Vivendi

Dialogue with our different stakeholders was strengthened in 2009. It enabled Vivendi to discuss the Group’s specific “footprint” in terms of sustainable development and progress in evaluating its approach.

By choosing to promote cultural diversity and dialogue between cultures at a worldwide level, Vivendi contributes to stimulating creativity and innovation, which in turn promote competitiveness as well as economic and social development. The indicators regarding our specific issues are aimed at better measuring progress in the areas of knowledge, well-being, or social ties encouraged by the content and service offerings of our different business units. This is intended to contribute to the effort being made at European and international levels to better evaluate the role played by culture and the new information and communication technologies in a society of innovation and knowledge (see Christian de Boissieu’s point of view).

Sharing experiences with civil society

In this quest for innovation accelerated by the digital revolution, it is highly important to nourish stong, regular exchanges with civil society’s various actors in order to maintain the richest and most diverse range of points of view and expertise possible.
Vivendi, partner of the EU Commission’s Safer Internet program, supports the setting up of a panel of young Europeans aged 14 to 17,which is regularly consulted by the various EU entities, of which the Commission. The panel met in Luxembourg in October 2009. It was the first time, in the context of the Safer Internet program, that such a representative panel, made up of 54 young people from the 27 Member States, had expressed its expectations regarding the use of new technologies.
Vivendi has taken part in several debates to present its sustainable development policy. The Group did so at New York University (NYU) in front of students of the Media, Culture and Communication Department, at professional events such as the summer workshop of the management lobby MEDEF, the Avignon Forum, or at international meetings like the Women’s Forum Global Meeting.

Exchanges with the financial and extra-financial community

In 2009, the Sustainable Development Department, in collaboration with the Investor Relations Department, presented the sustainable development policy, its results, and its forecasts to 53 investors representing 40 investment funds. More than 20 such meetings have been held in Paris, London and Frankfurt.
Targeting SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) analysts in particular, this communication is increasingly shared by financial analysts, who integrate the table of opportunities and risks highlighted by the sustainable development process (see Isabelle Cabie’s point of view) into their analytic approach.
This progress is also visible in the number of investors who are involved. Since 2006, the year Vivendi held its fi rst road shows on sustainable development policy, the number of investors has multiplied by five. Vivendi is also continuing its exchanges with several extra-financial rating agencies. This contributes to a better understanding of our sectoral positioning and more efficiently analyzing the progress to be made.

The sectoral network

In the light of the Group’s specific footprint, Vivendi has moved forward in the necessary but delicate task of compiling indicators related to its specific issues.
This process, in progress for several years, has put Vivendi among the contributors and founders of the Media sectoral working group implemented by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (see Katherine Miles’ point of view). GRI’s mission is to define guidelines to help organizations account for their economic, social and environmental performance. These guidelines meet the requirements of the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact and are broken down by business sector. The GRI Media Sector Supplement Working Group is made up of several international companies and NGOs and met for the first time in December 2009.

Raising employees’ awareness

Employees of Corporate Headquarters and of the business units attended meetings of the Sustainable Development Committee (see p. 13) during 2009 to discuss and exchange opinions on several themes, including the integration of disabled persons into the Company, psychosocial risks, the environmental impacts of digital lifestyles, and the protection of young Internet users’ personal data.

During the year, the Sustainable Development Department, in liaison with the Human Resources Department, organized a day of training for trade union and personnel representatives. This resulted in a fruitful exchange between outside speakers representing fi nancial and extra-fi nancial organizations and speakers from within the Group, resulting in a deeper and better understanding of the sustainable development issues for an international Group.

Vivendi’s first Sustainable Development Seminar, held January 14 and 15, 2010 in Paris, brought together 70 participants and speakers representative of civil society and the Group’s business units around the world (see above).

The Seminar was an occasion for Vivendi’s senior executives to recall the main axes of the Group’s sustainable development policy, then to listen to stakeholders – investors, rating agencies, experts, academics, representatives of NGOs – who shared their analyses and expressed their expectations. The business units also presented the integration of the sustainable development issues in their particular business activities.

A large share of the discussion was devoted to the specific issues (promoting cultural diversity, protecting and empowering youth, sharing knowledge) and fully taken into account at Group level, recognized as strategic by stakeholders. Indeed, during the Seminar, representatives of the fi nancial community and extra-financial rating agencies made it clear that the consideration of specific issues in the Group’s strategy puts Vivendi in a sustainable development leadership position for its business sector.

Other sustainable development issues, such as human capital management, protection of personal data and the respect of human rights in supplier relations, were also addressed with during the sessions.

The next steps in maintaining and improving Vivendi’s positioning were underlined:

• progress in extra-financial reporting by strengthening indicators related to its three specific issues;
• better measure and evaluate the Group’s contribution to local development through the conquest of new markets in emerging countries;
• optimize exchange of information within the Group.

Pticure: J-B. Lévy, Pascale Thumerelle, Michel Serres
© Jean-François Deroubaix/Gamma/Eyedea