Corporate Manager

- Creator of the ‘event advertising’
- In this spirit ciroen
留學生dissertation網Set its citroen cars in Sahara desert in Africa in 1922 ( much before the “Paris-Dakar’ race )
Made an illumination of his own name on the Eiffel Tower in 1925
Revolutionized the customer service

Louis Renault ( 1877-1944 )
biography
- Louis Renault inventor of the gearbox
- At the age of 20, he made a brilliant entrance into the emerging word of gearbox
The promotion of gearbox: On Dec. 24, 1898, during Christmans Ece, his wehicle moved by the gearbox, climbed the 13% hill
- After his ‘ challenge of Montmartre’, he received, in 1899, the patent for the direct drive system that would made his fortune.
- This system was soon adopted by all the manufacturers in the world
- The brilliant career of Louis Renault has started. The ‘brand’ Renault was born.
Who is Louis Renault
- Louis Renault was born into typically bourgeois Parisian family
- His father was businessman who built up a fortune through the sale of fabrics and buttons
- Studies was not his strong point but he had two main assets for obtain success, he was innovative & practical.
Innovation
- 1902- Construction of the first plant in Billancourt, start of the mass car production.
- He started to establish the Renault sales network and set up the company’s first subsidiaries aboard.
- 1905- Renault switched to mass production of taxis in Paris, London and New York.
- 1906- Renault became the leading French car manufacturer.
- American dream of Renault
1912- Renault went to the US for visiting th plants of FORD – his principal competitor
He observed the ‘TAYLORISM’, new working method in order to increase productivity after introduction of assembly line.
He has brought this method back from the Us in France.
- 1914-1919- Military production, booster of international reputation of Renault
Renault’s plant in Billancourt produced vehicles for the troops. Renault designed himself the tank FT17.
- History of the ‘Marne Taxis’
1914- Renault ‘created event’: he ordered Parisian taxis ‘Renault’ to bring French solders to the front located on the Marne River.
- After the WWI Renault realize the gap between US & France
US: where automobile entered already into the consumer era( thanks to Ford and its mass producing non-expensive cars).
France: where automobile was still considered as luxury.
‘all-in-one’ company
- Launched large scale reorganization of its company into ‘all-in-one’company for reducing its dependency on external suppliers.
- 1929, before the Great Depression- Renault was represented, with its subsidiaries, in 49 countries and all continent#p#分頁標題#e#
Impact of the Great Depression
留學生dissertation網Europe was hard hit by the repercussions of the recession in the US.
Bad time for the automobile industry
American manufactures carried out mass sacking
They learned to produce more efficiently and at less cost, and started expanding abroad
In Europe, governments played a key role in defending their national brands by taxing heavily imported vehicles
During this period, Renault had shown an authoritarian style of boss of the ‘old French school’. This strategy provoked crisis in labour’s relations and led to violent strikes in Billancourt in 1938. ( the occupation of Renault’s factories/ the intervention of policy)
- 1936- under People’s Front Billancourt became the core symbol of the worker’s struggle in France, at that time, Renault missed the opportunity to create ‘people car’ in France, before WWII. Vs Italy, Germany and the UK where automakers had understood that if they wanted to survive they would have to make affordable cars for a wilder public. In France, despite government pressure, Renault, Citronen and Peugeot failed to launch ‘people car’
The greatest geopolitical mistake of Louis Renault
- Renault admired Hitler for his economic power. For Renault, Hitler had built a major road network to stimulate the automobile industry in Germany. Renault believed that France and Germany should unite to face up to the economy. So when War was declared, Sep. 1939, under occupation of Paris, Renault repaired French tanks taken by Germans, without stopping activities of his Billancourt plants. Renault did not understand the geopolitical shape that history was taking. When Paris was liberated in Aug. 1944, Renault was jailed for ‘trading with enemy’. And he died in Oc. 1945 in prison.
- 1945- company Renault became a state-owned company and no compensation was paid.
- This political decision was taken by the government led by General de Gaulle, with wing left parties in France.
- The nationalization of Renault is emblematic of the nationalization program launched in France after the Second World War.

In 1945, France enters into a period of Post-War reconstruction, called ‘Thirty Glorious Years’(1944-1974)
(can be your paper topic)
- This term was proposed by the French economist Jean Fourastie.
- Basic definition
Exceptional recovery and growth (6% per year); The ‘invisible revolution’: in time of one generation, metamorphosed not only the French economy, but also day-to-day habits & lifestyle.
After the WWII, France was devastated
- Black market was prosperous
- Essential foodstuffs rationed
- Foreign trade reducing to nothing
- Any train didn’t across the French longest river – la Loire! France was at that time almost an autarky county.#p#分頁標題#e#
- In 1945, in France the standard of living (basic definition of standard of living: the economic component of people welfare measured by consumption per head’)
- The French Recovery during ’Thirty Glorious Year’ was drastic for 6 principal reasons
1. Team Spirit (Consensus Atmosphere) around the basic idea of democracy, freedom, demonic growth. On paper, France was among the ‘winners’ of the WWII. But in fact, France had a feeling of humiliation. French people was hungered for revenge in a democratic way.
2. Welfare State During ‘Thirty Glorious Years’, France profits successfully from its traditional Welfare State in the following areas:
Price control
Exchange control
Wage’s control
Minimum basic wage ‘SMIC’
Example:
? The government introduced, 1947, planning system for defining the general outlines of its economic policy.
? All key sectors of the French economy were nationlised:
Energy
Gas
Air transport
Rail transport
Saving bank
Insurance
Automobile
? Some subsidiaries were nationalized, but the principal aim of these nationalizations in France ,during the ‘Thirty Glorious Years’, was not economical but political.
3. Banking system was booming
Banking system, crucial issue for the nascent middle classes, with their willingness to consume.
4. Baby-Boom
High birth rate, a sign of young people’s confidence in future
5. Marshal Plan
Basic definition of Marshal Plan: the French economy modernization under the American influence after the WWII. At that time in France the US were equal to American Dream & Liberator. George Marshal, US State Secretary, formulated this plan of large program of the US economic help to assist recovery of the European economies from the negative effects of the WWII. Beyond the economic aim, this plan had also the US geopolitical objective: to struggle against the spread of communism in Europe.
From 1948 until 1950, the US provided assistance in grants and loans to 6 European countries
Austria
France
West Germany
Italy
UK
The role of the Marshal Plan was so important for the recovery of the French economy that it was extended in France until 1952 (while in the other countries it was finished in 1950)
The first American company in France was IBM (introduction of the software and high-tech), then Procter & Gamble (creation of modern marketing)
Marshal Plan was not only job & money, but also new mentality for new management.
New business French approach thanks to direct contact with American management methods of the multinational firms. This ‘mental revolution’, boosted by Marshal Plan, permitted the increasing of the productivity in France.
6. Social security system: Jean Monnet
Basic definition: social Security System is a structure, where the community takes in charge, by redistributing money, the consequence of risk. Initially, Security System in France cover only 4 risks#p#分頁標題#e#
? Illness & Pregnancy
? Oldness
? Maternity
? Industrial Accident
No jobless, because jobless didn’t exit at that time. At the beginning of the ‘ Thirty Glorious Years’, the jobless didn’t exist in France. the first agency for unemployment was created in France in 1948.
The main philosophy of the Social Security System in France is ‘to free the human being from basic needs’ key idea of the French Revolution in 1789. In this spirit, the Social Security in France is based on 2 principles:
? State Redistribution
? Solidarity
Solidarity between generations (young working persons pay for old retired persons) and social categories (rich pay for poor)
The basic name of this system is ‘pay-as-you-go’. It is often said that the French Social System is one of the best in the world, because
? You are reimbursed for your medical fees
The French Social Security is financed thanks to:
? Contributions of bosses (payroll taxes)
? Fees on employee’s wages (CSG)
In other words, this is the work that is taxed for financing the French Security System. This French system is strongly linked to the growth rate: the incomes of the Social Security fluctuate, according to the growth rate. During the ‘Thirty Glorious Years’, when the economic growth reached 6% per year. The future was clear and prosperous. France was a country of the ‘team spirit. But in 2010,this system does not basically change. Expenses in Security System
? 1950-10% of the French GDP
? 2010-35% of the French GDP
Several reasons for the rise
? Oldness of the French population: old people consumes more health care. When the retirement system was created in 1945, France had 4 active workers for 1 retired person, while in 2010 this ratio in 1/.5 vs 1.
? Economy low level of the economic growth (5% in 1945 vs 1.2% in 2010)
? High level of jobless the cost of allowances for unemployment is really heavy for French society.
French government is aware that this kind of Security System has come to the historical end.
Key challenge of Social Security System
? Being less extravagant with the health costs
? To accept to spare money all along their active life for retirement capitalization vs redistribution
? To pay contribution to your own retirement during more long period
In fact, the crisis of Social Security in France is not only economic question. This is a choice of society. On the one hand, the right-wing parties (UMP) think that the Social Security is, basically, a burden that hinders economic growth. Instead, the left-wing parties think that the cost of the Social Security is the price to pay for the social solidarity and justice.
liberity vs equality with ‘French Model)
the key problem that the current Social System, created during the Thirty Glorious Years, is deeply rooted in the French mentalities and French day to day routine. Any reform of this system is very painful in France.#p#分頁標題#e#
real upheaval of the French ‘software of the mind’

the end of ‘ success story’ of the ‘thirty Glorious Years’ 1974
- three causes of the end of the ‘thirty glorious years’
1. May 1968, violent student manifestations in Paris, at the Sorbonne University. This revolt is issued from
? Jobless spectre
? Rejection by radical part of young and well-educated people of some values of the consumption society, established in France during ‘thirty glorious years’, under American influence.
2. The end of International Monetary Bretton Woods System
http://www.ttc-switch.com/thesis_sample/Uk_thesis_sample/Since 1944 until 1974, BWS governed exchange rates in the world economy. Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods System. French economy entered into the period of overheating with
? Inflationary spiral
? Floating exchange rate
3. Oil price world revolution
1970’s the explosion of the oil prices & geopolitical crisis in the Middle East. Arb- Isreali War in 1973 brought an oil embargo pronounce against the US by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
After the exceptional recovery, France entered the long-lasting systemic crisis since 1974. This crisis started since 1974, presidency of Balery Giscard d’Estaing. All French presidents, since 1974 until today, had to manage this crisis.

1981-1995: the presidency of the socialist Francois Mittterrand
- Mittterrand’s paradox: gradual capitalist revival under socialist government
3 stages of the ‘capitalist revival’ of Francois Mittterrand
1. 1981-1983 nationalizations ‘all azimuths’
? Shorting the work week at 39 hours per week
? Fixing the legal age for retirement at 60 years old
? Introduction of the 5th week of paid leave
? Rising the minimum wage (SMIC0
? Imposing a Wealth Tax (ISF- tax for fortune, which hits earnings until 735,000 euros per year)
But this wave of nationalizations in 1981-1983 and new ‘acquis sociaux’ did not reverse the tendency of the lost-lasting systemic crisis of the French economy since 1974. The first stage of the Miterrand’s economic policy caused high inflating.
2. 1984-1986 reprivatization
Capitalist coming back under the Prime Minister Laurent Fabius
The French government, facing to a huge budget deficit, was not in position to inject much, needed capital into main State-owned enterprises as SNCF.
3. 1986-1995 NI(neither new privatization nor new nationalizations’)
During 1986-1995, the official policy of Francois Mitterrand sought to maintain 51% ownership in state-owned enterprises. This policy is called the policy of ‘NI-NI)
http://www.ttc-switch.com/thesis_sample/Uk_thesis_sample/#p#分頁標題#e#Why this capitalist revival in France under socialist Francois Mitterrand?