Contenu du sommaire : Simulation et recherche en gestion

This paper aims at analysing the potential contribution of Pierre Bourdieu's work to organization science. Firstly, his main concepts are presented and some tracks are given to put them in practice in our fields. In the last part, we are emphasizing on the critical insights of a Bourdieusian perspective, which endorse the reflexivity dimension that helps researchers to overcome the established scientific practices.

This article proposes an empirical application of the concepts of champ and doxa to the world of consulting. These concepts elaborated by Pierre Bourdieu, along with those of capital, of habitus, and illusio make up a (or one) system. They allow us to understand the problem of evaluation in a “critical” perspective. While the modalities used to evaluate a service appear either in part or in whole to be incomprehensible when we search for “objective''criteria, the sociological analysis will concentrate more on the way that these criteria are established. This analysis will concentrate on the limitations that bind consultants as they themselves have defined them and how they are often obliged to justify them during their consulting services.

How important are the function of Human Resources Management and the role of its principal practitioner, the Director of Human Resources, in determining and implementing strategic choices? The research study attempts to explore issues surrounding a first response to this general question. More precisely the study seeks to identify the role of the Human Resources Director in a specific situation of crisis: that of the French “plan social”, which is the human resources strategy document which, in French law, must accompany the lay-off of substantial numbers of salaried workers. In the first part of the research, a review of the literature, both general publications and publications dealing specifically with staff downsizing, would suggest a strengthening of the role of the HRD. In the second part, this perspective contrasts somewhat with the accounts of ten HRDs involved in laying off staff. The evidence that these provide would suggest a different reality, that of a Human Resources Director largely ignored in the process.

The simultaneous rationalization of action and learning The simultaneous rationalization of action and learning takes explicitly into consideration the learning objective when management tools and or a new organization of the activity are conceived and implemented. First, we discuss the advantages of this form of rationalization for complex activities. After that, we present two specific forms of this rationalization: the instrumental one and the organizational one. Finally, we illustrate by some industrial examples.

Innovative projects portfolios as a new management subject matter The paper presents the results of a comparative research on innovative projects portfolios management conducted in five French companies, belonging to different activity sectors. It brings to a conclusion that portfolios themselves are now a management subject matter and treated as such. It put emphasis on organizational mechanisms used: criteria and processes used to design portfolios, gap between portfolios' expected functions and the way they are fulfilled, contingency factors'impact on portfolio, especially innovation's status with regard to companies'strategy.

The role of firm in co-ordination This paper develops the theory of the firm in Austrian perspective. Our originality is to insert the theory of the firm in the theory of production and to not forget that; 1) the firm serves the entrepreneur's plan and 2) the entrepreneur's plan serves the demand of consumer. Then we define the firm like a “bond” of individuals project organized around a rule system which give the capacity at the entrepreneur to transmit its affairs vision and to adapt its plan at the evolution of the consumer's demand. On this theory we explain the crisis of taylorism and the emergency of market management.

Which location strategies for multi-unit multi-market firms? The aim of this article is to study the location of retail network units. Because of the dependence on the competitor's location for the choice of a trade area, the location is apprehended, in this paper, as a competitive move. Multiunit firms have to choose for each of their units between an isolated place, indicating an intention of avoidance, or nearby their competitors, which shows an intention of cooperation or confrontation. In order to study this complex dynamic, a simulation model, based on cellular automata, is built. In a second time, this simulation model is confronted with empirical data in order to test its validity and its relevance.

Artificial stock markets Agent-based computational finance (i.e. financial simulations of stock markets using artificial intelligence) has provoked an increasing amount of interest these past ten years. Based on models dealing with many heterogeneous interacting agents, this field provides an interesting experimental method to investigate the world of finance viewed as an evolving complex system. It also allows for a perfectly controlled study of various cognitive mechanisms in the emergence of financial dynamics.

Alliances and diversity in the photography industry This paper studies alliances through a methodological device based on simulation. The model results, compared to the photographic industry evolution, allows to formalize its dynamics. Diversity appears as the essential engine of the adaptation, implying various strategies of alliances in term of choice of the partner and timing.

Sustainable competitive advantage. Imitation and causal ambiguity In this article, we study the consequences of imitability on sustained competitive advantage. Because empirical studies on such a topic are difficult to do, we rely on a simulation by genetic algorithm. Even though we keep our model very simple for illustration purposes, results show that nonimitable firms become the leaders of their industry and remain so.

Essay: Simulated reality or “for real”? This short essay emphasizes the drawbacks and advantages of simulation techniques for management science. In particular, practical, theoretical, methodological, and epistemological issues are commented.