ESSEC’s Cergy campus hosted the January 29 conference exploring the link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Performance. The event was especially successful in bringing together both an academic and corporate viewpoint on the issue, as well as involving ESSEC students involved in similarly-minded activities.

Three workshops featuring distinguished academics and business representatives

The conference comprised three separate workshops, which were then followed by a plenary session enabling the findings of each group to be brought together. The workshops were as follows:

• CSR and corporate governance: raising awareness within businesses;
• CSR and management: the actual tools and methods required to implement CSR;
• CSR and strategic innovation: the perspective of major corporations and small to medium-sized businesses.

The various sessions saw contributions from an impressive roster of guests and members of ESSEC, including:

Thierry Sibieude, ESSEC Social Entrepreneurship chair-holder;
Rodolphe Vidal, Research Engineer for ESSEC’s Social Entrepreneurship Chair and the Institute for Urban and Regional Management;
Viviane de Beaufort, ESSEC Associate Professor, Public and Private Policy Department;
Philippe Zarlowski, ESSEC Associate Professor, Accounting and Management Control Department;
Julien Morel, Director of ESSEC Ventures.
Emmanuelle Soulias, Head of CSR for the MACIF;
Marie-Laure Fayet, Partner, Eurogroup;
Jacques Toraille, Head of Sustainable Development, Groupe Michelin;
Manuel Berquet, Business development Director, Coca Cola France.

ESSEC student contribution to the debate

The plenary session included contributions from ESSEC students Roseline Klein, currently involved in the carbon footprint survey being conducted at ESSEC, and Alexis Angot, a member of the Social Entrepreneurship chair and the student sustainable development association Oikos.
Fittingly, the closing cocktail included catering by Puerto Cacao, a fair trade company set up by ESSEC students and a product of the ESSEC Ventures business incubator.