment is based on a benchmark of best practices on a given theme, as well as on contributions and ideas from all of the company’s driving forces. This makes the issues on which progress is to be made tangible and concrete, and for which precise objectives and indicators have been set.
The third component is the communication and rebranding strategy.
Indeed, communicating our social commitments is the cornerstone of any progress initiative. It brings people together, and gives meaning, visibility and credibility to actions already underway. Most companies are asking themselves how they can add value to their CSR policy, and how they can get their stakeholders on board. This work of editorialization and mobilization is essential, as managers are often at a loss. The Croissance Bleue agency can design, manage and produce communication tools for this purpose.
Communicating our social commitments is the cornerstone of any progress initiative.
Climate and energy issues are well identified by companies. What are the other key CSR transformation issues?
Working on “employer branding” is a must. A company’s ability to attract and retain employees is a major CSR challenge. As proof of this, a recent Harris Interactive survey for the “Pour un réveil écologique” collective revealed that 7 out of 10 young working people in the 18-30 age bracket would be prepared to change jobs to make them ecologically useful! This is clearly a change of model. The new generations are challenging companies and expect much more commitment from the world of work. They are less concerned with salary than with meaning, coherence and social usefulness.
7 out of 10 young working people in the 18-30 age bracket would be willing to change their job to make it ecologically useful!
Another decisive challenge for companies is to integrate the creation of products and services into a circular economy approach. This implies a new way of designing, producing, purchasing and creating value. We need to adapt all our processes, in particular by training our teams in responsible purchasing. I would also like to emphasize the importance of territorial anchoring, which I believe is essential, yet is still only partially addressed. There is a strategic advantage to be gained from getting local players to work more closely together. Local authorities, companies and associations have every interest in concentrating their efforts on a single objective to achieve a multiplier effect. It’s a great challenge, and one on which we absolutely must make progress!
Finally, there is a focus on decarbonization, which is of great interest to all stakeholders. But CSR is about much broader issues that need to be addressed.
How can we convince companies to embrace the CSR approach?
By providing managers with a better understanding and appreciation of CSR. CSR should not be seen as a cost, but as an investment in continuous progress, a lever for innovation and growth. The faster companies position themselves on CSR, the more competitive and profitable they will be. In short, it’s a commitment that makes it possible to (re)reconcile ethics and profit.
CSR should not be seen as a cost, but as an investment in a continuous improvement process. The company must transform CSR issues into levers for growth and innovation.