The article discusses the origins of the U-shaped average cost curve, which is one of the most widely used tools in microeconomic analysis. Its widespread use leads many to consider it as a basic tool, obscuring the fact that the graph of the U-shaped average cost curve is part of a complex...

A principal needs a worker for the production of a good. The worker can be hired as an internal agent, or an external agent under a contract. These two organizational modes correspond to in-house production and outsourcing, respectively. In each case, the agent earns experience benefits: future...

A debate around the book by Denis Segrestin ("Les chantiers du manager", Paris, Colin, 2004) gives an opportunity to hope for deeper and rigorous anaytical frameworks about organizational theories of firms. Two perspectives are suggested: firms as collective action systems open to their...

Including real options in firms ’ value raises numerous difficulties. Limitations concerning the relevance of option pricing models outside financial markets are the most salient, but carrying out a valuation implies other assumptions, especially on firms’ governance. In particular,...

Chemical industry's managers have developed since mid-1970' a management and prevention risk policy named “Responsible Care”. This policy was a first draft for a sustainable management even if these two concepts were not exactly synonymous. Through genealogy of this practice and its use in a...

Chemical industry's managers have developed since mid-1970' a management and prevention risk policy named “Responsible Care”. This policy was a first draft for a sustainable management even if these two concepts were not exactly synonymous. Through genealogy of this practice and its use in a...

L'industrie chimique a mis en place de longue date un programme de gestion et de prévention des risques dénommé “Responsible Care” (« Engagement de Progrès » en Français). Ce programme préfigure le thème du développement durable apparu au cours des années 1980. Au travers de la...

Global warming will be a major issue in the 21st century. Limiting temperature increase to +2⁰C above pre-industrial levels should help to preserve ecosystems. According to current estimates, this sustainable development objective requires a stabilisation of Greenhouse Gases (GHG)...

The large environmental and Humanitarian INGOs, since they were born, have developed a significant role in global governance, international aid and sustainable development. They have become a symbol of a path for another globalization. A large number of individual donors have supported them...