NEWS - Altran

high-tech
Steve Forrest / Panos - REA
Canary Wharf’s business district in London, tube station.
• • • continued from page 22
“CSR is often borne aloft by the shareholders
and pension funds, but also small investors. A
company’s assets lie in the intangible, and the
value of employees, which is not featured on
a financial statement, is essential for productivity.”
Companies indulge their human resources
departments by mobilising staff around shared
values and by improving working conditions.
The result is a reduction in internal conflicts and
the cultivation of a socially responsible image,
making companies more attractive to bright
young minds. Differentiating oneself from the
competition and developing
a virtuous reputation turns
out to be an excellent way to
acquire market share. All this
opens up doors to accessing
« CSR opens up doors
to accessing credit and
public contracts »
credit and public contracts. And that’s not all—
economic actors consider CSR a key component
of competitiveness. According to Novethic’s
CEO, Toyota, now the world’s top automobile
maker after having produced 9.5 million vehicles
in 2007, directly owes its triumph to the
success of its CSR approach. She explains that
“The Japanese maker predicted a demand for
clean vehicles, and as a result, created certain
models compatible with the stringent environmental
standards in certain countries.” The latter
include Japan and Europe. Now witness the
astounding success of hybrid
cars, which helped Toyota
rake in a 10 billion dollar profit
in 2007, a rise in 20% from the
previous year.
continued on page 26 • • •
SRi: iNveStiNg BecOMeS
SOciALLY ReSPONSiBLe
Asset management and investing are increasingly
adopting socially responsible criteria. The French
SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) market,
including socially responsible funds, community
investing and shared return funds, reached 16.6
billion euros outstanding at the end of 2006,
compared with 8.8 billion at the end of 2005.
While this 88% increase is quite spectacular, France
still trails far behind the United States. 12% of assets
in the US are managed in a socially responsible
fashion, compared to only 1% in France.
evALUAtiNg
cOMPANY
BehAviOUR
How do you objectively evaluate
a business’s performance
in sustainable development?
Although it is difficult to analyse,
independent agencies have
established extremely rigorous
criteria for auditing social
responsibility. For example,
Vigeo, a European leader
in the field, has listed 40 objectives
divided across six areas:
human resources, business
behaviour, corporate governance,
community involvement, human
rights and environment.
The audited business has major
interests at stake, because
a negative rating will cause
ire among shareholders while
a positive rating could bring
in new investors.
65 %
of worldwide
consumers avoided
purchasing a product
or service from
a business in the
automotive industry
that does not respect
CSR principles,
according
to the results of a
TNS-Sofres study*.
The idea of corporate
social responsibility
is rapidly gaining
credence among
the public.
*The study was carried out in 2006
among 18,000 people from
the 18 countries making up 80%
of the automotive market.
24 Altitude n°13 /april 2008 Altitude n°13 /april 2008 25
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