Le redressement de la Maison Fossier, un éclairage par le capital humain

This article looks at the conditions of the successful takeover of an SME that is clearly failing. The article is based on an exploratory study of a single case, that of Maison Fossier, the oldest biscuit manufacturer in France and jealous holder of the recipe of the "Biscuit Rose." Our research approach is based on logic of abductive nature to understand how the buyer, Charles de Fougeroux, managed to rescue this SME. Primary and secondary qualitative data were collected. First, secondary data come from the local and regional press and the trade and business press. Then primary data were gathered from two interviews with the current CEO, son and successor of Charles Fougeroux, and supplemented by internal documents of the company Fossier. A content analysis of all data was conducted to reconstruct the history of the takeover of the Maison Fossier with contextual elements, the intentions of the buyer and policy outcomes incurred. The author uses the Human Capital to shed light on the exemplary recovery of this company. This approach makes it possible to analyse the buyout in a logical way, analysing both facts and stakeholders experience. Thus on one hand the article considers the buyer, Charles de Fougeroux, as his own human capital. It considers his human capital to be generic since it can be transferred between and reused by different companies. It shows how, with his constant personal investment, Charles de Fougeroux as an individual, was able to enhance his own human capital and become aware of its value by his acquisition and developing the skills, experience and knowledge that were necessary for the buyout of Maison Fossier. On the other hand the article examines the buyer Charles de Fougeroux as the new employer of the specific human capital of Maison Fossier, the team that was already in place. It analyses the different investments made by the new employer in terms of HR policy or projects to maintain and enhance this generic human capital (and not simply to conserve resources). These investments are then considered as value creators, and are measured using three indicators : training, the improvement of working conditions and the improvement of health, hygiene and safety conditions.