Soft power

How to open doors and influence people in France

Indispensable for Immelt

THERE is a lull before the renewed storm in the battle for Alstom, a French group whose turbines power generators around the world and whose high-speed trains sprint across the countryside. Too small to compete in a tough global market, Alstom had all but agreed to sell its energy operations to General Electric, an American conglomerate with complementary interests. Fearing a loss of jobs, France's government encouraged Siemens, a German firm, to take a different tack, offering to swap its transport activities for Alstom's energy operations and turning the rivals into a pair of European champions. Siemens says it may see its way to making a firm offer by June 16th. Meanwhile GE is in and out of the Elysee palace, chatting with President Franois Hollande and his aides, improving its offer in the light of their concerns and, it seems, winning supporters.

GE understands the importance of soft power. It should: it has been in France for more than 40 years, and its joint venture with France's Safran making jet engines has worked smoothly for almost as long.

Accompanying Jeffrey Immelt, GE's boss, on his rounds in Paris is Clara Gaymard, an author and mother of nine with a quick wit, several languages and the fattest address book in town. The president of GE in France since 2006, she does not make big operational decisions. But as ambassador for the firm she is important, for she brings to the job her membership of three networks.

The first is that bedrock of the French meritocratic establishment, the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. It churns out presidents and prime ministers along with company bosses and senior public administrators, and they are only a telephone call away from each other. Mrs Gaymard married a fellow enarque, who was briefly economy minister under Jacques Chirac until a housing scandal felled him. Mrs Gaymard's career has included a prestigious job at the Cour des Comptes, the national auditor's office, followed by a series of senior administrative posts.

Mrs Gaymard's three years at the head of the Invest in France agency produced her second network, consisting of many of the world's top businessmen. From 2003 to 2006 she travelled the globe, often in the company of the heads of big French companies, trying to sell the likes of Warren Buffett and Apple's Steve Jobs on France as an investment destination.

Her third network includes some of the relatively few women who are powerful in French business. Mrs Gaymard is a leading light in the Women's Forum at Deauville, an annual gathering often called “Davos for women”. So are Christine Lagarde, currently head of the International Monetary Fund, Laurence Parisot, recently retired as head of Medef, the employers' lobby, and others. The old girls' network is not as strong as the bond amongenarques but there is, as an observer puts it, “respect, and a certain solidarity”.

What does all this add up to in practice? GE does not always get what it wants: in 2009, for example, it lost an attempt to take over state-owned Areva's power-transmission and distribution business to home-grown Schneider Electric and Alstom. And Mrs Gaymard is not GE's only emissary in its bid to win approval to buy Alstom.

Yet she may, with her insider's knowledge of how to play the game, have earned GE a slightly more sympathetic hearing in the corridors of power. While Alstom stayed mum about the talks until the news broke in April, incurring ministerial ire, Mrs Gaymard tipped off the government in February that GE was interested, a gesture that was later appreciated. Although GE's chances look good, its bid may still fail. If it does, it will not be because the firm lacked the opportunity to make its case.