“…If this theoretical position seems limited, notably due to the fact that it does not take into account the institutional diversity of the ®rm (the internationalization of ®nancial markets, the development of the legal framework and of stock exchange rights, shareholder activism), it is nevertheless true that a restricted approach to government continues to predominate even in the theories of those who criticize such an approach. For Pastre  [14], for example, the life of companies is, in a given historical framework, governed by the whole body of operational and control rules. Charreaux (1996) de®nes``corporate governance as that which covers all the mechanisms whose effect is to limit powers and in¯uence decisions, or, in other words, which govern the behavior of companies and de®ne their discretionary boundaries''.…”