(VF)Si l'histoire du gouvernement des entreprises commence à être mieux connue, il importe de comprendre comment l'évolution des théories a épousé cette histoire au fur et à mesure qu'il se modifiait. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à comprendre plus précisément, comment ces théories ont rendu compte de l'étendue et de la limitation, au cours du temps, du pouvoir discrétionnaire du dirigeant. Successivement nous montrons comment la théorie des droits de propriété puis la théorie de l'agence ont répondu aux défis posés soit par les pratiques en cours soit par les critiques portées par des théories concurrentes. Nous concluons que les évolutions récentes du gouvernement des entreprises, dues à la massification de l'actionnariat, rendent nécessaire un renouvellement théorique, dont nous repérons les principales pistes. (VA) The history of Corporate governance systems is now well-documented. However, it is necessary to better understand the link between the use of theories and the evolution of effective practices of governance. In this paper, we show that the development of theories (property rights, agency theory) parallels the evolution of the governance of capitalist corporations. We describe three main periods. In each period, economic theories offer rational frameworks to allow and to limit the discretionary power of executives. They answer the need for both understanding the governance systems and legitimating practices in use. Therefore, we show how the recent evolution of corporate governance since the 70's, challenges the use of the agency theory as the mainstream model and paves the way for new theorizations of corporate governance in the mass ownership era.
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Volume (Year): 6 (2003) Issue (Month): 4 (December) Pages: 183-208 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
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Find related papers by JEL classification: N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General M20 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Economics - - - General
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Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997.
" A Survey of Corporate Governance,"
Journal of Finance,
American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-83, June.
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