Observatory of Profit-with-Purpose Corporations – OSMosis

The OSMosis project aims to set up a research observatory on the form of “Société à Mission” (SàM), a recent innovation in French law which aims to provide a responsible governance framework for corporations. The introduction of social and environmental objectives in companies’ bylaws is an innovation adopted in several countries (United States, Italy) but scant research has examined its concrete effects on the functioning of the enterprises, instead focusing on conceptual models describing its foreseeable effects and risks. The scientific hypothesis of the project is that the transformations of companies brought about by this legal form may be unexpected, from the level of governance to that of the activity, and difficult to observe with the classic descriptors of governance and management.
The challenge of the project is therefore to develop tools and methods for monitoring these concrete effects and the effectiveness of the law over a long period, taking into account its novel properties. To do this, the project relies on a partnership between the Communauté des Entreprises à Mission (CEM), the consulting firm Gouvernance Responsable, and teams of researchers with varied expertise covering the different aspects of this evaluation: link with strategy and the credibility of the statute in the face of "mission-washing", functioning of governance bodies, transformations in shareholding and consequences on work and social dialogue.

The partnership with the CEM will enable the capitalisation of quantitative and qualitative data on SàMs thanks to the creation of an ad hoc IT tool and the collection of new data created by the legal form: reports of the mission committees, opinions of the independent third-party bodies, etc. These data will be complemented by several series of case studies (interview panels and longitudinal cases, but also participation of researchers in mission committees) as well as a quantitative study aiming at comparing SàMs with similar companies that have not adopted a mission or raison d'être. These studies are divided into three categories: the characterisation of shareholders of SàM, or shareholders “with a mission”, which prefigures the advent of a renewed socially responsible investment; the functioning of the evaluation and its impact on the strategic dimensions of the company (notably social and environmental initiatives, innovation projects, and business models of the main business lines); the effects on the quality of work, in particular in the face of the crises described in the literature (contradictory objectives, loss of meaning), and on emerging management modes.

At the scientific level, the project aims to contribute with empirically grounded results to the economic, managerial and legal debate on the frameworks fostering responsible corporate activity, in the areas of responsible governance, finance and leadership, where questions are particularly acute today. The project foresees several conference and journal papers, but also the organisation of an ad hoc seminar to discuss the results obtained with the academic community.
At the socio-economic level, the project responds to a very strong expectation, both from the public authorities, who wish to evaluate the effects of the PACTE law, limit deviations in its use and encourage the accountability of companies, and from entrepreneurs themselves, who long for good practices and better knowledge of the concrete effects of the statute, as well as from civil society, which is somewhat suspicious of its effectiveness, as shown by the recent national debate on the Danone case. The project includes several actions to disseminate the outcomes (publication of barometers for the general public), as well as training, and experimentation with interested actors.