PUBLISHED 12/2021
BLOG - A EUROPEAN ‘SOCIÉTÉ À MISSION’ ?
On 1 December 2021, the first edition of the European Congress of Mission Companies was held in Paris by the Communauté des Entreprises à Mission. The main topic was the opportunity to export the mission-based company model to the European level. Several points of view were shared by the various actors in the Community.
The EAM community is expanding.
Nicole Notat, CEO of Vigeo Eris and Jean Dominique Senard, President of the Renault Group, first noted that the community is growing, from 200 members to more than 400 in five months. Companies are becoming aware of the importance of having a purpose in their statutes in order to contribute to the creation of positive societal and environmental impact.
The legal structure and governance endorsed by the Pacte Law seem to be adapted to the objective of strong commitment of managers but also of investors who must take into account the mission in all decisions related to the company. The speakers highlight the interest of the status for a diversity of companies from SMEs to multinationals in order to lead us towards a more responsible capitalism.
Today we count among the companies with a mission: Danone, La Maif, Aigle, Faguo and even Léa Nature. The objective for the Community is to welcome more and more members in order to lead us towards a positive economy.
Towards a European Statute
The European dimension is evoked as a definite opportunity to establish the status of company with a mission. Our Italian neighbours have already started to top speed with the success of their ‘Società Benefit’, as have the United States or the United Kingdom with the ‘Benefit Corporation’. It is now a question of convincing Germany and our other European friends of the value of institutionalising the EAM.
At Goodness&Co, we believe that this is an essential objective in order to give an international dimension to the company with a mission. We believe that the French Presidency of the European Union in 2022 is the unexpected opportunity to awaken consciences on the subject at the European political level. For this we invite our EAM friends and our allies to challenge local and European politics on the benefits of this change in economic and societal prism.
This is, of course, an ambitious goal and the ambition must be above all to raise awareness in order to hope to trigger a European regulation in the years that follow.
The way forward
We also retain the assertion that the companies of tomorrow are no longer those of today if they do not take the turn of the raison d’être at the heart of the business. It is important to raise awareness among the companies and entrepreneurs of tomorrow to demonstrate that everything is possible from a vision based on values related to the sustainable development of the activity.
At Goodness&Co, we are convinced that we are at a tipping point where companies need to reinvent their model, create meaning and thus demonstrate their positive contribution to society. Only organizations with a positive impact will thrive, chosen by employees, consumers, investors and partners. For this, becoming a company with a mission seems to us a key step for all companies. We therefore want to support managers in the transformation of their business towards positive impact.
