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Written byPénélope Aknine
Between ambition and realism: the dilemma of committed companies
On March 10, 2026, during the Café des Labellisés "Impact or Intox", Positive Company certified businesses gathered to discuss their practices. The goal: to share successes, challenges, and especially to question the current CSR issues.
Should we build a global and ambitious CSR strategy, or on the contrary, focus on a few concrete actions directly related to the core of
the business?
Behind this question lies a paradox that many companies face today: CSR is often thought of strategically, but it is experienced daily in a very operational way.
Key takeaways from the article
- The paradox of CSR:between strategy and operations
Date and context: March 10, 2026, Café des Labellisés "Impact or Intox" discussing CSR practices.
Main objective: to sharesuccesses, challenges, and to question astrategic dilemma.
Central dilemma : global strategy vs concrete actions related to the core business.
Identified paradox: CSR thought of in astrategic, but experienced in anoperationalway on a daily basis.
Key issue: alignstrategic decisionsandground reality, to ensurecredibilityandeffectivenessof the approach.
1. Prioriser les actions : garder les 20 % qui comptent vraiment
For several years, companies have been multiplying CSR initiatives: reducing carbon footprint, environmental actions, social programs, responsible governance, sponsorship. But this multiplication can create a dispersion effect,where too many initiatives dilute the real impact.This sometimes involves giving up popular but peripheral or purely symbolic initiatives, such as funding beehives which, although useful, is rarely central to the company. The reflection shows that an effective CSR strategy is not measured by the number of actions, but by their concrete impact and strategic alignment.
Au Café des Labellisés, un exercice a illustré ce point : les participants devaient identifier les 20 % d’actions RSE qu’ils conserveraient si 80 % de leurs initiatives devaient être supprimées. Le consensus est clair : les actions les plus pertinentes sont celles qui sont en lien direct avec le cœur de métier et les valeurs de l’entreprise.
Key issues identified:
Refocus CSR on the core missions of the company.
Use prioritization tools, such as the double materiality matrix, to identify key issues.
Involve employees to ensure that the approach is understood and appropriate.
Company case: "IDS Media: from symbolism to strategy"
2. Return to the core business to avoid trends
IDS Média, spécialiste de l’information des patients en lieux de soins et labellisé Positive Company 3 étoiles, a réduit le budget d’initiatives visibles comme le financement de ruches pour se concentrer sur la gouvernance, plus alignée avec son cœur de métier. Ce cas souligne l’importance de prioriser les actions selon leur impact réel et stratégique, même lorsqu’elles sont médiatisées.
Trendy CSR actions pose a double problem: they can be costly and distract attention from strategic issues. Participants shared several examples of initiatives that have become peripheral, once very popular, but less relevant today.
The challenge is therefore to
Le défi est donc de making CSR a lever for sustainable transformation, and not a catalog of symbolic actions. To achieve this, companies must combine strategy and operations: identify what creates real impact, measure results, and communicate transparently.
Particular attention has been paid to internal perceptions: some companies have found that employees still see CSR primarily through an environmental lens, while the approach covers social, ethical, and governance dimensions. The alignment between strategy and on-the-ground reality remains a major challenge.
Case study: "Manpower: the social pillar at the center of CSR"
Chez Manpower, la RSE se concentre sur le pilier social, notamment l’amélioration du quotidien des intérimaires via la mobilité, la formation et l’implication dans des actions environnementales. Ce cas montre qu’une RSE centrée sur l’humain doit produire des améliorations concrètes, au-delà des initiatives symboliques.
3. Reconciling CSR strategy with on-the-ground reality
CSR cannot remain a strategic concept if it is not experienced daily. Field teams focus on very concrete aspects: working conditions, safety, workload, quality of life.
To be effective, a CSR approach must integrate these expectations into the definition of its priorities and translate them into concrete actions. This is the purpose of using tools like thedouble materiality matrix, which helps prioritize issues according to their impact on the company and society.
Success also depends on communication and team involvement: transparency, participatory workshops, CSR steering committees, and simplification of tools are levers to bring strategy and field closer together.
Case study: "Comexposium: responsible event management"
Each event represents for Comexposium alever of transformation, allowing for the evolution of practices and strengthening control over environmental impact, in line with commitments. By relying on both proven action principlesand new experiments, the Comexposium teams integrate circular economy logic from the design phase and throughout the event lifecycle. Thisnouvelles expérimentations, les équipes de Comexposium intègrent les logiques d’économie circulaire dès la conception et tout au long du cycle de vie des événements. Cette continuous improvement approach delivers concrete resultsthat are deployed within the Group andinspire the event ecosystem.
A big thank you to our Labelled participants for their involvement!
Benoît VALLÉ
Head of Communication and Engagement
Régina CHOKKI-LUCAS
CSR Project Manager
Agathe QUIGNOT
Chief Impact & Sustainability Officer
Sidonie HUBERLANT
Consultant for Research and Innovation Taxation
Imane FADIL
CSR Project Manager
Céline SOUCEK
HR Coordinator
It involves identifying those that are most aligned with the core business, values, and actual impacts of the organization, often using tools like the double materiality matrix.
By focusing on initiatives that have a concrete impact on the business and stakeholders, and by limiting peripheral or symbolic actions.
By involving field teams in defining priorities, communicating clearly, and simplifying strategic tools so that they are understandable and applicable.
Yes, CSR becomes more effective when resources are concentrated on a limited number of high-impact strategic actions, rather than multiplying scattered initiatives.