Dadas, Taboos and Litigation in Small Companies

In this paper, we focus on small businesses. They account for more than 96% of all companies, but are not very visible in the media or in management science research. We analyze the dadas, taboos, disputes and invisibilized subjects, more or less specific to very small companies, through the experience of 33 research-interventions spread over one year. They were conducted by a large research team using the same working methods and tools. This subject is interesting because it sheds light on elements that are difficult to access, for two reasons. The first is the difficulty of accessing information in very small companies, which often see less value in support and research. A second difficulty is access to unspoken information, which is hidden by nature, requiring in-depth, long-term investigation within very small businesses. From the performance issues point of view, what is left unsaid is a major socio-economic challenge: contradictory hidden strategies, hidden conflicts and disputes, disorganizing taboos, dadas used as masks, invisible information, capable of generating multiple dysfunctions. The aim of this paper is to enrich our knowledge of the practices deployed within VSEs, in order to better support these organizations.