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JANUARY 2021
A NEW WAY OF TALKING BUSINESS
GOOD NEWS Media: paper is not dead /P.16
NICE TO MEET YOU Franรงois Logeais, Online Services Portfolio Director at UBISOFT /P.18
A BETTER SOCIETY
BUSINESS AND RESEARCH Zero emissions: the impossible panacea? /P.12
THE ZERO IN ALL FORMS P.04
EMPOWERING CHANGEMAKERS FOR A BETTER SOCIETY
LOOK
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE... THANKS GO TO:
• Frédéric Chateau • Gwarlann de Kerviler • Marion Delissen • Didier Gambart • Sandra Garcia • Nicolas Lebastard • François-Xavier Lefranc • Hervé Lehning • François Logeais • Timothée Marty • Éric Muller • Jérémie Petit • Tiago Ratinho • Caroline Roussel • Romain Vesse-Letoffé
A BETTER SOCIETY
Cosmetics without make-up
BUSINESS AND RESEARCH
Five zeros for the price of one
NUMBER 04
A new way of talking business IÉSEG 3 rue de la Digue - 59000 Lille 1 parvis de La Défense - 92044 Paris www.ieseg.fr January 2021 Publishing Director and editor-in-chief: Jean-Philippe Ammeux Editorial Team: Alexandra Briot, Antoine Decouvelaere, Anne-Marie Deprimoz, Laetitia Dugrain-Noël, Manon Duhem, Andrew Miller, Victoire Salmon Design & production: Caillé associés Editing: Caillé associés Photography: IÉSEG, Avril, Philippe Matsas ©Flammarion, Sanef, Steelcase, Toyota, Ubisoft, Pixabay, Shutterstock, Istockphoto
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BUSINESS AND RESEARCH
Zero point of sale, really?
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GOOD NEWS
Media: paper is not dead
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BETWEEN US
THE AMBIGUITY OF ZERO “The number zero is ambivalent, rich, complex and... ambiguous!”
A strange concept at first glance, and yet: it’s an understatement at the very least to say that the number zero is everywhere, using it every day in all its forms. From a zero starting point to zero error, from zero risk to “zero tolerance”, the word quickly proves it is ambivalent, rich, complex and ambiguous. Whether a starting point or a point of reference, it is also the number capable of reducing any number to nothing, by a simple multiplication. A word which carries a heavy meaning, positive or negative and which has long been considered scary, as the mathematician Hervé Lehning reminds us a little later on in this magazine. Brands and companies are, of course, playing with it in various ways. Initially as an organizational or strategic goal, it is used to aim as close as possible for zero risk, zero waste or zero CO2 emissions. Later as a marketing promise, aimed this time at consumers. Between advertising and consumption, zero becomes desirable, from 0% fat to zero additives or zero added sugar. Reassuring, attractive, zero becomes a promise: that of healthier, more authentic, more durable or more responsible services and products. Naturally, it’s impossible not to mention: the pandemic has added another layer of ambiguity to this little number. If only on a health level, moreover, when the search for Patient Zero is used by epidemiologists to grasp the origin and kinetics of the epidemic. But the consequences of the epidemic, in the medium to long term, will give Patient Zero a new dimension by shaking up the way we do things in our daily lives: are we heading towards a world without a clear perspective on the horizon? An online world with zero physical stores, zero offices? Where zero physical contact will become the new norm, with zero travel? Is that world even desirable? These are all questions explored in this fourth issue of Change, based on one observation: zero hasn’t had its final word!
Caroline ROUSSEL Vice Dean - IÉSEG
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THE ZERO IN ALL FORMS
From computer code lines to labels that promise 0% fat products to “zero waste” or “zero defect” strategies, zero is everywhere in our daily lives. So obvious, in fact, that we would almost forget that this trivial little sign has a history and that empires have been built without it - neither Egypt nor Rome even knew about it. Back with the mathematician Hervé Lehning on the complex and ambiguous journey of a symbol that changed the world.
IS ZERO A NUMBER, A FIGURE, A SYMBOL, A LANDMARK OR ALL FOUR?
It’s all of these things at once. It is a symbol of emptiness or nothingness, it is a marker when placed on a thermometer. And it is both a number and one of the ten digits of the decimal system, which themselves were not always obvious: the Romans used only seven*. It took thousands of years to see it appear in its present form and to turn it into a mathematical tool for adding, subtracting or multiplying - but not for dividing. There have been several successive zeros: its first written trace appears on a manuscript discovered in Pakistan in 1881, in the form of a simple dot, by the way, and not the oval shape we use today. But the first use of the zero as a number is probably due to the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta, around the 5th century AD.
With great difficulty! Its introduction in the West is the result of the translation of the treatises of Muslim scholars in the Middle Ages. Historically, what we call Arabic numerals, which are actually Indian numerals, were imported from Muslim Spain to Christian Europe by Gerbert d’Aurillac around the year 1000, who later became pope under the name of Sylvester II. However, the zero did not become generalized in everyday life, as Indian numerals were mainly used to mark abacus tokens from 1 to 9. It wasn’t until Leonardo Fibonacci’s “Liber Abaci” which is, despite its name, the first work to advise algorithmic computation without an abacus. That said, the zero did not impose itself without strong
resistance because it upset habits. The city of Florence even forbade it for a while, in favor of Roman numerals that everyone had mastered. This is humanly quite understandable: I doubt that everything would go well if we announced tomorrow that from now on we would count in base twelve in France, whereas this duodecimal system is still used in the Anglo-Saxon world... In fact, those who started to use the zero are merchants and bankers!
WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THIS?
As far as accounting is concerned, the abacus has the enormous drawback of not keeping track of the successive steps of a calculation. While keeping track of complex calculations with Roman
IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT ZERO. HOW DID WE DO IT BEFORE?
Calculations were made on abacuses with a row or a column that remained empty of tokens. On the other hand, there was no need to use a symbol to represent emptiness. One must realize that the very idea of illustrating absence or nothing is not philosophically or theologically obvious, any more than the representation of infinity... In societies that believe that emptiness does not exist, naming it is pointless, even false or sacrilegious.
HOW DID WE GO FROM THE ZERO IN ALGEBRA TO A WIDELY SHARED MATHEMATICAL TOOL IN THE WEST?
-273,15 = 0
PURELY THEORETICAL AND IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH, ABSOLUTE ZERO DESIGNATES THE TEMPERATURE AT WHICH A SUBSTANCE IS IN A STATE OF MINIMAL ENERGY, SO LOW THAT THE MOVEMENT OF ATOMS ITSELF IS ABOLISHED.
*I, V, X, L, C, D and M, being one, five, ten, fifty, one hundred, five hundred and one thousand.
THE NUMBER ZERO THE WORD “CHIFFRE”, IN FRENCH, LIKE ITS ENGLISH EQUIVALENT CIPHER, IS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ZERO. ETYMOLOGICALLY, IT COMES FROM THE LATIN TERM CIFRA, ITSELF DERIVED FROM THE ARABIC SIFR, WHICH MEANS “EMPTY”.
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numerals quickly becomes very difficult, the algorithmic system and the zero have the advantage of making it much easier for accountants to write down the calculations performed. Zero makes bank entry sets more secure and much simpler. That being said, the mistrust of the medieval authorities can be explained: it is very easy to add a zero to transform the number one hundred into a thousand, for example, either by making a mistake or with the intention of committing fraud**.
SINCE ITS APPEARANCE, THE USAGE OF 1 AND 0 HAS BEEN THE BASIS OF COMPUTER LANGUAGE. WHY?
For human beings, representing numbers in binary writing is impossible because the writing of a number quickly becomes too large. For a computer, this is not only a problem but an advantage. The fact that a computer number - or bit for “Binary digiT” - can only take two values which are translated into only two options: open/closed, yes/no, true/false... It is a simple system which, again, limits the risk of error.
NO YEAR ZERO
Hervé LEHNING
Mathematician and Author of “Toutes les mathématiques du monde” (Flammarion, 2017)
“Zero is very far from having easily imposed itself in the West.”
The year 1 B.C. exists, the year 1 A.D. also exists, but there is no year zero: the eve of January 1st of year 1 is December 31st of A.D. 1. It’s with good reason: when the monk Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Little) suggested, in the 6th century, to base the calendar on the life of Christ, the number zero is still unknown in the West.
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TWO ZEROS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
LIKE THE BABYLONIANS AND THE INDIANS, THE MAYANS USED ZERO - TWO, EVEN. THE FIRST WAS USED TO MARK AN EMPTY SPACE IN THEIR NUMERICAL SYSTEM AND THE SECOND WAS USED ONLY IN THEIR CALENDAR, WHICH HAD 20 DAYS NUMBERED FROM 0 TO 19.
**Hence the fact that it is still mandatory today to write a sum in both numbers and letters in most contracts.
TOWARDS ZERO ACCIDENTS As it’s well known: there is no such thing as zero risk. However, the overall decrease in the number of accidents, which has been spectacular over the long term but less striking over the last ten years, is undeniable. How can risks be further reduced? Nicolas Lebastard, Health and Safety Manager of the Sanef Group* and Jérémie Petit, Safety Management System Manager. 2,117 fatal workplace accidents in France in 1974, 551 in 2018**, about half of which were on the road: in just over 40 years, the combined efforts of the public authorities, companies and social partners in terms of prevention and reduction of occupational risk have undeniably paid off.
REDUCE RISKS IN ALL AREAS
We must not focus on the most dangerous cases, insists Nicolas Lebastard, who is well placed to be wary of this magnifying glass effect: “our colleagues who intervene on the side of the freeway necessarily get a lot of our attention, but the company is careful to reduce risks in all areas: maintenance of the freeway network, equipment maintenance, at the tolls for customer assistance and various support functions”. It’s quite counterintuitive, but collision is not the main source of accidents. The Group’s businesses expose employees to fairly common risks (slips). It is the managers’ duty to make their teams aware that the risk of collision is not the only one, and that they must be careful at all times.
* Concessionaire of the freeways of the North-East of France **Sources : INSEE, Health Insurance ***Occurrence rate definition = (number of lost-time accidents x 1,000,000) / number of hours worked
TRAINING AND COMMUNICATIONS
To ensure the safety of its frontline staff, who are highly visible to clients and exposed to serious risks, the Sanef Group deploys a series of training courses, protocols and procedures all oriented towards the same goal: reconciling the safety of users and that of its employees. “Every year, several of our vans are hit by vehicles but they are often unoccupied” explains Jérémie Petit. The first instruction given to staff who intervenes on the network for a road surface marking, a breakdown or to pick up an object, is to get out of the vehicle and protect themselves. Training, support, internal communication, technical developments such as automated road marking... are all components of the Occupational Health and Safety approach, which represents a real performance lever and a major challenge for the Group. Constantly reiterated by managers, the company’s message aims to maintain a risk culture that is not limited to collisions. This has led to concrete results with a significantly reduced number of accidents, as seen in the occurrence rate*** which has been divided by three in five years. However, the case of the Sanef Group is specific: the nature and intensity of the most serious risks also depend on the behavior of the millions of drivers who use the network every week. How can these drivers be “educated”? “We rely on two levers” says Nicolas Lebastard. The first being our procedures concerning intervention and road marking to influence our customers’ driving in real time. In the long term, communication
takes over on all media within our reach: radio with station 107.7, prevention campaigns in the media, social networks, posters, etc.”. An effort that is part of a much broader debate on road safety. Moving towards “zero accidents” can only be a collective approach...
Jérémie PETIT
Safety Management System Manager at Sanef Group.
Nicolas LEBASTARD
Health and Safety Manager at Sanef Group.
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REDUCE TIME AND SPACE Zero kilometer for one product! If e-commerce allows millions of consumers to buy what they want every day without having to travel, it is thanks to clever logistics and a smooth management of the famous last kilometer. Timothee Marty, Operations Manager at Amazon France. HOW ARE YOU ADAPTING TO MEET THE “LAST KILOMETER” CHALLENGE?
Timothée MARTY
Operations Manager at Amazon France.
7 500 AMAZON’S FRENCH LOGISTICS NETWORK EMPLOYS MORE THAN 7,500 EMPLOYEES.
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We work with all the delivery partners in France, starting with La Poste, a historical partner for which we are also the first customer. To meet the growth in demand, we are also developing our own capacities. In France, we have sixteen delivery agencies dedicated to the last kilometer. Spread across the country, they employ thousands of drivers and facilitate the processing of several million parcels.
HOW ARE YOU ORGANIZED TO MEET DEADLINES THAT ARE OFTEN LESS THAN 24 HOURS?
Each order is prepared in an Amazon distribution center, packaged, labeled and sorted. It can then go through one of our sorting centers, transit through our service providers’ sites or be sent directly to one of our delivery agencies. There, each package is grouped together with other orders with the same or similar postal codes, then collected by a local or regional carrier who takes care of the last part of the journey.
HOW TO IMPROVE AN ALREADY WELL-OILED SYSTEM?
We are constantly imagining new solutions to improve the overall quality by reinforcing our logistic capacities, introducing new delivery solutions and implementing new tools for a smooth delivery. For example, we have set up geolocation systems that allow us to receive notification when the deliveryman is near, thus facilitating the handover of the package.
WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE LOCKERS THAT HAVE MULTIPLIED IN RECENT YEARS IN FRANCE?
The 2,500 Amazon hub lockers already installed in France are collection points designed to meet our customers’ demand for flexibility. They allow new free delivery services at flexible times in convenient places such as train stations, shopping centers, etc. In 2019, we also introduced 600 Amazon hub counters, which are collection points in the NAP Group’s media shops.
AMAZON IS ACCUSED OF CONTRIBUTING TO TRAFFIC AND POLLUTION IN CITY CENTERS. WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?
E-commerce generates less traffic than an in-store purchase. Thanks to the smart and optimized grouping of orders, the carbon footprint of an online purchase is lower than that of an in-store purchase. Nevertheless, we are convinced that protecting the environment is an urgent challenge. We have made major commitments by co-founding the “Climate Pledge”, aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, ten years before the date set by the Paris Agreement. This includes an order for 100,000 all-electric delivery vehicles, the largest volume ever ordered, a $100 million investment in reforestation and the use of renewable energy.
COSMETICS WITHOUT MAKE-UP Organic cosmetics, affordable prices: this is the winning recipe of Avril. Established in Bondues, in the north of France, the brand launched in 2012 by Alexis Dhellemmes, a former Auchan employee, has grown rapidly with 25 boutiques in the country. A success story coupled with a special feature: unlike its competitors, the brand does not buy any advertising space. A choice that Marion Delissen, the brand’s Web and Communication Manager, explains. WHAT IS BASELINE MODEL OF AVRIL?
His experience in mass distribution had allowed Alexis Dhellemmes to see that clients wanted to have access to organic cosmetics, but could not afford them because they were much more expensive. These high prices can be explained by massive marketing and advertising expenses: samples in magazines, advertising spots, poster campaigns... Avril does the opposite by proposing a very qualitative offer at round and controlled prices, thanks to the pure and
Marion DELISSEN
Web and Communication Manager at Avril.
simple elimination of marketing expenses which can multiply by two or three the price of the final product.
BUT HOW CAN YOU FIND YOUR PLACE IN A MARKET WITHOUT INVESTING?
Nil marketing does not mean nil communicating. We use a variety of free channels, the most effective being word of mouth. Avril has become known thanks to customers who spread the word to their friends and family about the unparalleled value for money the brand offers on the market. An organic Avril mascara, made in France, is sold for seven euros, half the price of the traditional products by the sector’s giants. Other very powerful means are used, such as media or social networks. Little by little, the brand has created an identity and a nice community on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, sometimes with the help of partnerships with influencers. These communication channels are not free but the investment is significantly less than a classic marketing campaign done by competitors such as Groupe Rocher or L’Oréal.
EIGHT YEARS AFTER ITS CREATION, HOW BIG IS AVRIL TODAY?
ZERO ADS, REALLY? Banning advertising from the public space? Not so simple. The new administration’s decision had made a lot of noise in 2014, when the then newly elected mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, decided to remove the 326 billboards installed in his city. Welcomed by some, a communication stab in the back for others, the decision had provoked a vast debate on the right to advertise in public spaces. But six years later, has advertising really disappeared from the capital of Isère? Yes... and no. Although billboards have disappeared from the sidewalks, advertising displays are still present in bus shelters and tramway stops. The SMTC* is not ashamed of it and has just renewed its contract with the advertiser until 2031, but with conditions designed to support local commerce: 50% of bus shelter advertising will be reserved for local businesses.
We opened our first store in 2016 in Lille, at the request of our customers who
*Local Transit Union
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NO LOGO: EXTREME MARKETING?
wanted to be able to test our products. Since then, 24 other stores have opened. The company has more than 150 employees, including those in the warehouses, the head office and in its stores.
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN SUSTAIN THIS MODEL OVER TIME?
Not only is zero marketing the basis of our identity, but Avril’s growth shows that we don’t need to invest heavily in this area. On the contrary, we probably wouldn’t be in business if we had increased our prices to be aligning with industry practices.
OTHER BRANDS USE A VARIETY OF SALES TECHNIQUES: PROMOTIONS, LOYALTY CARDS, ETC. HOW DO YOU POSITION YOURSELF?
We don’t offer any loyalty cards because we want to break with these marketing strategies that ultimately annoy everyone and can lead to over-consumption. Also, we no longer offer sales promotion, preferring to sell our best products at the best price. This is what makes our customers like us: they are responsible consumers who want to have quality products and not give in to all-marketing.
THE WORLD OF BEAUTY AND COSMETICS IS VERY MUCH ASSOCIATED WITH APPEARANCES. IS IT A WAY OF RETURNING TO CERTAIN VALUES?
Avril is clearly a committed company with very strong ecological concerns, shared by our employees. We refuse the easy way out, which would be to encourage
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By publishing No Logo in 2000, Canadian author Naomi Klein denounced the excesses of marketing deemed too aggressive and too intrusive. Twenty years later, the famous logos have survived and brands have adapted, going so far as to turn criticism into a weapon especially in the ready-to-wear world. If some brands like Superdry or Levi’s continue to display XXL versions of their emblematic logos on some of their products, as they did at the height of the 90s, others are betting on more subtle marketing, shrinking and sometimes going so far as to remove their logos. A choice made by Gucci and Abercrombie & Fitch on several models. A clever way to stick to some of the millennials’ expectations, rather allergic to the idea of playing “billboard men”. With one exception: sportswear always shows the logo. Brands don’t have it easy...
our customers to always consume more in order to grow.
DO YOU PLAN TO GO FURTHER IN THIS RESPONSIBLE DIMENSION?
We are constantly looking for ways to improve. We are for example working on zero waste and looking for technical solutions to offer products in bulk, refillable, solid or powder form... But it’s not simple because the world of cosmetics has been offering liquid products sold in plastic for decades. In the meantime, we practice the small steps strategy by making our products as virtuous as possible and by implementing certain approaches, often at the initiative of employees, such as manufacturing our own cleaning products. For example, it’s possible to have your shower gel bottle filled in our stores.
“Our customers are responsible consumers who want to have quality products and not give in to all marketing.”
ZERO STRATEGY, REALLY? As soon as we talk about starting a company, the classic approach is to insist on the need to build a business model that follows a well-defined path. This can be paradoxical as we keep repeating the need to be agile in an uncertain world. Can we start such a project without a roadmap? Let’s ask Tiago Ratinho, a professor-researcher at IÉSEG. IN 2001, SARAS SARASVATHY’S THEORY OF EFFECTUATION DESCRIBES THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS. WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
This procedure is used by entrepreneurs when facing extreme uncertainty. These creators then start from a general aspiration and use the resources at their immediate disposal. The result is not known right from the start: one learns as one goes along. This is a paradigm shift in the way we understand entrepreneurship. Unlike the traditional approach based on planning and targeted search for opportunities, it is based on the idea that there is no point in predicting the future as long as we are able to control it.
CAN YOU GIVE A RECENT EXAMPLE OF A COMPANY BUILT THIS WAY?
Finding universally known examples is tricky since this logic of execution is mainly used in the very early stages, when the demand for products not fully developed and technological uncertainty are higher. The early days of Airbnb can be a good example. Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky first launched the site in the fall of 2007 with whatever resources they had and only later studied the behavior of their first customers to understand their expectations. After that, they often used this method to decide on the next operational steps, such as the automated payment system or the ability to rent by the month.
CAN ONE REALLY START AN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WITHOUT THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT IT?
Henry Mintzberg developed the “emergent strategy” concept to explain that even if a company has no clear objective at first, it can realize later on that a strategy did in fact exist from the beginning. It is possible and even desirable to start a business with a sense of mission rather than with a specific objective. This is how one can develop products or services adapted to one’s environment and customer expectations.
CAN LAUNCHING WITHOUT A SPECIFIC STRATEGY MAKE IT HARDER TO GET THE NECESSARY FUNDING?
Entrepreneurial financing can take place at different stages of the startup’s
“In contrast to the traditional approach based on planning and targeted search for opportunities, the approach is based on the idea that there is no point in predicting the future as long as we are able to control it.”
Tiago RATINHO Professor-researcher at IÉSEG in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
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ZERO EMISSIONS: THE IMPOSSIBLE PANACEA? A major objective of environmental policies, the reduction of CO2 emissions is one of the main levers that can help fight climate change. Energy, industry, livestock farming... The sources of CO2 emissions are diverse, but it is the transportation sector that is most often blamed - especially the automobile sector. However, automakers are making considerable efforts to develop their various ranges and models, as demonstrated by the growing number of electric models. But is it that simple? An update with Didier Gambart, Vice-President Sales, Marketing & Customer Experience at Toyota Motor Europe.
Gone are the days when pure electric enthusiasts had the choice between Tesla’s top-of-the-line, Renault’s little ZOE or the Nissan Leaf in order to drive without emitting CO2 -or very limited in the case of hybrids as proposed by Toyota. The general tightening of environmental standards - particularly in Europe (see box) - all manufacturers are working on electric powered motors. Today, nearly almost all vehicle categories now have an alternative solution to thermal engines, leading to more affordable prices, therefore making these models more accessible. The result? The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the global fleet of electric cars could reach 125 to 220 million units
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in 2030, compared with 3.1 million just three years ago. But don’t be fooled, warns Didier Gambart. You must consider the weight, performance... and mathematics. While batteries do not directly emit CO2, their overall performance is less convincing: “a 100% electric model will not actually produce CO2 once on the road. But a hybrid vehicle, which runs half the time on electricity, uses a battery that is ten times lighter. The environmental impact linked to its production was much lower”. Without even mentioning the problem of the rare earth elements required (ion, lithium), “90% of batteries are produced in Korea, Japan and China, where 40% of the electricity consumed
Didier GAMBART
Vice-President Sales, Marketing & Customer Experience at Toyota Motor Europe.
“15 million Toyota hybrids are currently on the road in Europe.” to produce them comes from coal. By taking the entire life cycle of a vehicle into account, a model whose battery was produced in China emits only 20% less CO2 than a diesel vehicle produced in Europe”.
the first carmaker to fall below the 100 g/km CO2, mark, a year ahead of the EU’s schedule. “The most important thing is that our economic model is now sustainable without government support, with models accessible to the greatest number of people”, points out the Vice President. To aim for zero emissions, “it is the complementarity of technologies that will allow us to move forward with each new generation of vehicles” pleads Didier Gambart, who emphasizes that beyond hybrids and pure electric vehicles, Toyota has been working for years on hydrogen fuel cell engines, already on the roads with the Mirai. “In 2017, 3,000 models were sold at 77,000 euros each. The second generation sold 30,000 units, at an average price of 66,000 euros. The third, marketed from 2026 onwards, should reach 300,000 sales per year, at a price level only slightly higher than that of current hybrids. We are capable of bringing costs down very quickly. “This is essential if we are to make “green” models accessible to the greatest number of people, and aim for zero emissions, or at least very low levels.
- 20 %
IN THE EUROPEAN UNION, CO2 EMISSIONS HAVE DECREASED BY 20% COMPARED TO 1990...
FRANCE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR APPROXIMATELY 1% OF GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS, FAR BEHIND CHINA (28.3%) AND THE UNITED STATES (15.2%).
MIRACLE TECHNOLOGY DOES NOT EXIST
The Japanese automaker is being careful with the current electrification race with its competitors, especially since the Japanese automaker did not wait for the EU to set ambitious targets, formalized in 2015: “Our environmental challenge is to reduce our emissions by 90% by 2050. And today we are ahead of schedule.” However, “we are not opposed to electric power” insists Didier Gambart, who points out that Toyota now offers 100% electric models. “On the other hand, we are convinced that no single technological solution is capable of meeting the wide variety of mobility needs. We won’t be driving a bus or a truck for very long with conventional batteries. It’s the complementary nature of technologies that will enable us to move forward”.
LEVERAGING COMPLEMENTARY TECHNOLOGIES
It must be said that when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases, the Japanese automaker has solid arguments to put forward, coupled with its successful industrial experience since 1997, when the first Prius hybrid was released. After a difficult start, the gamble has paid off: in 2018, 70% of Toyota’s sales were of fourth-generation hybrids, much more powerful than previous models. The results are clear: in 2019, Toyota was
EU PUTS PRESSURE ON MANUFACTURERS Signed in December 2019, the EU’s Green Deal aims for carbon neutrality by 2050. Transportation is largely concerned, with a target of a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions for the sector as a whole. With 72% of emissions in the EU, compared with 14% for air and 13% for maritime transport, road transport accounts for the bulk of the volumes emitted. Carmakers are therefore seeking to adapt to particularly drastic emission reduction targets, otherwise they risk incurring significant financial penalties in the short term. While the 95 g/km CO2 threshold became effective this year, the most delicate stage is scheduled for 2030, with a target of 59.4 g/km. As a result, the deployment of electric, hydrogen or plugin hybrid vehicles will have to significantly develop over the next ten years.
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ZERO POINT OF SALE, REALLY? No more rent, no more sales person, exclusive online sales... Is it really possible to do without physical stores? We asked Gwarlann de Kerviler, Head of Marketing Research and Sales Management. Since the end of the 90s, “the explosion of secure payment solutions and smartphones has favored the development of a 100% digital offer” explains Gwarlann de Kerviler. Buying online allows clear benefits for customers: easy price comparisons between products, access to a wide range of products, accessible at any time in a fun way. On the distributors’ side, e-commerce represents an opportunity to reduce structural costs. The possibility to reach new customers seems to compensate for delivery costs. “The traditional distributors can thus compete with “pure players” who directly reach the final buyer, without going through intermediaries”, says the researcher. But the transition to “all digital” also has risks... Access to new online customers depends largely on the purchase of “keywords” via Google or Facebook. Another limitation is the lack of human contact when online. “Atmosphere, advice, touching... are all part of the shopping experience that the customer is looking for. Finally, online sales make it harder to give “privileged/VIP treatment” normally reserved for the best customers”, observes Gwarlann de Kerviler who also points out the difficulties related to after-sales service, which is not that simple to provide online. Conclusion: the store is not dead and the future is in the phygital, combining the needed human contact with easy access to products. The proof? Some “Pure players” are opening physical stores, such as Zalando with its Beauty Stations.
Gwarlann DE KERVILER
Head of the Teaching and Marketing Research and Sales Management department at IÉSEG.
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FIVE ZEROS FOR TH Emblematic of Toyota, the “five zeros” method has been largely developed since its beginnings. Is the model still effective? Let’s check with Éric Muller and Frédéric Chateau. THE FIVE ZEROS REFER TO ZERO FAULT, ZERO FAILURE, ZERO STOCK, ZERO DELAY AND ZERO PAPER. WHAT DO THESE DIFFERENT NOTIONS RELATE TO?
A default means a non-conformity therefore it does not proceed to the next step, the last step being the customer. A failure is when one of the machines stops a process, which can be avoided by preventive maintenance. Intermediate stocks concerns are related to associated space and cost. A delay coupled with zero paper implies the over complicated administrative and paper work involved. Zero is a theoretical goal, a simple ideal that allows setting up objectives and concerted corrective measures in case of production drift. These objectives are difficult to reconcile and sometimes contradictory when they are assigned to different people. Maintaining the balance between quality, costs and deadlines is the “mantra” of project management.
ZERO
IS A SIMPLE IDEAL FOR SETTING GOALS. E-COMMERCE IS BASED ON ZERO DELAY. IS THIS MODEL ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE? HAS THE PANDEMIC CHALLENGED THE IDEA OF ZERO INVENTORY?
It’s more a question of the 24 hours delivery rather than the zero delay. But this decrease in delivery times is achieved through pre-positioning of goods and innovation in regards to last-kilometer logistics. Delivery within 24 hours is the rather pleasant result of optimized flow management rather than a carbon cost factor. As for supply chains, they are not at zero stock but have optimized stocks according to the risk management principles. However, the estimation of this risk is based on laws of probability derived from the past and constantly adjusted. These changes will have to be more robust after the pandemic.
HE PRICE OF not there to analyze production, he has a more complex experience. Thus, a problem resolved by the after-sales service team leads to higher engagement and loyalty rates in the absence of the problem itself.
WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS APPROACH? WHAT WILL ITS FUTURE BE?
Its virtue is in its simplicity, with indicators that are easy to share and follow, and in its flexibility: first created for industrial processes, it evolved and Serieyx, in 1980, added the idea of zero disrespect - we are now talking about the seven wastes to avoid. Most of these principles can be applied in intellectual activities. Agility emphasizes cooperation as opposed to contractualization and continuous delivery. But it is essential to contextualize them: for an autonomous vehicle, one would expect robust certification rather than paperless... While the five zeros can improve project management, the key success factor is rather the commitment of stakeholders.
WHEN WAS THE “FIVE ZEROS” CREATED? DOES ITS SUCCESS AT TOYOTA TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND SPECIFIC TO JAPAN? CAN IT BE EASILY APPLIED IN ANOTHER CONTEXT?
The method has been formalized within the Toyota Production System to improve manufacturing performance. At its origin, there are the works of Deming then the further exchanges between the United States and Japan. At Toyota, we consider that the primary role of the manager is to make everyone autonomous in problem solving, which is not a spontaneous trend in the Confucian cultural area. Implementing this culture is difficult whatever the country! The technical aspects are fairly easy to reproduce in industry and can be transposed to other areas. But these aspects are highly literal, therefore if exported would underestimate the human factor and could drift in meaning. This is the case of project management. Production management methods are extended with indicators dashboards - KPIs. However, an indicator may not reflect reality... We then speak of a “watermelon indicator”: green on the outside but red on the inside. Services are another area where the five zeros are not always controlled. We thought we could replace control cards with a measurement of customer satisfaction - that’s why we ask you if you’re satisfied with every online transaction. But the customer is
Éric MULLER
Consultant in Operational Excellence*.
“The five-zero method has been formalized as part of the Toyota Production System to improve manufacturing performance.”
Frédéric CHATEAU
Professor-researcher in Data Sciences and Machine Learning at IÉSEG**.
*Expert in complex systems engineering, he applies the principles of the Toyota Production System on a daily basis. **Cofounder of Engametrix, a project engagement management solution.
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GOOD NEWS
MEDIA: PAPER IS NOT DEAD THE END OF THE OFFICE? Put front and center by the health crisis, teleworking became widespread in 2020, to the point that some people are already imagining companies without offices, with employees working from home. A sustainable trend? While Sandra Garcia, Steelcase’s Workspace Expert, notes that many companies have already started down this path, one observation remains: “You can’t just give your employees a computer and send them home. For a manager, a load of questions arises relating to management, corporate culture, the team well-being, the level of trust and autonomy of employees...”. Every coin has two sides: “In the early days, some employees thought it was a good way to reduce certain costs, and some managers saw it as a way to reduce their overheads. But in the long run, we are realizing this isn’t a miracle solution. The social interaction, the sense of community ends up being missed by the employees, but also by the company, which loses collective intelligence, experience sharing, dissemination of informal knowledge and sociability...”. The zero office is not for tomorrow - at least not everywhere...
Often asked, will the end of the printed press happen? If the written press is doing badly, the good old printed paper hasn’t said its last word,» explains François-Xavier Lefranc, Editor-in-Chief of Ouest-France, the leading French daily newspaper in terms of printed copies. But only if it evolves and reinvents itself. DOES THE POSSIBILITY OF THE COMPLETE END OF THE PRINTED PRESS SEEM CREDIBLE TO YOU?
I don’t believe it for a moment. While newsstand sales by the unit is certainly a model that seems very fragile, other distribution methods have proven their worth, such as home delivery, which allows you to receive your copy at home every morning when you wake up. As with the book, there is a physical relationship to the object that remains essential. The success of a newspaper like “Le 1” is proof that paper is still a must. As far as we are concerned, the number of printed copy subscribers is growing.
THE DIGITAL THREAT IS NEVERTHELESS REAL...
Sandra GARCIA Workspace expert at Steelcase.
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In reality, these channels do not oppose each other but feed each other. A digital platform is a great tool to develop the paper subscription. And having a large number of paper subscribers is a great lever to develop digital subscription. Ouest-France is a great believer in digital: this year we became the leading information platform with Le Figaro, thanks to our 450,000 print subscribers who were the first to accompany us on the web. Today, Ouest-France is no longer just a regional newspaper, but a French-language medium that disseminates information on several media platforms, 24 hours a day. We will still be printing newspapers ten years from now, even if the number of copies plateau at around 500,000. And today, 70% of our digital audience is outside the west region, our historical base.
A TAILOR-MADE PROFESSIONAL LIFE
WHY HAVE THE NUMBER OF SOME PRINTED NEWSPAPERS DECLINED SO MUCH?
Because they are boring to death and no longer interesting to anyone. We can hide behind the decline in the number of sales outlets but the industry must also rethink some certainties. Starting with the tendency of the Parisian press to consider itself as the national press when they are made of mostly local or regional articles each within its own space. The other major problem is price related: there is no surer way to kill the newspaper than to sell it for three euros per issue. This is a real scandal stating to 80% of the population that they have in front of them a luxury product that they can no longer afford! If the printed newspaper wants to survive, it must be popular. Not only is it not a bad word, but it should be a source of pride to speak to a very diverse readership and make sure it remains accessible. If OuestFrance is sold at 1.10 euro per issue, that’s why. Even though it’s still too expensive...
Steward at Air France, founder of the eco-responsible online wine store Wepicurien, trainer, speaker and class lecturer at IÉSEG and the Institut Paul Bocuse, two schools from which he graduated... At 27, Romain Vesse-Letoffé is a “slasher”, one who’s passionate and into everything, who decides to wear several professional hats at the same time in order to fulfill his objectives. “I am convinced that this way of working will become widespread tomorrow” he says. “It’s the end of working an entire career in the same company. The flavor of life is to be constantly nourished and enriched by new experiences, in work as in everything else”. Go from one project to another voluntarily, therefore, combining or alternating between salaried employment and entrepreneurship, but making sure to remain consistent with oneself: “wine, conferences, accompanying passengers on the plane... My activities share a common point: they revolve around sharing and exchanging”, notes Romain Vesse-Letoffé. Bored? Never.
THE MEDIA’S CREDIBILITY IS DECLINING. IS THIS A THREAT?
The more we move forward in this digital world, now present for 25 years, the more the press is discredited and the more our democracies become fragile. Journalism must imperatively raise its head without ever forgetting what it is: an essential, daily and irreplaceable tool of democracy. To reconnect with readers, there is no secret: we need to go back to basics: what do we have to tell and how? The key will be to learn how to better reconcile the rhythms and strengths of each medium. For a long time now, paper has no longer been the medium of reactivity, digital having taken over. It must bring something else around, such as more detailed information: hindsight, different angles, comments, a specific writing style, everything that we didn’t see at its height... Paper has a future if the written press agrees to reinvent itself.
Romain VESSE-LETOFFÉ Slasher.
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NICE TO MEET YOU
PLAYFUL FUTURE Responsible for imagining the online services of tomorrow at Ubisoft, François Logeais has spent his entire career in this video game industry that has never ceased to change throughout its history. And it’s not about to stop: at a time when streaming game offers are multiplying and as a new generation of consoles are entering the market, where, how and what will we play tomorrow? Here are the answers. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE UBISOFT TODAY?
François LOGEAIS
Online Services Portfolio Director at UBISOFT.
“My job is to imagine how we can serve the players over the next few years.”
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Ubisoft is one of the world’s leading video game publishers with a strong specificity: we create universes that are always coherent but very immersive, designed to completerly wrap-up players in “sandbox”* games. The other characteristic of Ubisoft is that each of these worlds is highly researched and documented, whether they are historical universes, as in the “Assassin’s Creed” series, or more contemporary settings, as in the “Watch Dogs” or “Ghost Recon” licenses. We also address other audiences with games such as “Just Dance”, which allows players to dance alone or with others on iconic songs.
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT ON SOME GAMES SOMETIMES MAKES YOU DIZZY. WHY ARE COSTS EXPLODING?
In reality, all budgets types coexist in a video game industry whose offer has never been so rich and diversified. If certain so-called AAA projects have indeed grown considerably, it is certainly because we can produce increasingly beautiful works, but also because games are increasingly designed to last. Until a few years ago, a game was a cultural product that was consumed before moving on to the next one. Today, they
are more like platforms that continue to grow over several years. Beyond the technical and IT challenges of continuing to develop a game that is already accessible, meeting the expectations of gamers is both exciting and complex.
YOU HAVE HELD SEVERAL POSITIONS AT UBISOFT. HOW DO YOU VIEW YOUR CAREER PATH?
It is quite typical of an industry I entered twenty years ago, at a time when there were no specialized schools to prepare for its various jobs. It’s an industry of enthusiasts, and many of us have been fortunate enough to have been able to touch everything from marketing to production, managing communities of players or working with independent developers. Gaming has already changed the paradigm several times, and new opportunities are constantly emerging. For example, I have just spent several years in Singapore as senior producer of “Skull & Bones”, a multiplayer AAA adventure revolving around piracy in the 18th century. This year, I joined the Montreuil headquarters where I am in charge of our online services strategy. My job is to imagine how we will be able to serve players over the next few years.
UBISOFT, A GLOBAL VIDEO GAME GIANT Founded in 1986 by the Guillemot brothers in the Morbihan region of France, Ubisoft has become one of the world’s top three independent video game publishers in the past 30 years, along with Electronic Arts and Blizzard. Supported by emblematic licenses such as Rayman, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Just Dance, Ubisoft has set up its international headquarters in Montreuil. Still French, the Euronext-listed company (UBI) has more than 45 studios around the world and employs more than 18,000 people.
WITH A NEW GENERATION OF CONSOLES COMING ONTO THE MARKET, IS THE FUTURE OF GAMING IN THE DEMATERIALIZATION ERA?
Not necessarily, although gaming is growing similar to other industries. People are increasingly downloading their games instead of buying a physical version and the development of a “cloud gaming” offer through various initiatives such as Google with Stadia, Amazon with Luna... On the other hand, a new way of playing never replaces the others but coexists. Some players will continue to want to have a physical machine in their living room, others will prefer streaming and the most dedicated will want both. In the video games field, we have sometimes made the mistake of announcing a little too quickly the end of such or such practice, as that of PC gaming, which has never been so successful, whereas many had announced its end.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF DEMATERIALIZATION?
For starters, this will allow new audiences to access the full variety of video gaming. Two things that have long remained a fantasy become possible. The first is cross progression, which allows you to start your game on one medium before taking it up again on another, at the same place and with the same level of progress. The second is cross-play, in other words the ability to play with friends who do not have the same equipment. These two dimensions seemed unthinkable five years ago. For the players, this means a considerable gain in flexibility and freedom. Playing video games has always been a social pastime, but it has never been as easy to make friends as it is today, even when they live on the other side of the world.
The latest installment in the Assassin’s Creed series, Valhalla immerses players in the world of medieval Scandinavia and England.
*A sandbox game offers an experience that does not follow a linear scenario but places the player in a free universe where he/she can act and move as he/she pleases, thus appealing to their creativity.
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