Abstract
This chapter summarises the results for France as part of the International Corporate Sustainability Barometer (ICSB). The introduction and the first section describe the context of sustainability in France and the characteristics of the French companies surveyed. The second section presents the main findings and some comparisons between our sample of French companies and the international average regarding the three main topics of the International Corporate Sustainability Barometer. Concerning the intention to manage sustainability issues, French firms are found to be most strongly influenced by national authorities. With regard to the integration of sustainability into the organisation, the results show that in France social and environmental issues affect the majority of organisational units to a lesser degree than is the case on international average. In addition, differences exist between organisational units in France. More specifically, sustainability-related and externally-oriented units, such as CSR and communication, are most supportive of sustainability. By contrast, performance-oriented units, such as finance and accounting, are less supportive. Lastly, the actual implementation of corporate sustainability is characterised by the fact that the application of sustainability management tools is less common among French companies when compared to the international average. Nevertheless, French companies frequently measure the impact of their sustainability measures.
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Notes
- 1.
During a meeting with 18 directors of SD/CSR at large French companies, representatives were asked to describe ‘durable management’ and ‘responsible management’. Of the 18 directors, 6 stated there is a difference between the two terms, 8 understood the terms to be interchangeable, 3 preferred using only the term ‘responsible management’, and just 1 preferred using the term ‘durable management’.
- 2.
The SBF (Société Française des Bourses) 120 is a French stock index made up of the most important and actively traded publicly listed French firms, continuously quoted in the Primary Market or the Second Market (unlisted securities market). This index is more diversified than the Paris stock index CAC 40.
- 3.
This physical social network of sustainability and CSR managers was founded during the years 2000/2001 to develop informal exchanges between sustainability managers at French companies.
- 4.
These associations are AFEP, French Association of Large Companies (http://www.afep.com) and MEDEF (Movement of the Enterprises of France), the largest union of employers in France.
- 5.
These are the principal French reports and codes on corporate governance.
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Ben Rhouma, A., Francoeur, C., Robin, G. (2014). International Corporate Sustainability Barometer 2012: Sustainability Management in France. In: Schaltegger, S., Windolph, S., Harms, D., Hörisch, J. (eds) Corporate Sustainability in International Comparison. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06227-3_6
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