Bussiness- A Lack Of Enterprise

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Business: A lack of enterprise | T he Economist

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S pecial report: France

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A lack of enterprise
France needs more start-ups and Mittelstand firms
Nov 17th 2012 | from the print e dition

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AULNAY - SOUS- BOIS SOUNDS LIKE an idyllic
rural spot , but in realit y it consist s most ly
of ugly indust rial est at es c lust ered t o t he
nort h of Paris, hard by Charles de Gaulle
airport . It has been in t he news of lat e
bec ause it is t he sit e of a c ar f ac t ory t hat
t he owner, PSA Peugeot Cit roën, plans t o
shut down. Earlier t his year Mr Hollande
desc ribed t his plan as “unac c ept able” and
promised t hat it would not be allowed t o go
through. In t he past Arnaud Mont ebourg,
whom he appoint ed as minist er f or
produc t ive rec overy wit hin t he f inanc e

Recent Activ ity

minist ry, has t alked of banning what he
c alls “st oc kmarket - driven” redundanc ies,

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and even of expropriat ing c ompanies t hat
c lose f ac t ories.
Y et Peugeot has now c onf irmed t hat big

You ne e d to be logge d into Fa ce bookto se e
y our frie nds' re ce nt a ctiv ity .
Ho w ba d is it?

O ne out, a ll out

60 pe ople re comme nde d this.

losses and c ont inuing overc apac it y in t he

Ba ttling F r e nc h de c line

c ar indust ry are f orc ing it t o c lose Aulnay- sous- Bois af t er all. It has of f ered t he workers

152 pe ople re comme nde d this.

new jobs at anot her of it s f ac tories, in Poissy, t o t he west of Paris, t he nearest of

Ka m ik a z e e le c tio n

Peugeot ’s f ive remaining ones. But most of t he disgrunt led men leaving work af t er t he

153 pe ople re comme nde d this.

morning shif t do not want t o move. Philippe Julien, t he loc al CGT represent at ive, says his

T he m a n a nd his m y th

union would muc h pref er t o divide t he exist ingworkload among all six f ac t ories. He and

266 pe ople re comme nde d this.

his c olleagues f eel let down by t he Hollande government , f or whic h most of t hem vot ed.
In a play on t he F renc h f or liar, t hey t alk of Mr Ment eurbourg. T hey are hoping f or
support f rom ot her workers, in t he f orm of st reet prot est s and perhaps st rikes.
Peugeot is not alone: Renault is alsosuf f ering f rom exc ess
c apac it y. As if t o demonst rat e F ranc e’s c ompet it iveness
problem, t his c omes at a t ime when Volkswagen and ot her

In this special report

F a c e bo o k s o c i a l pl ugi n

Most popular
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Commented

German c armakers are expanding. Even Brit ain, widely derided

So mu ch to d o , s o little
time

in F ranc e as a c ount ry that has almost c omplet ely

Do in g s o -s o

1

deindust rialised, now has more c ar f ac t ories t han F ranc e.

» A la ck o f e n te rp ris e

Ot her F renc h c ompanies t hat are laying of f workers, despit e

De e p ro o ts

Le xin g to n
State of denial

Mr Mont ebourg’s st ric t ures, inc lude Arc elorMit t al, whic h is
c losing t wo of it s blast f urnac es at F lorangein nort hern
Lorraine, Air F ranc e, Bouygues T elec om, Doux, Hersant
Media, Sanof i and SF R.
F ranc e st ill has plent y of suc c essf ul, world- c lass
mult inat ionals in a wide variet y of indust ries. T hey inc lude
suc h well- known names as Mic helin (t yres), Pernod Ric ard
(drinks), LVMH (luxury goods), Carref our (supermarket s), AXA
(insuranc e) and L’Oréal (c osmet ic s),...