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FRENCH
ECONOMY
Agriculture & Industry
1. History and situation today
Traditional industries (long standing versus new,
"High Tech " industry)
Trade-type
products (wine making +e.g.
barrel makers, etc.); silk/ leather
products/special cheeses and foods…
e.g MICHELIN : an old industry
that evolved to be global! http://www.aventure-michelin.com/virtual-visit.php
BOIRON : leader in traditional
homeopathy
HERMES:
silk – leather products (luxury)
ECONOMICTOURISM http://fr.franceguide.com/Thematiques/Tourisme-de-Decouverte-Economique/Tourisme-industriel-de-surprise-en-surprise.html?nodeID=194&EditoID=215276
Three economic
sectors:
Primary
(raw materials: agriculture/mining/energy.
.Agriculture, Energy/nuclear/
energy:decline of coal= alternative)
Secondary (transformation
of raw materials into products: industry)
Tertiary (services to sell or
facilitate the process:retail/
banking/consultants, lawyers, etc...;transportation/telecommunications/postal
services/ utilities etc.)
2.
KEY economic sectors &main French companies:
Nuclear energy [EDF]
Agri-foods : wine, cereals, milk products,
sugar beets, oil seeds
[DANONE(food
production) /SEITA: tobacco company]
Luxury products: -fashion/clothes- perfumes, leather goods, glassware
[HERMES/CARTIER/VUITTON]
Pharmaceuticals/COSMETICS [SANOFI/ RHONE POULENC/
L'OREAL/BOIRON ]
Automobile industry [RENAULT/PEUGEOT/ MATRA engines]
Materials processing: [metal PECHINEY, steel USINOR, glass,
STGOBAIN,
rubber MICHELIN,cement LAFARGE]
Construction/civil engineering [BOUYGUES]
Telecommunication [FRANCE-TELECOM/ALCATEL-LUCENT
TECHNOLOGIES]
Aerospace[AEROSPATIALE part of the consortium AIRBUS INDUSTRIES , subsidiary of
EADS Industries (European)
 France and High Tech in the 21st
century.
- GENERAL TOPICS: High Tech, Telematics,
Transportation, Aerospace, Biotech.
Intro: French Nobel prizes and fundamental research
in physics/chemistry/medecine/engineering:
Pierre &
Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur, Henri Becquerel (Radioactivity),
Pierre-Gilles De Gennes
(NOBEL 1991 in Nuclear Physics), Roland Moreno (Electronics: Smart Card),
AIDS virus, Pill RU486, Genetics (Human
genome).
1-Fundamental Research
& French Discoveries:
2-New technologies:transportation,
energy, civil engineering:
3-Main French Research establishments:
French applied research: High Tech-Engineering/
Electronics
( stems from very high competitive education in the
field of engineering)
1/- Transportation
Give some destinations (main TGV lines from Paris-->
main cities in and outside of French borders http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm)
EUROSTAR?
THALYS?
RATP Paris transportation system and RER
Paris
and surroundings train system
AIR
FRANCE:
national
airline
2/. Telecommunication :
telematics
Telecommunication [FRANCE-TELECOM/MINITEL >France Télécom; ALCATEL-LUCENT
TECHNOLOGIES]
3/. Electronics: SMART CARD
(Carte à Puce/ with a chip)
4/. AEROSPACE: Aerospace industry---based in Toulouse
- Former Concorde (Franco-British
consortium)
- AIRBUS:
aircraft
manufacture - European Consortium. Only rival to Boeing.
- ARIANE:
Satellite
launcher- Rocket
 
- Weapon and military industry : France is the fifth largest arms exporter world-wide
and its trade surplus has been averaging over 30 billion francs ($5
billion). This is a strategic, high-tech industry which is heavily
dependent on the government, which decides on procurement programmes through the intermediary of the Délégation générale à l'armement (weapons procurement agency) and controls exports. It is dominated by
large companies: GIAT-Industries for land-based equipment, Dassault and Matra-Aérospatiale
for aircraft, Matra-Aérospatiale and
Thomson-CSF for missiles.
5/. Biotechnology : France is well-placed, be
it in the area of fermentation, flavourings or the
genetics: bovine.
Seeds
(genetic research and engineering used especially in agriculture to develop
new seeds(Company: Novartis)
N.B Law is against the private use of
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in agriculture in France
Biotechnology is a very
varied field with spin-offs in many economic sectors: pharmaceuticals, with
antibiotics, the agri-foodstuffs industry, with the
use of enzymes in the dairy
industry, horticulture, and the energy and environmental industries, with the
production
of diester and ethanol. Indeed, the green-technology
industry now has a turnover of 30
billion francs ($5 billion). Water treatment is the leading activity,
followed by air
purification and waste processing.
3. LARGE FRENCH COMPANIES AND SOME
of their US SUBSIDIARIES
AXA (The Equitable)----------------------- insurance
CARREFOUR /AUCHAN---------------- Supermarkets-Distribution
ELF AQUITAINE* (Elf Atochem
North America, Sanofi, Taxasgulf)--------
petrochemicals
MICHELIN (Uniroyal-Goodrich)---------
tires
PECHINEY *(American National Can)
packaging
RENAULT *(Mac trucks) Car manufacture
(30% privatized)
RHONE-POULENC* (Rorer, Applied Immune Sciences)
chemicals, pharmaceuticals
SAINT GOBAIN (Norton, Certainteed)
construction materials
SNECMA (CFM International) jet engines
/DASSAULT
TOTAL (Vickers, Sartomer)
petroleum products
USINOR/SACILOR/Mittal (Francosteel, J & L Specialty Steel, etc.)
metal fabrications
DANONE (food products)
L'OREAL (cosmetics)
LAFARGE (Western Mobile Inc.,
Lafarge Inc.) Ciment, aggregates
BOIRON (Boiron, USA). Homeopathic medecines
LIMAGRAIN (Ferry Morse Seeds)-seeds.
4. AGRICULTURE Primary sector
- -- AGRI-BUSINESS: France is number one
in agriculture in Europe (click: Economy and social situation)
.It is also the world's second largest exporter of agri-foodstuffs,
behind the USA.
- Common
Agricultural Policy (European Union).
Key words:
---CAP
: Common Agricultural Policy (European Union)
---Agriculture is France's oldest asset: second
biggest worldwide exporter.
- Biggest producer of sugar-beet in
the EU(European Union) second biggest
worldwide
- the world's second biggest wine
producer (1st: Italy)
- EU's second biggest and world's
fifth biggest milk producer (UE -premier milk exporter )
- Biggest producer of cereals in the
EU and fifth biggest worldwide.
- France exports more wine, cattle,
poultry, apples and sunflower products than any other country
and is the second biggest exporter of cereals,
cheese, milk, sugar and rapeseed.
France owes these results to the
hard work and professionalism of its farmers
· Greener agriculture/
Anti GMO/ Organic Farming :  
· recent trend: Magazine LABEL FRANCE no 45
5.
SERVICE INDUSTRY: Tertiary sector (services/retail/
banking/consultants, lawyers, etc...;transportation/telecommunications/postal
services/ utilities etc.)
- AIR LINES:
AIR
FRANCE
Big Stores: AUCHAN/ CARREFOUR /Hypermarkets
Banks: Crédit Agricole, P&T (Banking Service), BNP* (Paris National
Bank), Paribas*: (*Banks
privatized between 1986 and 1994-6)
INSURANCE: AXA
TOURISM: CLUB MED:
Tourism
TRANSPORTATION: Railways SNCF
(Train and TGV; Subway e.g. RATP (Paris
subway system); VAL (automatic public transportation)
POSTAL SYSTEM: P&T Postal and Telecommunications Services
Public companies: services/utilities (tertiary
sector)
- PUBLIC
UTILITIES: mandatory RECYCLING Pick up + container parks, free drop off
(for plastic, glass, metal, wood, foam, textiles, toxic products,
construction materials, paper, cardboard, oils -cooking and engine- and
connection with recycling companies for manufacturing recycled
products (e.g sweaters/blankets/textiles with
plastic bottles)
- EDF :
Energy---- French nuclear plant system and alternative energies
WIND, SOLAR, TIDAL, by-products e.g refuse
incineration, bagasse (from sugar cane
processing)
- GDF :
Energy---- French Natural Gas.
- SNCF: National
Railway Company (owns TGV Train Grande Vitesse or
High Speed Train)
Public /nationalized (state owned companies) and
privatized industries.
Key
words: --Nationalization/
privatization of a series of companies of all sectors of the economy.
- in 1981 wave of nationalizations of private
companies :The
Left: nationalizes many banks and industries
- in 1986 wave of
privatizations by the Right -wing
government in power, implemented policies such as privatization, decentralization and
a more open economy . These have gradually helped the French economy's
liberal transition. Under President Mitterrand, in 1986, then
Prime Minister Jacques Chirac first launched the privatization program
of 13 state companies (Bank Paribas, Bank Indosuez, Société
Générale, Matra...).
- in 1993, 1994
and 1995: privatizations of much of the financial (BNP) and insurance (UAP)sectors
and Pechiney and Usinor-Sacilor/Mittal, Europe's largest steel-maker. RHONE POULENC (Chemicals),
ELF -AQUITAINE (Petrochemicals), SEITA (French tobacco
industry=monopoly), 30% of RENAULT privatized=mixed economy(car industry), THOMSON (electrics)...
6.-IMPORTANCE
OF DECENTRALIZATION (=away from Paris!)
DATAR:
Delegation of administrative power to Regional authorities by law in 1982, began in 1972, with the regionalisation.
- Creation of TECHNOPOLES
= Science & Industry parks in different parts of
France
- E.g Sophia
Antipolis (nr. Nice, South of France), the
largest in Europe or of the Futuroscope
( Poitiers).
 (Futuroscope, Poitiers).
- IFA: INVEST IN FRANCE
AGENCY
for the DATAR abroad.
==promotes Foreign Investments and gives
economic development, incentives.
7. FRENCH EXPORTS:
Aircraft : 2nd
Computers : 5th
Medicines : 4th
Automobiles : 4th
Women's clothing : 4th
Perfumes : 1st
Wines : 2nd
Cheeses : 2nd
8. NEW TREND: SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT all big
companies must curb emission, and pollutants and have S.D. in their mission
statements
i.e triple bottom line goal: economic, environmental and social
GREEN, ETHICALLY & SOCIALLY
RESPONSIBLE COMPANIES...In line with the European Union green laws
Fair Trade focus
  
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