Those who use stakeholder theory as a reference are both underlining the correlation between facts and a certain conceptualisation thereof (Section 1) and trying to make the necessary shift from a "panoptic" analysis akin to a panoramic vision of texts and positions (Section 2) to an "in-depth" one geared towards an understanding of their foundations (Section 3). As a "theory of organisations", stakeholder theory helps to nourish a relational model of organisations by revisiting questions about "who" is actually working with (and in) the firm. Stakeholder theory is part of a comprehensive project that views the organisation-group relationship as both a foundation and a norm.

Le contrôle de gestion est devenu une discipline académique et un domaine de recherche. Mais, dans le même temps, ses présupposés fondateurs ont donné lieu à critique. Des tentatives de rénovation se sont succédées dans la pratique, alors que la conception classique héritée de Fayol et confortée par la théorie économique néoclassique se trouvait confrontée à une approche inspirée par H. Simon, mettant en évidence le rôle du contrôle de gestion comme vecteur d’apprentissage et d’émergence des stratégies. Enfin, l’apparition des ERP tend à accélérer la prise de conscience de l’écart entre le processus de contrôle et le rôle qu’y joue le contrôleur, un rôle appelé à changer profondément.

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PurposeAt the core of how societies operate, lies social interaction. Organizations as significant social bodies rely on social interaction both to get things done in order to remain sustainable and to also impart a contribution to the wider society. Understanding the dynamics of social interactions in the way social agents and social action take place through the lens of social practice theory could yield powerful insights both about practices of socialization as well as the socialization of practices. The purpose of this paper is to fundamentally reveal the tensions that such interactions expose and the dynamics in negotiating individual and collective priorities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a conceptual approach on the links to be established between practice and socialization.FindingsThis paper focuses on how a practice perspective provides valuable insights about how social agents get things done in organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is linked with other papers in this issue where the dynamics in negotiating individual and collective priorities reveal the tensions that such interactions expose (“transaction”). This paper provides a useful foundation for examining why organization practices tend to have an institutional character. This issue reveals new possibilities for appreciating the emergent nature of socialization both as a practice and a process striving towards institutionalization.Originality/valueThis paper explores socialization as a practice that can provide new insights into the dynamics of social interaction.

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PurposeCorporate governance is more than disciplining managers to produce more value for the shareholders. It must include how the organization influences other social institutions in order to impose its view or legitimize its procedures. The purpose of this paper is to give the concept of governance its full meaning.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes some of the essential networks between the corporation, as an organization, and other social institutions. It also tries to separate the level at which these networks function, while proposing some categories to understand the specificity of the organization in regard to individuals or the society all included in a discussion of the managerialism.FindingsThe paper considers the other side of the institutional theory, showing that the enterprise is, at least, influencing the functioning of the society, as much as the society influences the enterprise. However, in this period still dominated by the agency theory, this kind of analysis had not been developed very much yet.Originality/valueThis paper situated itself in the scotoma of the theories customarily used in accounting or management. These theories are interested to present the enterprise as passively supporting the weight of social pressures. The paper's originality is to focus on what is habitually left in the blind spot of those theories using works that have a best audience in political sciences than in management.

Purpose -The notion of "sustainable development" has had a short and tumultuous history, including a departure from economic reductionism by focusing on a multidimensional aspect and addressing the issues of its scope across many disciplines. It has become a project enabling a rethinking of capitalism based on the concept of a reformed type of capitalism. The purpose of this paper is to study this issue. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on the following arguments: the presentation of sustainable development as a "vague" theory, an empirical proof of this vagueness with regard to corporate actions whose justification is based around the notion of sustainable development, and finally the ambiguities of the notion. Findings -The notion of sustainable development raises the question of an apparent consensus on its correlates: solidarity, responsibility, equity, etc. It tends to establish a protean sense of the firms' responsibility, particularly the larger ones. The largely political dimension of the notion has today consequences on its usage. Sustainable development as addressed in the firm tends to take on the dimension of a management issue, which is likely to persist due to its larger political dimension. Originality/value -The paper provides insight on the catch-all dimension of the notion and its appealing rhetorical character and bases the ambiguity related with references to an "in-between." On the institutional level, it refers to a social and fair economy that stands arguably in between the state and the market. On the methodological level, it refers to heuristics of fear and hope.

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