Why this exception The Napoleon III fault first

Is a good glass of water the best of the anti-crisis potions Henri Proglio, President and CEO of Veolia, this is not the shadow of a doubt. He set out with such evidence in the economic storm that it gives the impression of having personally known, as his business empire, three wars and both republics. So, think water, waste, energy, transport, all issues of the 21st century together in a gigantic group, which employs about 320,000 people in the world and dominates its sector of the head and shoulders!

And yet everything seems always to start over. As was already the founder, count Henri Simeon there is a century and a half face to baron Haussmann, must be tirelessly convince skeptics of the merits of his approach. Last week, was to mollify financial analysts in anger. Announcement of profit 2008 disgruntled less good than expected, they have contributed to the collapse of the course of stock exchange which has lost 20 in a single day, symbolizing him only the rout of the financial markets crisis.

Veolia, the top one hundred and fifty years of existence, sitting on a trade concessions which sometimes gives the monopolies of several tens of years, active in trades related to the vital needs, such as water, waste or heating, is therefore not insensitive to the situation. It was enough of a wet summer, a few cyclones and an earthquake in China to skid the accounts. And this is not finished, the recession affects industrial customers and soon the revenue of local communities.

But this will not change one iota the strategy of the company: become the essential interlocutor for those who want to outsource all their "environmental" services and favour a single interlocutor. Will immediately halt its bulimia of acquisitions, to avoid degrading its cash and take too many risks. For the rest, it considers that its scope of activity and its geographical coverage make it "resilient to the crisis and resistant to compete". His model is concrete. In 1853, Henri Siméon is shunned before its shareholders for the potential of this business born in England, recalling that the actions of the most beautiful case, New River in London, "today make 1,000. He added: "we see that these companies are generally good, especially where they are not competition;" but you know that France these kinds of concessions are a privilege which has no competition. "The potential, the economic model, the protection against competition, everything is there yesterday as today.

The first potential. At the time of Napoleon III, was to provide safe water in urban homes. Today, he must solve the puzzle of a planet whose population was multiplied by 4 in a century and massively migrate to cities: 10 urban in 1900, 50 today, 70 in 20 years. A world awash waste (see Naples) dries, California and the Australia lack of water, and asphyxiation with transportation. At all these challenges, Veolia provides his answer: the concession of public service to a private company more effective, and especially which costs nothing to the municipality. Private company signed with the community of twenty years or more, built facilities, exploits with a monopoly on its, then passes them to the community at the end of the contract. Already by finance that Henri Simeon had converted Lyon and Nantes since the creation of the CGE, it is the finance that today cities succumb to the charms of the French dealers, like Veolia but Suez Environment (water, another centenary... ex-Lyonnaise) or the SAUR.

The economic model advanced with the increasing sophistication of the equipment: plants for water treatment, desalination, recycling of waste... The size of the urban communities within the bar of the challenges and imposes sharp specialists, managers more than collectors-distributors.

This mass of cumulative experience, this considerable size, this presence on the four priorities of the communities are barriers to entry. It allows the Presidents of Veolia, as of Suez Environment, interact directly with the Governor of California, Chinese President or the mayors of Chongqing or Mexico City (the two largest cities of the world). Growing technological competence, for example for the desalination of sea water, and the management of the men are also areas of expertise hard to reach, either by the municipalities or by new entrants. Henri Proglio ensures that the main factor limiting growth, out of crisis, is the ability to train and recruit men. With 120,000 people in France, Veolia is already the first private employer in the country. This combination of considerable potential, it is estimated that less than 5 of water in the world are granted to the private sector, and high barriers to entry ensure that trade of endless opportunities and annual growth average between 6 and 10 with operating margins of the same order.

And yet, this public service dealer business that seems so solid and reasonably remunerative is a French curiosity, at least in its expansionist version. Only Veolia and Suez Environment challenge on the planet for contracts or waste water. And Veolia is the only one in the world to offer a broad range of services, with the energy and transportation. Why this exception The Napoleon III fault first. Impressed by what he had seen in London, it has authorized and encouraged this trade. It allowed the two Frenchmen to fund their international expansion a century later by their hexagonal "cheese".

But also because this if particular profession is not risk-free. He is greedy in capital and labour, sensitive to the effects of Exchange and, to some extent, to the conditions (for industry), but it is especially culturally and politically complex to negotiate and manage. It is rarely of gaiety of heart that public authorities agree to delegate basic than water tasks. Hence the low rate of privatisation of the sector. Each country offers a very different, complex situation to decrypt, where political interests are closely intertwined. An election to win, a scapegoat to find and it is a good contract that flickers because the promised tariff increase is prohibited or sometimes the dealer is squarely placed outside, as was the case for Suez in Argentina. Indeed, if Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, has recently decided that its services would resume the distribution of water to Veolia and Suez, live not was the first to be wary. Before him, Haussmann and Napoleon III, though favourable to the system, finally refused to entrust the management of the waters of Paris the General des Eaux, which had to rely on Lyon. Learning of the water policy.