L’Etat du Mato Grosso amorce à peine son essor économique au moment où le Brésil décide de libéraliser son économie au début des années 1990. Le projet politico-économique né dans les années 1950, qui voulait occuper ce vaste territoire et en faire un grand bassin de production agricole, est encore inachevé en 1985. La libéralisation, malgré les risques qu’elle soulève, a eu au Mato Grosso un impact favorable sur la croissance économique. Elle a été impulsée par un exceptionnel développement de la production agricole et son insertion dans le commerce international, suite à l’expansion des superficies cultivées, à l’incorporation et à la diffusion du progrès technologique et au crédit rural. L’inflexion des politiques publiques vers la population la plus fragile est notoire du point de vue de la réorientation des budgets publics et des résultats enregistrés en matière de réforme agraire. La pérennité et l’équité du processus de croissance restent cependant encore incertaines. Le segment de l’agriculture familiale se trouve marginalisé dans l’économie agricole de l’Etat et son revenu se dégrade. La croissance économique de l’Etat est très sensible à la conjoncture internationale suite à son hyperspécialisation autour du complexe exportateur soja et très dépendante des financements hors canal bancaire traditionnel. Sa compétitivité future est conditionnée au développement d’infrastructures de transport et de stockage. Les indicateurs socio-économiques en milieu rural sont en nette amélioration et les inégalités se réduisent, mais ces résultats sont encore à confirmer dans la durée. La déforestation a été le prix à payer de la croissance agricole. Le traitement de la question environnementale, pour accompagner la dynamique de croissance, constitue un enjeu majeur. Notamment au moment où le Nord du Mato Grosso pourrait devenir un nouveau site d’agro-exportation en plein bassin amazonien, afin de maintenir la compétitivité-prix de la production et de favoriser sa diversification, et d´assurer la pérennité sociale et économique du processus de développement. / The Mato Grosso State’s economic development started shortly when Brazil decided to liberalize its economy in the early nineties. The political and economic project born in the fifties, aiming at occupying this vast territory and turning into an important agricultural production area, was still unachieved in 1985. In spite of the risks it brings, the liberalization has had a positive impact on the economic growth in Mato Grosso. It was stimulated by an exceptional development in agricultural production and its integration into the international trade, following the expansion of the cultivated lands, the adoption and the spread of the technological progress and the rural financings. The inclination of the public policies towards the most vulnerable population is visible through the new orientation of the public budgets and the recorded results of the land reform. The durability and the equity of the growth process still remain uncertain. The family agriculture segment is noticeable to be marginalized in the State rural economy, and its income is eroding. The economic growth of the State became very sensitive to the international conjuncture as a result of its over-specialization on the export soybean complex, and is strongly depending on the financing, out of the traditional banking system. The future competitiveness of the economy is linked with the development of transportation and storage infrastructures. The social and economic indicators in rural areas are improving sharply and the disparities are reducing, but these results are still to be confirmed in the longer term. Deforestation has been the price to pay for agriculture growth. The handling of the environmental issue, to accompany the dynamic of growth, constitutes a major stake. Especially at the time when the North of the Mato Grosso could become a new site for agricultural exports across the Amazonian basin, in order to maintain the price’s competitiveness of the production, to stimulate its diversification and to ensure the social and economic sustainability of the development process.

In general, policymakers are often faced with a different choice, i.e., the choice between using regulation-based instruments and using incentive-based instruments, where the policy instruments could be based either on mandatory approach or voluntary approach with economic incentives in market. Historically, industrial economists have regarded the issue of policy design as the one focused primarily on the choice among alternative policy instruments, where those are generally viewed as falling into two broad categories: regulation-based instruments and incentive-based instruments. Through the theoretical and empirical analysis, this study identifies some key features that are likely to increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of industrial policies with voluntary and mandatory approaches. One key feature is the existence of a strong relationship between innovation and industrial policies. The explorative innovation increases the incentives for participation in long-term but also reduces the financial incentives in short-term. Considering firms' characteristics and industry sector also increases the synergy effect of policies and regulations. In sum, when based on the understanding and consideration on the nature of innovation and other impact factors, industrial policy can provide a mechanism for meeting industrial quality goals both effectively and efficiently. This understanding also can help policy makers to decide whether or not use of such policy approach is advisable and to design the policy ensuring that it is as effective and efficient as possible. Consequently, the current study investigates the difference and tendency of industrial policy approaches and the type of innovation carrying out three analyses according to the mandatory and voluntary approaches. With the assumption that the mandatory approach has short-run impact to prompt new technology or grow a specific industry, we firstly assess the impact of regulation, such as privatization of nature monopoly. Using the firms' data of 20 OECD countries between 1994 and 2008, we can claim that considering interaction among liberalization policies and allowing the industry characteristics are critical to determine for the Profitability effect and Operational efficiency effect and level of investments. Secondly, this study analyzes the relationship between 'Corporate Environmentalism' and composition of innovation using the Carbon Discloser Project (CDP) and (Dow Jones Sustainability Index) DJSI index data. The result shows the significant variation of firms' investment activities according to the industry sector, firm characteristics, sustainable and environmental behaviors of firms. Finally, this study identifies the relationship between 'Business-led Initiatives (CSR)' and innovation activities of firms. Using the Vigeo rating and financial data in 2009, this study shows the relationship between CSR and innovation activities of firms. Consequently, when the firm builds their short- and long-run business strategies, the consideration of the relationship between types of investment and CSR practice will lead to more synergic effect on the outcome of investments. The findings of this study could provide a comprehensive understanding on the effect of sustainable management strategies on the innovation and sustainability of firms.

De manière générale, différentes approches s’offrent aux décideurs politiques lorsqu’il s’agit de promouvoir l’innovation. Pour reprendre la distinction posée par la plupart des économistes industriels, les politiques peuvent être de nature presciptive ou incitative. A travers une série d’analyses théoriques et empiriques, cette thèse identifie plusieurs facteurs clés qui déterminent l’efficacité des politiques d’innovation, que l’approche adoptée soit de nature prescriptive ou incitative. En guise de préambule, nous soulignons que les politiques mises en oeuvre constituent un déterminant fondamental des capacités d’innovation d’une industrie, notamment parce que les incitations marchandes à engager des activités de recherche fortement exploratoires sont limitées. Par ailleurs, nous signalons que la nature des politiques susceptibles de favoriser l’innovation dépend fondamentalement des caractéristiques des industries, et même des firmes, auxquelles elles sont destinées. La mise en oeuvre de politiques (incitatives ou presciptives) efficaces requiert ainsi une compréhension approfondie du secteur d’activité que l’on souhaite promouvoir et de la nature des processus d’innovation qui impliquent notamment différents types d’investissements (à plus ou moins long terme, plus ou moins risqués et plus ou moins exploratoires). Cette thèse analyse ensuite, à travers trois études de cas, l’incidence de différentes politiques (incitatives ou presciptives) mises en oeuvre dans des contextes industriels distincts. Partant de l’hypothèse selon laquelle les politiques presciptives ont un impact bénéfique sur l’innovation et le développement technologique d’un secteur à court terme mais des effects plus incertains à long terme, nous étudions l’impact des politiques de libéralisation (ouverture à la concurrence et privatisation des opérateurs historiques) qui ont été mises en oeuvre dans le secteur des télécommunications. A travers une étude économétrique portant sur un panel de 20 pays de l’OCDE sur la période 1994-2008, nous soulignons que l’impact de la concurrence sur les décisions d’investissement s’exerce à travers deux effects : l’effet «profitabilité» et l’effet «efficacité opérationnelle». Nous soulignons par ailleurs que la relation entre intensité concurrentielle et investissement varie signicativement entre entreprises publiques et firmes privées. Dans une seconde étude, nous analysons le lien entre la propension des firmes à adopter spontanément des comportements écologiques (mesurée à partir des données du Carbon Discloser Project et du Dow Jones Sustainability Index) et la nature de leurs innovations. Ce travail fait apparaître de forte différences inter-industries et inter-entreprises mais permet de valider l'hypothèse d'une relation positive entre le niveau des investissements de R&D et la propension à adopter des comportements écologiques. Nous nous intéressons enfin à la relation entre responsabilité sociale d’entreprise et innovation. Nous utilisons pour cela le classement Vigeo que des données financières sur l’année 2009. Notre étude met en évidence une relation positive entre responsabilité sociale d’entreprise et capacité des firmes à innover. Nous interprétons ce résultat de la manière suivante : la responsabilité sociale d’entreprise conduit les firmes à réaliser des investissements non seulement de court terme mais également de long terme et à tenir compte de la complémentarité de ces investissements. La responsabilité sociale d’entreprise accroît ainsi les synergies entre les différents types d’investissement réalisés par les firmes. / In general, policymakers are often faced with a different choice, i.e., the choice between using regulation-based instruments and using incentive-based instruments, where the policy instruments could be based either on mandatory approach or voluntary approach with economic incentives in market. Historically, industrial economists have regarded the issue of policy design as the one focused primarily on the choice among alternative policy instruments, where those are generally viewed as falling into two broad categories: regulation-based instruments and incentive-based instruments. Through the theoretical and empirical analysis, this study identifies some key features that are likely to increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of industrial policies with voluntary and mandatory approaches. One key feature is the existence of a strong relationship between innovation and industrial policies. The explorative innovation increases the incentives for participation in long-term but also reduces the financial incentives in short-term. Considering firms' characteristics and industry sector also increases the synergy effect of policies and regulations. In sum, when based on the understanding and consideration on the nature of innovation and other impact factors, industrial policy can provide a mechanism for meeting industrial quality goals both effectively and efficiently. This understanding also can help policy makers to decide whether or not use of such policy approach is advisable and to design the policy ensuring that it is as effective and efficient as possible. Consequently, the current study investigates the difference and tendency of industrial policy approaches and the type of innovation carrying out three analyses according to the mandatory and voluntary approaches. With the assumption that the mandatory approach has short-run impact to prompt new technology or grow a specific industry, we firstly assess the impact of regulation, such as privatization of nature monopoly. Using the firms’ data of 20 OECD countries between 1994 and 2008, we can claim that considering interaction among liberalization policies and allowing the industry characteristics are critical to determine for the Profitability effect and Operational efficiency effect and level of investments. Secondly, this study analyzes the relationship between ‘Corporate Environmentalism’ and composition of innovation using the Carbon Discloser Project (CDP) and (Dow Jones Sustainability Index) DJSI index data. The result shows the significant variation of firms' investment activities according to the industry sector, firm characteristics, sustainable and environmental behaviors of firms. Finally, this study identifies the relationship between ‘Business-led Initiatives (CSR)’ and innovation activities of firms. Using the Vigeo rating and financial data in 2009, this study shows the relationship between CSR and innovation activities of firms. Consequently, when the firm builds their short- and long-run business strategies, the consideration of the relationship between types of investment and CSR practice will lead to more synergic effect on the outcome of investments. The findings of this study could provide a comprehensive understanding on the effect of sustainable management strategies on the innovation and sustainability of firms.

This dissertation examines the effects of trade liberalization policies (represented by membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization on selected Least Developed Countries' (LDCs) human development (represented by the Human Development Index). In this dissertation, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organization (WTO) policies are theorized to have two distinct types of effects: their direct effect and their indirect effect. Two questions are focused on: first, what is the effect (total, direct and indirect) of WTO policies on human development for selected LDCs? Second, what is the effect (total, direct and indirect) of WTO policies on human development for selected developing/developed countries (i.e. non-LDCs) holding economic development constant? Using the dependency theory of development as a theoretical basis, this dissertation examines the assumptions of modernization-theory-based policies as expressed in trade liberalization policies (i.e. the implementation of comparative advantage and now market fundamentalism) with world-system analysis techniques. To examine these questions, four panel regression models are constructed to measure the total, direct and indirect effects of WTO policies during the near-term (1998-2003) and during a longer historical term (1975-2000). The data for the analyses are taken from seven different sources of international data. The analyses seemingly demonstrate that there are quantifiable negative effects of GATT/WTO membership (trade liberalization policies) on human development in selected LDCs. The current implementation of trade liberalization policies does not benefit the well-being of all concerned as promoted by the WTO.