BFM Business interview: Focus on SMEs

BCP PARTNERS - Interview by Vincent Touraine, BFM Business

BCP PARTNERS :

Recruitment and governance consultancy firm

Below is the transcribed version of the interview.

"BCP PARTNERS, headed by Blandine CORDIER-PALASSE, provides executive recruitment and governance consultancy services for companies, many of which are listed on the stock exchange. This is what BCP PARTNERS, headed by Blandine CORDIER-PALASSE, offers.

You are the founding President of BCP PARTNERS. Thank you for joining us on SME Focus.

Tell us about BCP PARTNERS. What are your main business lines? 

BCP PARTNERS has 2 main complementary activities:

• Le Recruitment and Support from top managers
  • General Managers, Finance Directors, Human Resources Directors, Company Secretaries.
  • We have also developed a niche market in Legal, Compliance, Risk, Audit, Ethics and CSR departments. It's a sector that's changing a lot at the moment.

We also co-founded the Cercle de la Compliance.

• Le Corporate Governance

We advise senior executives, members of the Comex/Codir and the Board of Directors to strengthen the effectiveness of their governance and improve the operation and organisation of these governance bodies.

Our clients: CAC 40 and SBF120 companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, investment funds, law firms and consultancies.

What types of situation do you deal with?

In recruitment, we are involved in :

• Hunting
• Training
• And change management.

Today, the company has many transitions to make:

Executives need to replace their top managers with more agile profiles who are better able to :

• Adapting the company to new challenges
• And to support transitions over the long term.

Governance is even more subtle:

General Management and Boards increasingly need to have a clear picture of the situation. effective governance. This is reflected in the news. Many scandals are linked to a weak or failing governance.

• In listed companies, the AFEP-MEDEF code recommends that an external assessment be carried out every 3 years.

• In all companies, we intervene when General Management or the Board needs us to:
  • To improve the organisation and operation of the Board and/or Comex/Codir.
  • Improve fluidity relations within the Board or Comex/Codir, or between the two.

And how do you support your customers in improving their governance?

Our role is to discuss, analyse and then make recommendations.

1^era stage: Dialogue 

We sit down with top management.

We listen to them to understand:

• Who they are,
• What their needs are,
• What is their vision?
• How the company works,
• Where they want to go.

2^th step: Analyse 

We use an objective tool to analyse the strengths of Board and/or Comex/Codir members:

• Dynastrat for Comex/Codir
• Boardstrat for the Council

3^th step: Recommend 

We support them through the process of change over the long term, to define the areas for improvement and implement them.

It is aboutalign behaviour and actions to give meaning back to our actions.

It's always an engine commitment human within the Comex/Codir and the Board.

What distinguishes BCP Partners from other consultancy firms?

Our great strength is dual skills of our consultants.

They all have :

• Operational experience in groups as Managing Director, Strategy Director and Company Secretary. I myself was a lawyer and then General Counsel and Company Secretary in listed groups for some fifteen years.
• Governance expertise.
• A market practice for 15 years.

We've all worked in our customers' businesses and we speak the same language. We have seen the importance of governance and good recruitment evolve over the last 15 years.

What our customers appreciate is our vision, our ability to understand their needs and challenges, and our ability to help them project themselves into the future they want to create.

And also, our ability to provide them with areas for improvement.

What are your plans for the coming years?

BCP PARTNERS will continue to recruit top managers and support executives in the face of accelerating changes in society and profound corporate transformations.

We will also continue to develop our governance consulting services to meet the needs of the market and the law.

It's clear from current events that many scandals or problems are linked to a weak governance. This creates a problem image and reputation.

Today's business leaders understand the importance of having an effective governance efficient.

They understand that to achieve this, they need to putting people and agility back at the heart of the organisation.

And for us, the key to performance of companies is their human capital.

To keep up to date with the latest news from BCP PARTNERS, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cab-bcp-partner-search/

Take a look at our service offers:

Visit Recruitment / Executive Search

Visit Governance consultancy