D'une crise à l'autre. L'investissement des grands groupes français pris dans le cycle déflationniste

The strategies of French major quoted companies have been caught up for two decades in a deflationary financial cycle. The prices variation on financial markets is accompanied by productive investment fluctuations, which can be explained starting from Minsky?s concept of endogenous weakening of the balance sheets. A sample of 215 non financial groups is created to study their income statements, balance sheets and flows of funds accounts. The article then proposes to show that the inherent constraint to the shareholder value primacy, that have a decisive influence on groups? strategies, must improve the concept of the endogenous weakening of balance sheets. By introducing the risk of system principle, one leads to the definition of a certain number of common sequences in the major companies? behavior during the two last Western financial crises.