Issues and perspectives between transmission of powers and generational transition in family business of the French Grand-Est region

Résumé du document

France has a number of family Industrial dynasties rooted at the regional level to be found in the car manufacturing sector with Peugeot (Sochaux)…

Extraits

[...] As Olivier Mellerio wrote in his book "Transmettre uen entreprise familiale " risk taking is high-valued in Germany, Italy and Great Britain but not in France where the right to failure is stigmatized". At the same time, decision making and leadership are being restrained. Moreover concerning the artisanal SMEs of Lorraine linked to local "terroirs" of valleys, the assets of previous generations have often not been transmitted for lack of inheritance or investors contrary to the case of Baccarat or Cristallerie Saint Louis because crafts in France is not as much recognized as it was in the time of the royal factories ; manual works and handicrafts had been often devalued , French paradox in a country that benefits from an international Prestige in luxury industry . [...]

[...] In 1992 the number of employees fell to 17,000 including garments. Number of factories were closed. The new activities were set up in the front country, the plains. The crisis began in the south area (City of Remiremont). This is where the activities became the most diversified (use of mechanics, electricity and plastics). Cotton yarn production fell from tons in I960 to tons in 1992 and fabrics from to tons between the same dates. The high Vosges valleys have undergone a deep mutation. [...]

[...] Values : The values and economic assets of these houses for the most secular, are beyond the family solidarity value , the spirit of tradition , the know-how, the excellence with qualitative raw materials " made in France " or nowadays " made in Europe a restricted hierarchy since these houses are controlled by natural persons who can hire or dismiss the leaders (source Olivier Mellerio , « Transmettre une entreprise familiale » 2011, Editions Eyrolles) . A long-term vision, a solid financial structure , a tight heritage management in so far as the company is the family property with permanent investments . [...]

[...] Controlled since 2005 by Starwood Capital, an American fund specializing in real estate, after the redemption to the Taittinger family of the company of the Louvre, the Cristallier Lorrain has seen the investments shrinking. The luxury Cristallerie Baccarat which employs 500 employees, registered in 2017 a net profit of 3.4 million euros for a turnover of 146 million euros. The profit in 2016 amounted to 2.2 million euros and the turnover was 148 million euros, after a loss in 2015. [...]

[...] It was also through Lorraine that the exports of the other large French coal-mining activity area from the North Pas de Calais to Germany were carried away. Traditional industry A number of companies, including the factories mentioned above, are busy in jewellery, glassware, goldsmithing, pottery works. These are craft industries positioned at the edge of art able to produce unique pieces. Crystal glass works The manufacture of glassware is linked to the sandstone regions (quartz, forest, water). glassware existed in the sixteenth century in the area of Bitche and Warndt. The two most famous are Saint Louis-lès-Bitche and Baccarat. [...]