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The emergence of multipolar corporate governance: the case of Danone and the French Société à Mission

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  • Kevin Levillain

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Armand Hatchuel

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jérémy Lévêque

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Blanche Segrestin

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The search for sustainable corporate governance frameworks in the face of current social and environmental challenges has renewed the debate over the appropriate characteristics of stakeholder governance. In this paper we explore the potential contribution of an original governance body to a stakeholder governance model: the mission committee created by the French société à mission corporate form in 2019. We study the case of the recent governance crisis at Danone, the first listed société à mission, whose CEO Emmanuel Faber was dismissed shortly after the change of legal status. Based on a series of interviews with members of the mission committee and management, including Pascal Lamy and Emmanuel Faber, we show that in the Danone case, the combination of the mission and the mission committee displayed interesting characteristics. First, the mission committee ensured the persistence of the commitment of the firm towards its mission despite the governance crisis. Second, it initiated a system of "check and balance" on the decisions of the board of directors for all matters affecting the mission. Third, it suggested a renewed accountability framework to assess the firm's response to its mission. Overall, we argue that such a mission committee might be the embryo of a new kind of "multipolar" corporate governance framework, in which monitoring powers are shared amongst a wider variety of constituencies than those elected by shareholders, thus effectively changing the balance of corporate governance. It however raises new research questions to ensure the robustness of such committee faced with greenwashing and issues of conflicts of interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Levillain & Armand Hatchuel & Jérémy Lévêque & Blanche Segrestin, 2022. "The emergence of multipolar corporate governance: the case of Danone and the French Société à Mission," Post-Print hal-03689828, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03689828
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03689828v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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