Contenu du sommaire : Diriger une PME

The idealtypic division of labour in the craft industry is a division of labour by age group implying the common exercise of the job and the control of the whole process of production by the workers of the workshop, may they be employees or bosses. These two follow the same socio-professional trajectory: going through an identical standard of knowledge acquisition, they subscribe to the same model of social success consisting in setting up on one's own. They are then united by a kind of identifying mirror which constitutes the basis of the craft industry's regulations. Today, the reality we have been able to observe grows away from this traditional model. Since the 1980s, the legislative and institutional context has indeed evolved, widening the borders of the craft company and taking the brakes off setting up. Thus, the division of labour in the craft industry tends to redefine itself. We can observe a tendency of the activities of production and management to become separate, decreasing, de facto, the common practice of the job between employees and bosses. The way craftsmen are recruited also tends to widen, so that varied socio-professional paths co-exist more and more. Finally, the craft industry that traditionally constituted a sector of social promotion for working-class people also becomes a safety net for reconverted workers coming from the middle classes.

This article deals with the conditions of constitution of a club of companies in rural territory. It aims at understanding the political, social and economic factors of SMEs leaders'collective action at a local level. At first, we analyse the political processes which made possible the constitution of this employers' club. It is indeed the result of the combined actions of local public authorities and of the local chamber of commerce and industry at a time when the way local public action was implemented was being rethought. Then, we show that the institutionalisation of this employers'club is also linked to the way their social sphere is structured. We first highlight the social mechanisms at stake when club members are selected. Then, we study how the diversity of these SMEs and of their leaders explains their unequal proneness to get involved in the club as well as the reasons why some of its members actively take part in its activities. As a result, we try to find out how the recompositions of family and patrimonial industrial capitalism impact the commitment of SMEs leaders in the club.

Between 2003 and 2008, the number of micro-groups registered by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) increased by 75%. However, few studies have focused on this significant phenomenon. The SME is a major field of study that is part of the heated debates leading “to a plural reading of what it means to be a business leader” (Sme Observatory, 2008). This article aims to show that the hypogroupe (Marchesnay, 1991) – which is the archetype/idéal-type of the statistical entity microgroup – is an organizational configuration able to sustain small businesses development. By studying the ownership structure of the capital and the owners-managers'logics of action, we analyze the changing modes of control in the hypogroupe, at both internal and external levels. Ten cases were examined in 1997. Of the six hypogroupes still active in 2009 (that is to say they haven't been bought by another company or ceased their activity altogether), four have been selected to illustrate the changes in the role of the SME's manager in connection with the evolution of the ownership structure of the capital and the areas of control. Like the leaders of larger companies, the owner-manager tries to articulate the professionalisation of management and more formalized modes of control on the one hand, and the conservation of features specific to the small size of his company on the other hand.

The comparative analysis of skills management in SME (small and medium enterprises) has revealed the specificity of the managerial practices developed in a SME SCOP (cooperative and participative society) and their remarkable effects on its employees'implication. Using Jean-Daniel Reynaud's social regulation theoretical frame and Jean-Claude Moisdon's methodological posture, we discuss the role of the leader along with the role of the management board and of diverse collectives who actively take part in the governance of this SCOP. It appears that the actual activity of the SCOP, the creation of collectives and actions of social regulation are at the heart of this SCOP's concerns, thus fostering its development project that aims to be socially and economically viable, and at the service of and with its employees. This case study also allows to ask the question of the cooperation and of the collectives which tend to have been abandoned at the exclusive profit of autonomy, leaving untold what really takes place at work.

As far as vocational continuing training is concerned, the leader of a small and medium enterprise (SME) has to deal with a complex environment. This article consists in seeing the Préparation opérationnelle à l'emploi (POE; Operational preparation to employment, OPE) – that has been introduced in the French Labour Code by the 24th Novembre 2009 reform – as a prism allowing us to understand the interactions taking place between the main actors involved in employment and vocational training that are in contact with the SME's leader. Whereas proximity plays a major role in this kind of business (Torres, 2003) where the leader is at the heart of a knot of relations with those dealing with his business environment, the actors involved in employment and vocational training tend to remain on its fringes. While studying the key factors enabling POEs to be successful, we justify the intervention of actors that play the role of go-betweens, thus instauring cognitive closeness.