Nadine Richez-Battesti

R&D personnel and human resource management in multinational companies: between homogenization and differenciation

This paper discusses the impact of globalization processes on models of R&D personnel management in multinational companies operating in Europe. Existing literature focuses on the globalization of R&D activity, on the one hand, and on national systems of innovation, on the other. By contrast, there are few studies of the linkage between the globalization of R&D and its impact on HRM. Drawing on the practices of multinationals in four sectors (pharmaceuticals, chemicals, computer hardware and software), the paper examines whether the hold of national differences in the area of HRM has been significantly weakened in the face of new models of competitiveness and management in multinationals. It focuses on two dimensions: recruitment and mobility. The studies highlight two major trends. The ‘internationalization’ of R&D clearly has effects on HRM models but not as great as might be expected. HRM policies such as recruitment and pay systems continue to be nationally based, reflecting legal and institutional differences. At the same time, in conjunction with new forms of R&D organization such as projects, the standardization of HRM tools may be observed. But this is partial and affects only a limited number of tools, notably individual evaluation.

Cooperative Banks in France: Emergence, Mutations and Issues

The aim of this article is to present an overview of cooperative banks in France starting from their emergence, then provide the features of this model, their evolution in recent years, as well as the issues involved. Over the last 22 years, cooperative banks in France have displayed dynamism, especially in the face of listed commercial banks: they have gained market share, launched simple and easily understood products; they have been at the forefront of innovation (online banking services…), and have taken a greater role in recent reorganizations of the banking sector (emergence of cooperative groups), all the while, protecting their jobs and their networks. If cooperative banks have not been spared from the financial crisis, they were not the cause, and have been better able to resist due to the importance of retail banking activity, a diversification into other activities (insurance, electronic surveillance, real estate transactions, etc.) and less of a dependence on networks concerned with financial markets. They have thus maintained a good level of activities, especially in lending, resulting in deposit/lending ratios that are declining and the challenge of winning new deposits, which indicates a “resilience in the cooperative model in a time of crisis”.

Patterns of evolutions of social enterprises in France: a focus on work integration social enterprises

ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to characterize the patterns of emergence and evolution of social enterprise in France with a focus on work integration social enterprises (WISEs). After a review of the history of social and solidarity economy practices, identifying the processes that brought these practices to develop, we discuss the boundaries of the notion of social enterprise in the French case. We then briefly present the historical evolution of work integration. On that basis, two models of social enterprise applied to the case of work integration are extracted, crystallizing crucial tendencies. The limits and prospects of social enterprise in the field of work integration in France are discussed in the conclusion.

Social Enterprises and their Eco-systems : A European mapping report

This summary presents the main elements of the report on ‘Mapping social enterprises’ produced in 2016, on the basis of a previous report produced in 2014 for the European Commission. Nadine Richez-Battesti and Francesca Petrella have been in charge of the revision process of this report, together with the contribution of national stakeholders through an online and direct consultation undertaken over the months of April, May and June 2016. This report is part of a broader mapping of social enterprises and their eco-systems in Europe, based on the concept of social enterprise as presented in the Commissions Social Business Initiative in 2011. Focusing on France, this report also explains the national use of other broader concepts, such as the social and solidarity economy and its relation to the social enterprise concept of the SBI.