What is CSR? Corporate Social Responsibility is a company’s voluntary contribution to sustainability, both in its business activities and its interactions with stakeholders. But how do companies usually do this?
Communications & CSR Director of the Comexposium Group
Co-founder of Hyssop, CSR consulting agency
Communications & CSR Director of the Comexposium Group
A graduate of Neoma Business School, Morgan began his career at Unibail-Rodamco where he participated in the definition and deployment of the corporate communication strategy and managed the group’s major events.
In 2011, Morgan joined the Carrefour Group to manage the communication of its real estate subsidiary, Carrefour Property, and in 2014 participated in the creation of Carmila, the 3rd largest listed shopping centre company in Continental Europe.
Morgan Lavielle joined Comexposium in April 2022 as group communications and CSR director. He supervises the internal and external communications strategy of the Comexposium brand, and monitors the Group’s CSR strategy and commitments.
Co-founder of Hyssop, CSR consulting agency
Dominique Royet is a CSR expert. She made her sustainable transition 20 years ago after leaving the Disney marketing unit by joining the WWF, then Max Havelaar as CEO and co-founding Greenflex, a CSR consulting firm. Today Dominique is co-founder of Hyssop, a global CSR agency, and supports brands to be aligned with their challenges.
Dominique Royet : « CSR covers social, societal, and environmental issues. It was designed to improve our existing growth models by minimizing our environmental impacts (waste, emissions, carbon, etc.) and optimizing our societal impacts (financial and social performance, positive impacts for stakeholders, etc.). At the same time, the aim is to guarantee people’s well-being at work and provide a sense of purpose to our activities. »
Dominique Royet : « It’s all three! We are facing so many challenges on a global scale that this key subject has created a regulatory tsunami. Separately, given the high expectations of our stakeholders (customers, suppliers, partners, and employees), we need to act and to communicate transparently about what the company can and can’t do. Any company that fails to show progress on these issues is not only seen in a bad light by public opinion, but I’m convinced it will also lose business, as many companies are doing today. »
Morgan Lavielle : « That’s right. We’re also seeing our communities challenge us on the subject, whether it’s about people with disabilities and accessibility to Paris Games Week, decarbonizing the agricultural machinery sector at SIMA, optimizing waste at All4Pack, or the issue of employability in all our verticals. »
Dominique Royet : « The first step is to identify the challenges and impacts, and then set objectives. At Hyssop, we help companies to develop ambitious but realistic action plans that reflect their level of maturity and the specific challenges they face.
It’s important to draw up a roadmap over several years and to be credible about what you are doing. The key is to engage all your teams so that everyone takes these subjects on board and learns how to do their job differently. »
Morgan Lavielle : « Collective action is certainly a prerequisite for success! Naturally, the operations and purchasing teams are the driving forces in this, working with exhibition center managers and event contractors to find eco-friendly or eco-designed solutions. That said, other teams are delivering CSR on a daily basis atour events without even realizing it.
By creating special areas at shows for employment and training opportunities, by inviting speakers to talk about environmental or societal issues, and by choosing exhibitors who offer sustainable solutions – they are all dealing with issues at the heart of CSR. »
« The key is to engage all your teams so that everyone takes these subjects on board and learns how to do their job differently. » Dominique Royet, Co-founder of CSR consultancy Hyssop »
Morgan Lavielle : « Our ecosystem is up and running. In France, the events industry association, Unimev (Union française des métiers de l’évènement) has published a ‘Commitment to Green Growth’. UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, has launched a ‘Net Zero Carbon Events’ program, aiming to achieve net zero by 2050. Comexposium will be putting forward ideas to support these initiatives as part of its CSR approach. Above all, our commitment needs to have a positive impact on our stakeholders. Within that, the aim is to focus on all our activities and to think about our overall impact, and not just in terms of the impact of our trade shows.
Our strategy is currently being drawn up and will be based on three points, all of which are aligned with our mission as a company:
Dominique Royet : « One of the main challenges for Comexposium is to set an example at every level, which means raising awareness among exhibitors, visitors, and suppliers, and to provide them with support. It’s a key responsibility for Comexposium toward society as a whole and the environment.»
Morgan Lavielle : « I would add that it’s a fascinating subject and one where we can really make a difference. CSR can bring us a huge amount in terms of innovation, perspectives, and sense of purpose.»
