The economic crisis besetting Europe, and France in particular, over some decades and the financial crisis that has added further to it since 2007 have brought serious opprobrium on the financial sector and also on the short-termist practices of certain companies, which have preferred to maximize returns to shareholders rather than invest for the future. Yet, reading this “Forum” article penned by Bertrand Collomb, we find that developments are looming in the very heart of the free-market economy whose aim is to add social objectives to companies’ classical economic aims.
The development of corporate sponsorship, together with incentives for companies to be socially responsible (in the sense both of social solidarity and sustainable development), have led the way. In addition to this, there have for some time now been experiments in combining company profitability and social objectives or, in other words, in achieving economic growth while striving —at least in part— to meet certain social needs. This type of initiative makes it possible to give meaning to the activity of the employees involved and to encourage the insertion of new clients into the economic cycle, which in turn contributes to the good health of companies. If such initiatives became widespread, it would no doubt be an opportunity, Bertrand Collomb tells us, to return to an economy beneficial to all those involved and not just to shareholders.
