A few weeks ago I was invited by Danone to attend their Danone Explorers event, a moment when the company and students who are looking for an internship can meet.

I already wrote many things about Danone on my French blog but nothing here. I think there are a few things you have to know before reading further.

• The biggest point about Danone is their “dual project”, both business and societal. Every business decision has to take into account its societal effects. The purpose is not to balance business decisions by societal programs but to make decisions that deal with both at the same time. It’s a very important component of the corporate’s culture and management, and someone business focused without any societal awareness has many chances not be hired or not feel comfortable for long working at Danone. For Danone, the way people do business is at least as important as business itself.

• Danone has an informal culture. Of course, plants and factory need very strong processes. But for the rest, “the rule is the exception” or “exception is the rule”. As one of their VPs once told me, “we will always be smaller than most of our competitors, so we need to be smarter, run faster”. Initiatives are welcome and people are encourage to share ideas and best practices together by themselves.

• A survey showed their clients and partners valued a lot this culture, this “Danone Way”. It proved that it was identified as a key factor of performance, inside but also outside the company. A few years ago it made Danone’s people realize that their culture, one of the most intangible business assets, was a key performance lever.

• Many things to add…this company is worth being known and studied. Really outstanding !

What’s interesting in Danone explorers, is that Danone tries to seduce members of the famous Generaton Y and, as a consequence uses all the levers that are supposed to be efficient with tehm : proximity, discussions, exchanges, personalized dialogues, transparency, games, adult to adult conversations intead of parent to child.

Of course, in these times, we can expect a “full 2.0″ approach to tool such a logic. Not at all.

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