L’entreprise, lieu commun

Various theories of justice have dominated official development assistance (ODA) over the decades, and then the universe of global public action. Historically, they have tended to oppose private, lucrative and selfish activity to the public good, a monopoly of states or the privileged area of action of philanthropists. This division no longer reflects either the reality of the field of collective action or the state of the world. This article, on the other hand, presents the firm as an institution that produces externalities, either because of its core business or because of the way in which the latter is delivered. An important issue then becomes to maximize these externalities, either for the benefit of the company?s strategy or for the benefit of the community. Important consequences stem from this alternative vision, for the enterprises themselves, but also for governments and development finance institutions, about how to conduct development policies in the context of globalization, building on the private sector, by using it or energizing it for the benefit of the collective welfare. Codes JEL: D21, D22, F35, H41, L30, L31, L32, L33, L39, O10, O25.