La Responsabilité Territoriale des Entreprises, agenda de recherche

In a society subject to ever-increasing demands to take environmental and social dimensions into account, the territory is asserting itself more than ever as the place for transformations and responses to complex challenges. At a time when companies are struggling to establish their social responsibility, this article highlights the originality of the notion of Corporate Territorial Responsibility, which represents a radical change in approach. Based on an analysis of the literature, we support the idea that it's a question of undertaking collectively and responsibly for the common good, by renewing the frameworks for analyzing territorial development processes. While the Social and Solidarity Economy appears to be a lever for stimulating cooperative dynamics within communities, CTR is based on the transition from an individual conception to a collective construction that is as close as possible to the needs of local players. It underpins new, innovative and creative forms of collective action. The aim is to innovate in social and territorial practices that are specific to places and arrangements between players. It enables the sometimes-contradictory interests of local players to converge, and is part of a complex process of territorial anchoring, based on partnership, multi-level and long-term governance. Co-constructing schemes at the limits of public authorities' areas of competence requires innovation and the creation of new public, private and/or mixed partnerships. The territory becomes a means of recomposing the "making of society" by taking care of human and natural resources for living territorial ecosystems in the Anthropocene era. CTR thus invites us to rethink our analytical frameworks, identify new metrics and tools to measure the value created, and open up new research perspectives.