Exploiting existing resources or exploring new ones is an old dilemma. As exploitation consists in “the refinement and extension of existing competences, technologies and paradigms” (March, 1991, p. 85) and exploration means “experimentation with new alternatives” (March, 1991, p. 85),...

To raise children, to guarantee a certain way of life, and to retire with a certain amount of capital can be accomplished in many different ways, particularly when couples are faced with the possibility of unemployment or poor returns to savings while trying to balance current and future...

This survey reviews the micro-economic foundations of the analysis of life insurance markets. The first part outlines a simple theory of insurance needs based on the life-cycle hypothesis. The second part builds on contract theory to expose the main issues in life insurance design within a...

Is an implementation of a management control system in a public company a lever of change ? A case study was carried out with the French National Railway Company between 1996 and 1998. The management control adapts to the strategic and structural change. The objectives are to decentralize the...

Profit manipulation has been largely studied through Positive Accounting Theory (PAT). However, the weakness of the results obtained would suggest using different theoretical and methodological approaches to examine this subject. In France, management controllers play a central role in profit...

This paper describes an exploratory field study which was carried out at the SNCF. In a network company like SNCF it is more difficult to adopt the assumptions on which traditional management control is based. Now this company is entering into a new process of change of its control system. Is a...

This paper examines issues related to the explanation of the budgeting practices variety. The framework chosen to explain diversity is the contingency theory. It gives us the opportunity to determinate the explanatory factors of budgeting practices: uncertainty, technology, organization, and...