research@hec - Issue #17 - (Page IV)

Impact of Social Movements on Financial Institutions research Diane-Laure Arjaliès BIOGRAPHY aimed at forcing the economic players to behave In the past several decades, social movements Diane-Laure Arjaliès joined the HEC Paris faculty in September 2010 and currently teaches management accounting and control. She previously spent two years working for Macif Insurance as social economy operations and CSR manager, and three years at Macif Asset Management as an SRI analyst. Arjaliès holds a PhD in management from the ESSEC and a PhD in management sciences from the University of Paris West, Nanterre La Defense. more responsibly have emerged in many areas of the world. Bred from within economic institutions themselves, the movements all present four fundamental characteristics: a collective identity, sharing of individual resources for the common good, a desire to change existing institutions, and a search for a new general orientation for society. Such movements are referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and among them, Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) promotes greater consideration of non-financial issues within the specific field of asset management. To find out what the real impact of SRI movements on financial institutions has been, Diane-Laure Arjaliès has studied the major stages in the evolution of the French SRI movement since the late 1990s. Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) have been carving out a niche in French financial markets since the early 2000s. What role have social movements have changed financial institutions from the inside. movements played in the development of such investments? Diane-Laure THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF THE FRENCH SRI MOVEMENT The June 1997 creation of Arese, the French social and environmental rating agency1, set the stage for the SRI movement in France. Arese immediately confirmed its legitimacy by designing financial products according to established asset management logic, meaning products conceived to offer greater ROI than others. As of 2000, the following French government initiatives gave SRI a boost and enhanced Arjaliès examined the issue over a ten year period and found out how such hec its notoriety among a broader public. • Enforcement of the NRE2 law, which obliges listed companies to report on their social and environmental impact. • Creation of the FRR, a public pension fund specifically geared toward the SRI market. This political progress marked the start of a fundamental trend and enabled new organizations like the Social Responsibility Observatory and the Forum for Responsible Investment (created to facilitate company adoption of CSR standards) to consolidate the legitimacy of the SRI movement. FROM LEGITIMACY TO GENERAL RECOGNITION From 2004 on, the SRI market shifted “from an offer market to an—institutional—demand market,” says Arjaliès. Indeed, not only public institutions but also the private sector became increasingly interested in socially responsible assets. For example, in 2005, the AGIRC3-ARRCO4 invested 100 million euros in SRI funds. At the same time, the SRI movement took hold in a range of organizations, and major financial institutions like the CIC and Société Générale created SRI departments. By the end of 2005, the SRI movement was no longer a mere project promoted by marginal activists. Arjaliès explains, “SRI worked according to financial market logic, and financial institutions adopted SRI logic.” IV research@hec • october-november 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of research@hec - Issue #17

Cover & Contents
How to Find Good Crisis Leaders before Trouble Strikes
Impact of Social Movements on Financial Institutions
European Law: The Impact of Soft Law on the Courts
The Economic Impact of Academic Entrepreneurship

research@hec - Issue #17