Topic: Case study: Carrefour SA

Order Description

the business case:strategies for diversity management

Using the case study materials provided, you are required to have 4 sections in your presentation:- i will upload files for 4 sections with case

study contain background of CARREFOUR SA

a). Present overview of the diversity strategy

b). Explain the reasons for the diversity strategy

c) Evaluate the strategy your company has adopted for managing diversity (consider the nature of the product/service the company is offering).

d) Is there a correlation between business performance & managing diversity

*Assume the audience has no prior knowledge of the company or its products. You will need to hold a research group meeting prior to the seminar in

order to prepare this task.

EMCC company network

Case example of Carrefour SA

Company background
Diversity management practice
Contact details

This case example is availabl e in electronic format only .

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Company background
Carrefour SA is an international retail chain founded in France, with a global network of outlets.
It is the second largest retail group in the worl d in terms of revenue and sales figures after Wal-Mart, and the largest retailer in Europe.

Carrefour operates mainly in the EU, Brazil, Argentina
and Colombia, but also has interests in North Africa and Asia.
The first Carrefour store opened in 1959. The group was created by Marcel Fournier and Denis
Defforey and grew into a chain from the first sales outlet located in the Rhone-Alpes region of
south-eastern France. In 1999, Carrefour merged  with Promodès, one of its major competitors on
the French market.
The Carrefour group pioneered the concept of a hypermarket, a large supermarket and a
department store under the same roof. They open ed their first hypermarket in June 1963, in
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near Paris.
Over the past 40 years the Carrefour group has grown to become one of the world’s leading
distribution groups. The group currently operates four  main grocery store formats: hypermarkets;
supermarkets; hard discount stores; and convenience stores. The Carrefour group currently has
over 12,500 stores, operated either directly by the company or by franchise.
Operations
Carrefour has 456,000 employees worldwide and has an annual turnover of €77.24 billion. Three
billion customers a year shop with Carrefour.
Carrefour was the first major retail operator in South America with a presence in four countries –
Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Carrefour is active in three types of
retail distribution in this region of the world:  hypermarkets, supermar kets and hard discount
stores. It has become the number one food retailer in terms of sales in Brazil via the purchase of
Atacadão, a leading operator of discount hypermarkets with 34 stores across the country.
In 1989, Carrefour was the first international retailer to establish a presence in Asia, when it
entered Taiwan through a joint venture with Uni President Enterprises Corporation. It used
Taiwan as a platform from which to enter other Asian markets. Carrefour also operates in the
United Arab Emirates and Jordan in partnership with Majid al Futtaim, a leading retailer in the
region, and is present in Kuwait and Oman.
Carrefour is also present in Algeria, Egypt and  Tunisia in Africa, and in fourteen countries in
Europe.
Diversity management practice
Carrefour has always engaged with local communiti es in a variety of ways. In 1992, the group set
up its quality management programme. The main  activities in this area have included for
example, a disability policy, developing a social ch arter with FIDH (Fédération Internationale des
Ligues des Droits de l’Homme) signing an agreement with trade unions at international level to
apply the United Nations World Pact in its operations, making a commitment to sustainable
fishing and drawing up and adopting a group code of ethics.
The group’s directors support a multicultural approach to HR as well as the voluntary Corporate
Social Responsibility Policy.
On 22 October 2004, the Carrefour group signed a diversity charter against discrimination in the
workplace along with 40 other companies in France. The charter was promoted by the French
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2007  2

Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs and aims to encourage integration and equal
opportunity among the signatory companies.
Carrefour SA believes that the fight against discrimination is consistent with its values of
equality, sharing and solidarity – Carrefour’s mission is to serve all their customers, wherever
they are located. This ensures high performance  and dynamism within the company due to the
fact that Carrefour aims to offer career progression opportunities to all their employees regardless
of second-level educational status. The company primarily seeks to engage employees with a
commercial mindset but also aims to recruit, where possible, culturally and socially diverse staff.
More than 100 nationalities are represented in Carrefour’s French hyperm arkets, and 62 in the
‘Ed’ discount stores.
Why diversity management?
The signing of the diversity charter proved to be the main driver behind the development of
Carrefour’s diversity policy. In addition, Carrefour undertook measures to strengthen its
relationship with its customers and with the wi der population. Carrefour’s customers represent
100 nationalities, and the group believes that their distribution of outlets should reflect internally
the diversity of the population in those countries where it operates.
A commitment made by Carrefour in 2002 ( Partageons les Valeurs) set out the values of the
group. These are: respect, freedom, integrity, solidarity, sharing, responsibility and progress.
These values are central to the principles of diversity and strengthen the implementation of
diversity policies. However, James Gisbert, So cial Development Manager with Carrefour, has
pointed out that these are essentially guidelines and  that the autonomy of each subsidiary is to be
respected in terms of how they choose to  implement these actions for diversity.
Implementing diversity management
The implementation of the diversity management programme was carried out with the assistance
of a number of associations, e.g. the Institut du Mécénat Solidarité and the then Minister for
Equal Opportunities, Azouz Begag. James Gisbert described the early stages of the
implementation process:
‘The group spent some time trying to visualise  discrimination and aligning diversity management
with the business plan.’
This commitment has been backed by commissioning a number of studies by external experts
which have assisted in designing and implementing diversity policy.
The group’s retailers implement this diversity commitment in line with their specific
characteristics and human resources policy. In 2006, Carrefour retailers took many initiatives that
demonstrated their commitment to diversity. In France, for example, Carrefour hypermarkets and
Champion supermarkets developed innovative recruiting techniques, partnering the ANPE (the
French state training agency – L’Agence Nationale Pour l’Emploi) in the recruitment of new
employees using a ‘simulation’ method which gives priority to candidates’ ability to perform a
certain job. More than 1,000 employees were hire d in 2006 using this new method. In addition,
Carrefour has been offering candidates an opportunity  to apply for jobs anonymously in order to
focus on their potential and comp etences rather than on their experience and educational
background. This has been enabled by the development of a curriculum vitae format which
removes information that may be used to discr iminate against candidates. Since 1999, the group
has been taking a pro-active approach to recruiting disabled people, who currently make up 6.6%
of its workforce figure, higher than the legally mandated rate.
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2007  3

The five axes of diversity management
Carrefour’s implementation policy consists of five axes or dimensions:
•  Planning and audit
Work groups were organised to bring together staff who understood how the retail outlets
operate, and HR managers to discuss, understa nd and implement the Diversity Charter. In
addition, a study of the state-of-the-art in  diversity was commissioned with Jean François
Amadieu (Director of the Discrimination Observatory in the Sorbonne); and Carrefour
participated in a study on diversity measures ca rried out by INED (L’institut national d’études
démographiques)
•  Objective HR processes
CVs were redesigned to avoid indicators that could be used as a basis for discrimination (address,
birthplace, nationality and gender). Evaluation tools were adapted to target employees’ proven
skills rather than their qualifications. Anti-discrimination training has been incorporated into
general induction training.
•  Awareness-raising
Actions and initiatives are posted regularly on the company intranet. The recommendations and
actions set out in the report on sustainable development have been disseminated. Carrefour
hypermarkets are involved in a community or civ il campaign in the banlieues (suburbs). Diversity
toolkits are used in all hypermarkets to help  raise awareness regarding diversity management.
•  External partners
James Gisbert pointed out that the Carrefour gro up deals with a range of different organisations
and public bodies, including the Institut du Mécénat  Solidaire, the Ministry of Education, ANPE
and the Ministry for Equal Opportunities amongst others.
•  Social dialogue
The Carrefour group places great importance on the issues of corporate social responsibility and
diversity, engaging in debates hosted by the Eu ropean Committee on Information and Dialogue.
A diversity group incorporating the social partners has been set up in the hypermarket sector of
the business.
Difficulties encountered in implementation
James Gisbert identified a numbe r of difficulties encountered by the company in terms of
effectively implementing diversity management. Th e first problem was working out a way to get
the message across in everyday life. Another difficult y, specific to France, is the fact that it is
illegal to record someone’s ethnicity on application forms or indeed during the recruitment
process. This means that it is difficult to engage in effective monitoring and evaluation of
diversity management programmes in France.
Lessons learnt
James Gisbert gave some useful advice regardi ng how best to implement diversity management
in a large organisations like Carrefour. He  emphasised the necessity of having a good
understanding of how to apply diversity in the company, as well as the need to devise a way to
retain staff over the long term. An interesting  point made by James was the need to situate
diversity management in the context of the relevant country’s history, for instance France’s
history of colonialism and conflict in territories such as Algeria and Indochina.
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2007  4

James also saw the need to remain humble and open as being of ke y importance, and he
emphasised the creative potential of diversity management if it is implemented holistically and
effectively. Finally, he drew attention to the unconscious assumptions that everyone carries with
them and how this can affect the way they percei ve others who they deem to be different. In
addition, these may lead to indirect discrimination against groups with non-visible differences.
Outcomes
James had previously discussed the difficulty  of identifying suitable diversity indicators for
monitoring purposes. However, he was able to  present some outcomes for the hypermarket sector
– 330 people with disabilities were employed in 2006 and more than 1,200 skills-based
recruitment processes were undertaken.

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