Dince the Pacte law (action plan for the growth and transformation of businesses) of 2019, article 1833 of the civil code stipulates that a business must be managed “in its social interest, taking into consideration the social and environmental issues of its activity”.
To deal with this new requirement effectively, this same Pacte law proposes a solution: the mission-driven company. This innovative and engaging framework allows them to move away from overly short-term financial logic and to set objectives for global value creation over the long term.
To date, more than 1,400 companies have adopted the status of mission company. In most sectors, leading companies have become mission-driven companies: Enedis, Danone, the two Crédit Mutuel groups (Crédit Mutuel Arkea, and Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale), Korian, Doctolib, etc.
She protects her reputation
Many leaders nevertheless consider that their freedom is already sufficiently hampered by the numerous standards to which they are subject, and that they have no interest in “inflict additional constraints on oneself”, by adopting the status of mission company. The strongest constraints to which companies are subject, however, are not their voluntary commitments, but rather planetary limits (biodiversity, climate change, etc.) and the legitimate aspiration of social justice of populations.
The Pacte law confirmed the fact that companies had to provide responses that met the challenges, that they all bore this responsibility. In the same way, the generalization of CSRD directive (“Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive”) on corporate sustainability reporting, which imposes extra-financial reporting standards on all companies with more than 250 employees, aims to prevent the latter from aggravating the risks to which they are subject through their practices.
The mission society allows, through the statutory formulation of a reason for being and a mission, to set a course to transform the company and make its business model compatible with planetary limits. By doing this, the company protects itself against several risks. It complies with article 1833 of the civil code cited above, by demonstrating the way in which this new responsibility is concretely exercised, and protects itself against attacks on this legal basis. She also protects her reputation.
You have 40% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.