La société contre l'entreprise ? Vers une norme d'entreprise à progrès collectif

The current corporate and business crises occurring in the relationships between employees and managers, and between managers and shareholders, highlight a theoretical deficiency : except for the classical corporate contract, there is no model to describe an enterprise. This model, especially the French publicly traded corporation (société anonyme), does not, however, accurately depict the firm as an essential form of collective action in creating knowledge, values, and social welfare. To capture the reality of the contemporary enterprise and its creative processes, this article suggests a new model of collective activities, shaped by management, that aims at creating new capabilities. This new model enables us to design legal norms consistent with both the reality of creative collective action and a free and competitive market.