AND THE PRIME MINISTER SAID YES. DECISION-MAKING AND THE MERGER BETWEEN SNECMA AND SAGEM (2005)

Abstract

Mergers between industrial firms under the supervision of the State are a major feature
of French industrial policy and they have been termed “industrial meccanos”. The merger
between Snecma and Sagem in 2005 created Safran and contributed to the reshaping of the
French aeronautics and defense industry, although the decision was initially criticized from
an industrial point of view. The article shows how the sociology of decision-making helps us
understand French industrial policy. Based on archives and interviews, the research highlights how the power of certain key actors is related to their position at the intersection of various
social fields: industrial, political and administrative. It traces the fragmented decision-making
process back to its genealogy and follows the toing and froing that occurred, uncovering periods
when alternative windows of potential outcomes opened and closed.