L’ENTREPRISE DES PARTIES PRENANTES (PP) : UN PARADOXE THÉORIQUE

Abstract

The concept of stakeholder is prevalent in large corporations’ communication on their social responsibility. It is the subject of a broad literature at the crossroads of social sciences, taking roots in
the economic theories of the firm. This is paradoxical, as the “stakeholders’ company” embodies the
need to integrate the interests of the society, whereas theories of the firm legitimize precisely the primacy of shareholders’ interests. The rationality hypotheses on which these “mainstream” theories
rely are too restrictive to build an interpretive framework of the enterprise and its stakeholders as a
collective organization. We propose an institutional analysis of the firm, to think the capitalist enterprise and his stakeholders within the contemporary debate of sustainable development and CSR.