Colas RA

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Business report – Colas Group
Other examples of this type of initiative for local training and job
opportunities include:
– an operation called “A day, a young person and a company” on
Reunion Island;
– sponsorship of the Lougnon de Saint-Paul junior high-school on
Reunion Island for the Reporter TP operation: national first prize with
honors won by the students for their report on the la Savane viaduct
contract;
– North American scholarships (Canada: University of Sherbrooke
and the École Technique Supérieure engineering school in Montreal;
United States: South Georgia Technical College).
INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS:
STRAIGHTFORWARD ACTION
Corporate communications operations help promote corporate values
in a Group which has a high level of geographical dispersion. Its
personnel is drawn from many different places, countries and cultures
and their number is constantly rising, largely because of sustained
growth through acquisition. The principal aim of such operations is to
bring people together so that they can share experiences and get to
know other members of the Group better. This straightforward
approach helps to create loyalty and stability in the workforce.
As a complement to the conventions and meetings organized regularly
at the level of subsidiaries, geographical zones and business
areas, all Group employees have available to them informational or
management tools, films and internal press coverage of topics
selected because they illustrate and affirm the messages delivered
during events and help to develop general knowledge of all the
Group businesses.
Some 2005 Group Conventions
– Group Convention: 1,215 participants from 30 countries, focusing
on the Group’s inalienable principles;
– Workshop Managers’ Convention: 403 participants from
27 countries;
– Convention of French Environment Coordinators: 64 participants;
– Human Resources Convention: 333 participants from 10 countries;
– Safety Coordinators’ Convention: 55 participants from 11 countries.
Environment
In 2005, the Environment Division continued to structure its plan of
action from transversal links with other corporate-level departments,
to setting up standard Group-wide indicators and organizing a network
of ISO 14001 correspondents and auditors. The main principles
of the action plan are as follows: precaution, scientific rigor
concerning the use and communication of figures, controlling risks,
continuous improvement and principle of proximity for local evaluation
of impact.
ENVIRONMENT AND OFFERS
Colas must endeavor to offer its customers a renewed line of services,
designed with accountability in mind regarding environment,
health and safety. This is a key issue because the Group’s main
goal is customer satisfaction, and because the customers themselves
are at the heart of broader societal challenges.
Infrastructure, when it is well designed, well built, and above all, well
maintained, can optimize the economic efficiency of the investment
and the use of public resources because service-life is optimized.
This rather evident concept is often left by the wayside due to shortterm
requirements or inappropriate legal frameworks. In France, where
the Government has pulled the plug on funding for innovation, and
has thereby cut back on research, and where recent reforms tend to
benefit the lowest bidder – therefore the least innovative bidder –
Colas chose to continue to support research and development. The
Group will be able to continue to offer new services and products
that are perfectly adapted to its markets.
New public procurement contract law, Private Finance Initiative contracts,
Public Private Partnerships, and long-term maintenance contracts
are the cornerstones from which the Group shall launch its
efforts. Over the last several years, in Canada (Alberta), Great Britain
(Portsmouth) and Hungary (M5 Motorway), Colas subsidiaries have
begun working on projects that help enrich their experience, test and
prove their methods and prepare for growth, over time, of this type of
contract, regardless of the country.
As for new products, the Group’s goals remain unchanged: performance,
customer service and efforts in favor of sustainable development.
Saving energy (and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions), substitution
and noise reduction are the main focus.