Company, Values, Humanism, Ethics: A Pipe Dream?
22 August 2008
Read by 1695 persons
One may wonder this, considering current international management practices, under the aegis of capital funds (pension, hedge or sovereign now).
HR managers know something about this, as they are now used to the guidelines dictated by these new company owners: "minus 20%". Of expenses, and, therefore, of personnel, of course.
Minus 20% to obtain a 15% annual return on investment, which is the norm for these financiers who can hardly be called "entrepreneurs" anymore. However, they own more than 40% of the capital of CAC 40 companies, and internationally there are tens of thousands of parent companies, hundreds of thousands of subsidiaries and, it is estimated, more than 60 million employees. When the tone is set like this, what place is there for ethics and values? Can we talk about humanism because we lay people off "properly", with a good check, amortized over the year thanks to increased pressure on the remaining or cheaper replaced colleagues?
It is true that the Global Compact Reporting program exists, as well as UN and European charters and even a French social responsibility regulation. With one nuance: in the logic of global liberalization, none of this is binding. We do it if we want to. And we know what it gives when, moreover, nothing stops us from doing it, without hindrance or impediment.
What prevails then is opportunity, margin and self-interest. This is the financial capitalism that Claude Bébéar denounces as killing the company and entrepreneurship.
We cannot even take refuge behind "small is beautiful". It is the majors who set the tone and the rest, due to competitiveness, must follow or disappear. So, what hope is there for values and a company useful not only to its shareholders, but also to humanity?
Essentially its image and notoriety. That is, concretely, the consumer's freedom to continue or not to buy its products or to snub them. Complicated, because they are often multi-product and have powerful means of communication. But effective, we are told, because very sensitive, in exacerbated international competition, to the slightest variation in margin. It is to avoid such setbacks that the promotion of values and humanism needs to be the subject of preventive policies within the company. When interest joins ideology, it is naturally less romantic than utopia, but certainly more solid in the medium and long term.
Published on July 21, 2008
Posted online on August 22, 2008
Rennes.CCI.Fr
HR managers know something about this, as they are now used to the guidelines dictated by these new company owners: "minus 20%". Of expenses, and, therefore, of personnel, of course.
Minus 20% to obtain a 15% annual return on investment, which is the norm for these financiers who can hardly be called "entrepreneurs" anymore. However, they own more than 40% of the capital of CAC 40 companies, and internationally there are tens of thousands of parent companies, hundreds of thousands of subsidiaries and, it is estimated, more than 60 million employees. When the tone is set like this, what place is there for ethics and values? Can we talk about humanism because we lay people off "properly", with a good check, amortized over the year thanks to increased pressure on the remaining or cheaper replaced colleagues?
It is true that the Global Compact Reporting program exists, as well as UN and European charters and even a French social responsibility regulation. With one nuance: in the logic of global liberalization, none of this is binding. We do it if we want to. And we know what it gives when, moreover, nothing stops us from doing it, without hindrance or impediment.
What prevails then is opportunity, margin and self-interest. This is the financial capitalism that Claude Bébéar denounces as killing the company and entrepreneurship.
We cannot even take refuge behind "small is beautiful". It is the majors who set the tone and the rest, due to competitiveness, must follow or disappear. So, what hope is there for values and a company useful not only to its shareholders, but also to humanity?
Essentially its image and notoriety. That is, concretely, the consumer's freedom to continue or not to buy its products or to snub them. Complicated, because they are often multi-product and have powerful means of communication. But effective, we are told, because very sensitive, in exacerbated international competition, to the slightest variation in margin. It is to avoid such setbacks that the promotion of values and humanism needs to be the subject of preventive policies within the company. When interest joins ideology, it is naturally less romantic than utopia, but certainly more solid in the medium and long term.
Published on July 21, 2008
Posted online on August 22, 2008
Rennes.CCI.Fr
