The purpose of the research investigation is to consider the potential opportunities through which corporate governance may be developed to better suit the developing commercial culture within Poland. In order to do this, I formulate the following research questions: ‘What are the weaknesses of the Polish corporate governance system?’, ‘What changes should be made to corporate governance in Poland?’, and ‘Is a hybrid corporate governance model a choice for Poland?’ The concept of hybridisation is fairly new, and involves combining different approaches to corporate governance, eg it embraces combining elements of the board management and monitoring models. I examine several changes to corporate governance that can be called hybrid. They were implemented in South Africa, Japan, Malaysia, the UK and the US. The main focus, however, is put on Polish corporate governance, which I investigate from the angle of those changes. Doctrinal research is combined with a set of interviews conducted with business practitioners in Poland. Interviewees are asked to express their opinion about corporate governance in Poland. Questions are asked in the context of changes that were made to corporate governance in countries mentioned above. The interviews produce results that overlap with the doctrinal research. Polish companies have a highly consolidated share ownership structure, which has a negative influence on the allocation of power between corporate organs. The supervisory board is an organ through which the controlling shareholders extend their power. Under the Company Code 2000, the supervisory board usually appoints and removes members of the management board, and instructs them in the decision making process. The statutes might give a broader scope of powers to the supervisory board. All this results in various forms of expropriation in companies, such as, for example, stealing of profits by governing bodies, overpaying executives, or installing unqualified family members in managerial positions. In general, interviewees are pleased with the currently binding corporate governance in Poland. The majority of them are pessimistic about implementing such large changes in Poland as, for example, a one-tier board system. A significant number of interviewees propose minor changes to the Polish system of corporate governance. It should be highlighted that several non-managerial interviewees turn out to have more liberal approaches to potential changes to corporate governance in Poland. The research fills a gap in knowledge on hybrid corporate governance, as this issue has hardly been touched by the Polish legal doctrine. It also systematises and develops knowledge on hybrid corporate governance worldwide, and develops knowledge on legal transplant.

L’objectif principal de notre thèse consiste à évaluer l’impact du programme national de mise à niveau sur la compétitivité des PME/PMI algériennes qui ont suivi et finalisé ce type de programme. Pour ce faire, nous avons appliqué deux approches, il s’agit de l’approche univariée et l’approche multivariée. Dans la première approche, nous avons utilisé trois méthodes, à savoir : test de Student et test de Wilcoxon, en plus d’un modèle de régression simple. Tandis que dans, la seconde approche, nous avons appliqué un modèle de régression multiple. Par ailleurs, l'analyse empirique porte sur des données de panel d’un échantillon de 67 entreprises algériennes observées durant la période 1997 à 2008. Notre thèse est composée de quatre chapitres. Les deux premiers chapitres avaient pour objectif de faire le point sur la problématique de la compétitivité et de la mise à niveau des entreprises, en se référant à quelques expériences étrangères. Tandis que le troisième et le quatrième chapitre avaient pour objectif, d’abord, de présenter les stratégies et politiques de mise à niveau des PME/PMI algériennes afin d’effectuer une étude économétrique de l’effet escompté de la mise à niveau sur les différents indicateurs de compétitivité. / The principal aim of our thesis is to assess the impact of national program of upgrading on the competitiveness of Algerian Enterprises which have adopted and finalized this kind of program. To do this, we have applied two approaches in order to evaluate the impact of the upgrading; it is the univariate and multivariate approach. In the first approach, we have utilized three methods, namely: parametric test of Student and the nonparametric test of Wilcoxon, in addition a simple regression model. While the second approach apply a multiple regression model. Besides, the empirical analysis involves panel data of a sample of 67 Algerian enterprises observed during the period 1997 to 2008. Our thesis is composed of four chapters. The first chapter aims to introduce the theoretical sub-foundation useful for understanding the competitiveness while the upgrade strategies are stated in the second chapter. The third chapter presents upgrading strategies adopted in Algeria, and finally the last and fourth chapter presents the methodology and the results of the empirical evaluation of the upgrade program of the competitiveness of Algerian Enterprises.

Les réseaux d’entreprises sont des formes organisationnelles conduisant à un certain nombre d’avantages pour les entreprises qui en sont membres. Pour ces dernières, cette forme organisationnelle présente l’intérêt de ne pas supprimer leur autonomie ni leur indépendance, tout en bénéficiant des avantages liés aux rapprochements inter-organisationnels. De par cette particularité, les réseaux comprennent ainsi deux niveaux organisationnels distincts mais indissociables : le niveau organisationnel des entreprises membres et le niveau organisationnel du réseau. Avant de bénéficier des avantages auxquels conduit l’organisation en réseau, il est nécessaire qu’il soit construit par les organisations qui en sont à l’origine. Dans le temps, la construction du réseau conduit à un certain renforcement de son degré de néguentropie, se traduisant par une complexification sur le long-terme. Cette complexification s’opère tout en conservant l’autonomie et l’indépendance des organisations qui en sont membres. Peu de recherches se sont intéressées à cette question de la construction des réseaux. Cette thèse propose d’y répondre un utilisant l’approche par les oppositions paradoxales (approche par les paradoxes et approche par les dialectiques), qui permet de prendre en considération l’indissociabilité du double niveau organisationnel des réseaux. Par le biais d’une étude de cas appliquée à un réseau d’entreprises dans le secteur horticole de la région angevine, nous cherchons à identifier comment les objectifs de chacun des deux niveaux organisationnels contribuent à la construction du réseau en question et au renforcement de son degré de néguentropie. / Business networks are organizational forms that lead to a number of benefits for business members. For the latter, this organizational form has the advantage of not eliminating their autonomy or their independence, while benefiting from the advantages linked to inter-organizational reconciliations. In this way, the networks thus comprise two distinct but inseparable organizational levels : the organizational level of the member companies and the organizational level of the network. Before benefiting from the advantages of networking, it is necessary that it be built by the organizations that are at the origin of it. In time, the construction of the network leads to a certain strengthening of its degree of negentropy, resulting in a long-term complexification. This complexity takes place while preserving the autonomy and independence of the member organizations. Little attention has been paid to this question of network construction. This thesis proposes to answer it using a paradoxical approach (paradoxical approach and dialectical approach), which makes it possible to take into account the indissociability of the dual organizational level of networks. Through a case study applied to a network of companies in the horticultural sector of the Angevin region, we seek to identify how the objectives of each of the two organizational levels contribute to the construction of the network in question and to the reinforcement of its degree of negentropy.

Health and safety issues have always been a major problem and concern in the construction industry. Wherever reliable records are available, construction is found to be one of the most dangerous on health and safety criteria, particularly in developing countries. Efforts have been made to address this problem, but the results have been far from satisfactory, as construction accidents continue to dominate the overall construction industry. Despite the programs implemented by government authorities and measures introduced by companies themselves, the number of construction accidents still remains alarmingly high. In developing countries, safety rules usually do not exist; if they do, the regulatory authority is usually very weak in implementing such rules effectively. The UAE is one of developing countries that are currently enjoying a strong growth in construction activities. Unfortunately, some sectors of its construction industry suffer from poor safety and health conditions. Any framework of the existing occupational and health conditions is fragmented and inadequately enforced, making construction sites more hazardous. It may even be argued that relevant regulations are outdated and irrelevant in day-to-day construction operations. From this perspective this research explores the approved methods adopted in the UK in order to improve the existing code of practice in the UAE and thus introduce the foundations on which appropriate health and safety systems may be built. A framework for Health and Safety management in the UK is suggested. To reach this objective an overview of the published materials as well as the legislation has been undertaken. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to potential construction industry players and interview sessions have been conducted to meet the first objective of the project which to determine the health and safety measures currently applied on construction sites. In addition, structured interviews were carried out with selected managers from a selection of construction and oil companies, medium and large size. This thesis specifically, it investigates the safety perceptions, attitudes, and behaviour of construction workers and management safety practices. Based upon the analysis of the results, this study has demonstrated that the majority of those questioned UAE construction companies have a poor degree of risk awareness and do not seems to take health and safety as an important issue.

Selon la théorie des parties prenantes, la Responsabilité Sociétal de l’Entreprise (RSE) est la réponse donnée par les entreprises à la pression croissantes des employées, actionnaires, communautés locales, ONG environnementales ou régulateurs afin de prendre en compte les impacts environnementaux et sociaux de leurs activités. L’enjeu n’est pas une simple compensation des externalités négatives mais une transformation des entreprises pour permettre une croissance durable. Ainsi, la RSE pousse les entreprises à être proactive et à dépasser les attentes règlementaires. Cependant, comment réussir à concilier des objectifs si différents voire opposés ? Alors que de plus en plus d’entreprises intègrent la RSE au cœur de leurs stratégies, les processus de gouvernance semblent être le chainon manquant pour réunir performance économique, sociale et environnementale. Cette thèse présente des arguments empiriques et théoriques de l’impact de la gouvernance à son plus haut niveau, du conseil d’administration au Directeur Général (DG). Après un chapitre d’introduction, le chapitre 2 analyse le lien entre la composition des conseils d’administrations et l’intégration de la RSE dans la stratégie des entreprises. Il s’appuie sur une loi sur la représentation des femmes dans les conseils d’administrations. Adopté en France en 2011, cette loi a entrainé la nomination de nouveaux administrateurs, majoritairement des femmes plus jeunes que leurs prédécesseurs. Pour autant, ce chapitre montre que l’augmentation de la diversité au sein des conseils n’est pas corrélée à variation de la performance financière et extra-financière. Ce chapitre repose sur l’étude des entreprises du SBF 120 de 2009 à 2015. Cependant, si les caractéristiques des administrateurs sont impliquées dans les processus de décisions, la mise en place des stratégies et le management de l’entreprise est confié au soin du DG. Grâce à un système de rémunération avec part variable, le conseil d’administrations s’applique à aligner les intérêts du DG avec les siens. Le chapitre 3 étudie l’efficacité des rémunérations variables basées sur des critères environnementaux ou sociétaux. Il montre que l’impact de ces « Bonus RSE » dépend du modèle de gouvernance de l’entreprise. Chez les entreprises possédant une gouvernance de type actionnarial, les « Bonus RSE » semble n’avoir qu’un impact négatif sur la performance financière. En revanche, pour les entreprises du type partenarial, ces bonus permettent efficacement l’amélioration des performances extra-financières sans diminuer la performance financière. Cette étude empirique se base sur un panel mondial de 3500 entreprises sur la période 2006-2015. Le chapitre 4 propose un modèle théorique permettant d’analyser l’impact de la nature intrinsèque ou extrinsèque des motivations. Basé sur le modèle principal-agent développé par Che et Yoo (2001), ce chapitre analyse différentes incitations pour une entreprise composée de deux agents travaillant sur une tâche « RSE ». Trois scénarios sont étudiés : les deux agents reçoivent une compensation financière, les deux agents sont motivés intrinsèquement, un agent est motivé intrinsèquement et l’autre financièrement. Le modèle montre que le scénario optimal pour le principal dépend du niveau de motivation intrinsèque mais également de l’interdépendance entre les décisions des deux agents. Dans le cas particulier de la rémunération des directeurs d’entreprises, les données empiriques montrent qu’inclure des critères RSE dans la rémunération est plus adapté aux entreprises avec une forte interdépendance décisionnelle. La conclusion retrace le lien qui unit gouvernance et RSE à plusieurs niveaux, et discute de l’implication des réseaux et effets de mimétisme entre entreprise. / According to the stakeholders’ theory, Corporate Social Responsibly is the firm’s response to increasing pressure from employees, shareholders, communities, environmental NGOs or regulators to consider the social and environmental consequences of their business activity. What is at stake, is not only a compensation of negative externalities but the adaptation and the participation of firms to a sustainable growth. In that sense, CSR is not just about being efficient but being the best and push firms to be proactive and go beyond legal requirements. But how manage objectives so various and even opposite? While firms start to integrate CSR into their global business strategy, at the top of the decision-making process, corporate governance appears to be the missing link to join economic, environmental and social objectives. This dissertation provides empirical and theoretical evidences of the determining factors involved at the high level of firms’ governance, from the board of directors to the CEO. After an introduction chapter, chapter 2 investigates the link between board composition and integrated CSR strategies. Adopted in 2011, the law targets listed firms and brought about the entrance of new directors, more likely to be women and younger than prior directors. However, we do not find evidence that this diversity is correlated to financial or extra-financial performance. For this chapter, we use a panel composed of French listed companies (SBF120 index) over the 2009-2015 period. If director’s characteristics are involved at the top of the decision making-process, the execution of the strategy and management of the firm is delegated to the CEO. Using variable pay, compensation part determined by performance objectives, the board aligns the CEO’s interests with his own interests. Chapter 3 shows evidence of the effectiveness of CSR based compensation part, labelled under the term “CSR contracting”. We show that the impact of such compensation depends on the governance structure. For firms who focus on shareholder, CSR contracting is more likely to have a negative impact on financial performance and no impact on extra-financial performance. On the contrary, for firms with a stakeholder model of governance, we show that CSR contracting is effective and have a positive impact on the environmental and social performance without impacting the economic results. This empirical work is conducted on a worldwide dataset with 3500 firms over the 2006-2015 period. Chapter 4 provides a theoretical framework to understand the role of governance factor on the efficiency of incentives. We develop a model based on Che et Yoo (2001) model to study the influence of compensation among a team of two managers who have to work on a CSR task. We determine the optimal compensation between three compensation mixes: both agents receive monetary compensations, both agents receive external rewards from their environment, one agent receives monetary compensation and the other receives an external reward. We show that the choice of the optimal compensation scheme depends on the environment outside the firm, i.e. the level of the exogenous reward, and the environment inside the firm through the level of the interdependence between the managers' decisions which corresponds to the capacity of the firm to create cooperation between the agents. Then, using evidence from executive compensation, we apply this model to the relationship between the CEO and the board of directors and find that the adoption of monetary incentives for CSR tasks is more suitable for firms with a high decisional interdependence than for firms with a lower interdependence. In conclusion, from directors’ characteristics to the overall governance organisation, we retrace the link between corporate governance and CSR integrated strategies; a link who could go beyond firm frontiers and include industry ties and peer effects.