(Stan): “Companies must ask themselves what they bring to the territory” – Le Journal des Entreprises

What role does Stan play with companies?

Nicholas Bartholomew : Stan is there to support them in their territorial anchoring. The territory is once again on the rise. However, the big groups don’t always have a good image there, which is partly their fault because they didn’t worry about it for a long time. We try to make them understand that if they want the territory to play their game, to welcome them, to consider them, they must also have a positive territorial imprint, on a social, societal and environmental level. They must ask themselves what they bring to the territory. It’s good to come up with a vision, a strategy, but it’s not because it will have worked successfully in the North that it will work the same way on the Côte d’Azur.

John of Mendiguren : You have to know the ecosystem well, how it works, its history, its current events. The decision-maker must understand that in the Paca region alone, there are several very different ecosystems. Likewise in the Alpes-Maritimes. We explain for example that the Var river, which crosses the department, is a historical, geographical but also sociological and economic limit. Developing your market is like going to war, the first duty of a soldier is to know the theater of operations. Anyone who does not take the time to know where to go, how, who the decisive interlocutors are, where they come from, their history, to analyze the issues, will build their strategy on false assumptions or clichés, and that will not work.

“The decision-maker must understand that in the Paca region alone, there are several very different ecosystems.”

But does that just seem like common sense?

NB : I myself took some time to understand that this is what we were going to set up Stan (70 employees, turnover: 8 M€). A few years ago in Marseille, big bosses came to see me because they were proposing superb projects but couldn’t make them happen. Thus Marc Pietri, president of Constructa, did not understand the rejection of the Tour la Marseillaise. He only saw the 180 million euros that were going to be invested and the world renown of Jean Nouvel, its architect, but not the negative perception that the territory had of this project. We then met all the actors, highlighted the 1,000 jobs generated by the site, launched an integration program with young people from the neighborhoods, with real training, we made a commitment to bring in company headquarters , we created a loop of seawater to supply the air conditioning and reduce greenhouse gas emissions… Finally, this tower was integrated.

Likewise, in Cannes where we recently accompanied the renovation of the Carlton, A delicate subject. Investments had been expected for twenty years, there had been several projects, and the funds finally came from Qatar (the palace was bought in 2014 by Katara Hospitality, controlled by the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, Ed). Between the community, the investment fund, the builder, the staff, the unions… we could speak of a clash of cultures, but there was a convergence of interests. We were also able to establish an integration agreement for employment on the site. The societal impact is there. And in fine, the place is magnificent and creates activity.

Beyond these examples, who are your customers?

NB : Total Energies, Veolia, Erilia, the Caisse d’Epargne Côte d’Azur, Audemard… We work with large companies, private only, and ETIs, companies that have medium and long-term visions and projects, all sectors combined, even if we have limits. I don’t want to work, for example, for tobacco companies or alcohol manufacturers. We work with industrialists that are sometimes a little sulphurous, such as Lafarge for example (the French cement manufacturer is indicted for “financing a terrorist company” and “endangering” its employees in Syria, editor’s note) because the owner has changed, the things have been taken over. Likewise with Alteo in Marseille which, for more than thirty yearsdumped polluting red mud into the sea. We are working with the new investor who is committed to a sustainable development approach.

“We sell territorial anchoring on a daily basis for our clients and we apply it to ourselves.”

How many locations do you have in France?

NB. : We sell territorial anchoring on a daily basis for our customers and we apply it to ourselves. We are now present in a dozen cities. We began to develop this model two years ago in Nice. We do not sell peas, but advice, which must be embodied. Our Côte d’Azur director does not take the plane or the TGV in the evening to return to Paris. We are a trusted third party: our teams will never do anything that is not a win-win situation for the territory. The new premises that we have just inaugurated in Nice, we bought them, it shows that we are committed to sustainability.