Abstract:Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was long associated with the ethics of company heads but now falls within an institutional process whereby practices give rise to rules which in turn modify company actions. CSR has spread as a result of social demand for a more ecological society, but it also constitutes a response to the crisis of shareholder governance. Drawing on the notion of ‘conception of control’ set out by Neil Fligstein (1990), we argue that CSR has given rise to a new ‘conception of control’, which we term ‘shareholder–CSR compatible’. Such a conception reflects how governance changes when environmental and societal responsibilities are combined with responsibility to shareholders. Shareholder value is still central within the enterprise, but top managers must now assume the position of mediators between these two imperatives.
Les études empiriques montrent que depuis la fin des années 1990, la Responsabilité Sociale de l’Entreprise (RSE) s’implante rapidement dans les sociétés cotées. Or, les arguments traditionnels évoqués dans la littérature comme favorables à la RSE sont insuffisants pour expliquer cette soudaine expansion. L’article formule alors l’hypothèse complémentaire de la mise en place d’un isomorphisme institutionnel, développé dans un champ organisationnel déjà structuré par le gouvernement d’entreprise et qui conduit les firmes à adopter une démarche de responsabilité sociale, indépendamment de la question de son efficience.
[eng] The french debate about corporate governance appeared in the 90's. Any attempt to address its main issues needs firstly to define this notion of corporate governance by distinguishing the organisational and the institutional level of analysis. This debate originally emerged in the United States before being spread to other industrial countries, including France. This historical view explains the focus of attention on the issue of convergence towards anglo-saxon principles of governance. The main results about convergence are summed up before concluding about some research prospects. [fre] Le débat français sur le gouvernement d'entreprise est apparu en France dans les années 90. Pour en restituer les principaux enjeux, il convient tout d'abord de définir la notion de gouvernement d'entreprise, en différenciant les niveaux d'analyse organisationnel et institutionnel. Une mise en perspective historique de ce débat conduit ensuite à distinguer son émergence aux États-Unis, puis sa diffusion par divers canaux, notamment en France. On comprend mieux alors l'enjeu central du débat français, à savoir le degré de convergence du système français vers des pratiques en vigueur dans les pays anglo-saxons dont nous retraçons les principaux résultats avant d'esquisser quelques perspectives de recherche.
The housing market in France : recent developments and prospects
House prices in France have been moving up strongly since 1997. The paper begins by giving some empirical evidence about this increase, comparing the current situation in France with those in other countries. It then examines the causes and consequences of this upward cycle. However, one can expect that this expansion in house prices is at its end. The paper suggests that a soft landing is more likely than a crash of a speculative bubble.
Classification JEL : G21, R21, R31
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