Département d'Economie, Laboratoire d'Econométrie

Informations complémentaires sur quelques séminaires / More information on past CSR Seminars

9 - Samuel Touboul and Samer Hobeika
Samuel Touboul: "Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic and Financial performance : The role of industry specificities and business models' competitiveness in making a link - A critical analysis of Goldman Sachs Sustain methodology."
Abstract:
Goldman Sachs released in 2007 GS sustain, a methodology for selection of stocks likely to generate on the long run subnormal financial performance for investors. The underlying hypothesis was that firms with past high returns on capital, an industry-specific competitive business model, and a high performance in an industry-specific type of corporate social responsibility, generate on the long run sustainable high returns on investment. This economic performance sustainability is transformed on financial markets in a stock price premium. We investigated with an economic lens this hypothesis. We quantified the real outcome of such stock picking methodology in terms of economic and financial performance for three selected industries, and highlighted foundations of such relationship in management and economics literature. Results obtained validate partially the role of CSR typologies, industry and business models' specificities in making a link between CSR, economic and financial performance. They highlight CSR as a necessary but not sufficient condition for sustainable performance. In such a view it is not CSR as a whole that generates economic and financial returns, but a certain type of CSR for a certain type of firms in a certain industry.  Therefore the main added value of this article to literature investigating the link between CSR and firms' performance is an advocacy for a CSR and industry specific analysis (Regarding the industry analysed each typology of CSR impacts firms' performance differently). It highlights CSR complementarity with business models' competitiveness in its impact on performance (CSR doesn't create value for all types of companies but only for those having a competitive advantage), and it characterizes the impact of CSR on such performance (An impact not only on economic returns but further on their sustainability and thus on investors' financial returns).

Samer Hobeika : "SRI labels, codes and specifications; The role of stakeholder initiatives in the normalisation of socially responsible investment"
Abstract The French SRI market is one of the most dynamic in Europe in terms of assets under management, active asset management firms and involved third-party stakeholders. This article aims to analyse the ongoing normalisation of SRI in France, in light of the rapid development of SRI products and approaches in the past ten years, the launch of two labels and one set of transparency guidelines, and the involvement of several professional organisations, investors, consulting firms, independent organisms and unions.


8 - Sylvaine Poret - "Mainstreaming fair trade: a discussion through the Lipton tea case" 
Abstract
Fair trade has undergone a relative exceptional growth for two decades, thanks to the creation and expansion of Fairtrade certified food products in large-scale distribution. This fair trade development with a mainstreaming-as-product certification provokes a great debate within the fair trade movement. This aim of this chapter is to explain this controversy with a case study, a partnership between Unilever and Rainforest Alliance on Lipton tea, in order to implement a corporate social responsibility strategy in a supply chain context.   9  -  Vendredi 5 février 2010, 10H30 Samer Hobeika & Samuel Touboul   (forthcoming  Presentation titles and Abstracts) 


6 - Diane-Laure Arjaliès de la Lande - "Explaining organizational diversity when faced with institutional change : the example of Socially Responsible Investment"
Abstract
This paper aims to study what explains organizational diversity when faced with institutional change. More precisely, it examines why French asset management companies' responses to Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) demands have differed between equity and fixed-income investment. Empirical data are drawn from a longitudinal case study of an asset management company which attempted to (re)design its funds to integrate SRI criteria. The paper develops a theoretical model which analyzes how actors translate institutional change in their practices. Using institutional theory and theories focused on practices - namely, the concept of epistemic object -, this paper argues that organizational diversity when faced with institutional change is explained as much by the competing institutional logics available in the organizational field concerned by institutional change as by how actors elaborate on their context and technical objects to transform their practices. This paper enriches previous research on institutional change by analyzing the mediating instruments' role when translating institutional change and relating institutional change to practices and society.

5 - Patricia Crifo "The CSR-CFP missing link: complementarity between ESG practices ?" (en collaboration avec Sandra Cavaco)
Abstract (temporaire)This article analyzes the relationship between corporate social performance(CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) by proposing a theoretical model and by testing its main predictions through an econometric study on a matched CSP-CFP panel data for the biggest European listed firms over the 2002-2007 period. Our matched micro-economic dataset gathers two sources of information: environmental, social and governance ratings from the Vigeo database and economic and financial performance data from the Orbis database. Using panel data technique, we examine how the complementarity between various corporate social responsibility practices is likely to increase performance, as predicted by our theoretical model.

4- Diane-Laure Arjaliès de la Lande - " Does CSR lead to the emergence of a new business model for multinational companies? A study of the management systems used by the French CAC 40 companies to integrate CSR into their strategy" (in collaboration with Jean-Marie Péan)
Abstract
Since they provide the tools that permit to choose, organize, deploy and monitor the strategy, management systems are said to be one of the necessary media for implementing and changing corporate strategies. Based on this assumption, the introduction of CSR into the companies' management systems should: 1) give evidence of the real' will of companies to integrate CSR into their strategy and 2) provide the means for effectively changing the operational practices. With this in mind, this paper aims at exploring to what extent CSR changes the business model of multinational companies by studying whether and how these companies integrate CSR into their management systems. The distinction between diagnostic and interactive management systems introduced by Simons (1995) provides the conceptual framework of the paper. According to this typology, two types of management systems are essential for a strategy to be implemented (diagnostic systems) and changed (interactive systems). Empirical data are drawn from a comparative study of the CAC 40 companies - the 40 biggest French listed companies - based on a survey by questionnaire conducted between September and December 2008 (response rate: 87.8%) and documentary evidence. Based on the study, the paper argues that the gap which exists between the management systems used to integrate CSR into the companies' operational practices and the targeted strategies could explain why CSR has not yet led to the emergence of a new business model for these multinational companies. cf. paper en pièce jointe (bas de page)

3 -  François Perrot - "Understanding diversity in corporate strategies at the Base of the Pyramid"

2 - Vanina Forget - "Performance financière et RSE des grandes entreprises : une approche empirique de l'endogénéité des décisions stratégiques du management face à ses multiples parties prenantes"
Résumé
La responsabilité sociale et environnementale ne fait toujours pas consensus tant théoriquement qu'empiriquement quant à son impact sur la rentabilité des firmes. Basées sur une revue de littérature théorique et empirique, les hypothèses suivantes seront testées : Existe-t-il un lien significativement positif entre RSE et performance financière ? Cette significativité est-elle impactée par la prise en compte de l'endogénéité spécifique aux décisions stratégiques de management ? Si la RSE est désagrégée en domaines d'actions, quels sont leurs  effets respectifs sur la performance financière ? Conformément aux prévisions théoriques, peut-on y distinguer une RSE « stratégique » qui n'aurait pas d'effet sur la performance financière, d'une RSE « altruiste » ou « réactive », qui serait liée à une plus grande rentabilité de l'entreprise ?

 1 - Delphine Prady - "Why Investors Value Information on Firms' Social Performance"
Abstract
Responsible investors build their portfolios according to environmental, social and governance criteria that do not usually enter the valuation of a fi rm. To this end, they collect information about the social performance of the fi rm they intend to invest in. Mainstream investors are indi fferent to the fi rms' social record. This paper examines the conditions under which mainstream investors are willing to purchase information about the fi rms' social performance. I show that responsible investment can create a speculative opportunity on the capital market because rms are valued below (over) their book value when they have a poor (good) social record.
If investors trade only once, such an opportunity vanishes. The equilibrium share price reflects the social information privately held by responsible investors. In this context, mainstream investors are not better off informed than uninformed. If investors trade over two periods, then the speculative opportunity exists and mainstream investors best pro t from it when they are socially informed. An inter{temporal asset pricing model, where both responsible and mainstream investors with rational expectations coexist, allows deriving such a rationale for the mainstream investors' valuation of social information.