The importance of the combination of economic and social performance

Opening the market up to competition was a difficult turning point in the history of Gaz de France. In the past, when it had a nationwide monopoly, the historical French energy provider offered ready-made products to customers, whereas today the ENGIE group (which took over the functions of Gaz de France) is forced to put forward tailor-made solutions to its ten million clients, or risk losing them to other energy providers. How does one reconcile an industrialised-style management of customer relations with increased expectations from clients for personalised solutions? As far as Éric Lestanguet is concerned, the quality of the service provided is closely linked to the way in which employees feel invested in a company. It is now essential to encourage and make efforts to keep one’s employees in order to help contribute to the successful development of the activity. The high rate of outsourcing of customer relations at ENGIE might therefore appear paradoxical to this social and managerial ambition, as does the desire to allow clients to have a greater say in the running of the company, but Éric Lestanguet argues that this is not the case.