Young Business Leaders in France: Governance through Values and Ideas

Abstract

The present chapter goes into the formation and the functioning of a governance network that consists of business leaders in charge of private companies of all sizes and within all sectors all over France. This governance network originates from a particular business association: the Centre des jeunes dirigeants de l’entreprise (CJD), in the sense that the network actors all are present or former members of this association. Since 1938, the CJD has gathered young business leaders that, in the words of its founders, work to put the economy at the service of mankind. Accordingly, the role of a company is not limited to creating value for the good of its owner, it also has a societal responsibility. On the basis of this value, the CJD elaborates, exchanges and experiments with ideas about how to organise society and, in particular, about the role of business within it. The CJD’s declared aim is to achieve influence. To do so, it encourages and empowers its members to be actively involved in a large variety of bodies within the French polity at national and local levels where such societal interests are debated and decisions are being made and implemented (CJD 2004).