BLOCH Alain

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how and by what mechanisms multi-generational family businesses regenerate. Research on family firms, and more generally on entrepreneurship, responds to debates that have emerged in recent years. The theoretical anchoring comes from the interweaving of two rarely associated theoretical bodies of knowledge, family business and strategic regeneration. The work has focused specifically on the multi-generational family firm for what it offers as a potential study of the family dimension and the importance of the generational aspect in strategic behavior. As a result, some key concepts of strategic regeneration have emerged leading to the sustainability of the family business. Using a historical and narrative approach, we analyzed the strategic regeneration processes in four century-old family businesses. The results obtained allowed us to understand the role of the family in the strategic regeneration process and to propose an integrative model of strategic regeneration in the family business.

What are the most appropriate response modes for dealing with the unexpected and under time constraints to maintain or reinforce organizational reliability? The work of the HRO (High Reliability Organization) current and the actionist current converge on the fact that the individual constitutes a source of reliability. However, they diverge on the importance given to the respect of rules in the face of unforeseen events. In order to analyze the adaptation behaviors of individuals within a restricted group in the face of risky and unexpected situations under time constraints, attention is focused on the study of nautical situations experienced by surface ships of the French Navy. An initial qualitative approach carried out with experts in the field studied, completed by a quantitative approach carried out from 237 nautical situations, highlights the risky configurations at the origin of nautical accidents. This information allows us to subject bridge watch teams to risky situations, within the framework of an experiment, using the navigation simulator of the Naval School, training school for officers of the French Navy. The behaviors of 96 bridge watch teams, in initial training, on the navigation simulator allow to test, according to the different situations, the associated responses: improvisation of procedures, recourse to rules with or without the use of meta rules. The results of the experimentation underline the interest of meta rules in the treatment of highly complex situations requiring rapid action, but also the risks of an unframed improvisation.

The aim of this thesis is to make a theoretical and operational contribution to the measurement of the customer experience as a key element of a true customer experience management. The approach is based on practical experience and draws on research from different disciplines: service economics and management, quality, strategy, marketing, performance management and organizational learning.We propose a model of customer experience management with four interacting dimensions: the desired experience (by managers), the expected experience (by customers), the proposed experience (by the company), and the lived experience (by customers). Our research proposals focus on measuring the gaps between the lived experience and the other dimensions. The challenge is not only to describe the gaps that may exist between the objectives set in the theory of customer experience (e.g., what experience do we want customers to have?) and the perception of the achievements by customers in the theory of use of the company (e.g., what is the actual experience offered and how is it perceived by customers?) It is also about analyzing how companies can reduce the gaps by engaging in an organizational learning process leading to successful customer experience management.

Despite a large body of research on cross-cultural consumer innovativeness, the impact of culture on the perceived value of an innovative attribute has not been published. This thesis seeks to address this need by studying the impact of national culture on the perceived value of the innovative attribute of technological products in two major European countries (France and Germany), members of the Eurozone. This thesis uses the GLOBE intercultural model to study the cultural differences between these two countries. The results are based on a quantitative consumer study (N=793) using the choice-based conjoint analysis method and the "price sensitivity" attitude scale. The results confirm the impact of national culture on three concepts related to consumer attitudes toward the introductory price of a technological innovation: a consumer's perceived value of a product's innovative attribute, the importance a consumer places on the presence of an innovative attribute when choosing a product, and a consumer's sensitivity to the price of an innovation. The moderating role of income on these relationships is also a major result.

SMEs structure 90% of emerging economies. They are dual, both drivers of global activity and vulnerable because of excessive recourse to debt and a pervasive informal economy. We believe that private equity can consolidate and spread this economic traction that has become the prerogative of emerging nations alone. The question then arises: "Which private equity model for emerging countries? The methodology we have chosen is a response to the constraints of a still limited literature and difficult access to information. We therefore follow an inductive approach and study, through the theoretical model of Timmons, the creation of an investment fund in Egypt from 2008 to 2011. From this longitudinal clinical case, we induce a model of entrepreneurial investment capital, aimed at emerging countries and inspired by technological venture capital.

1. Health, a global concept defined by a plurality of conceptions Health is characterized by the plurality of its conceptions, each representing a certain interpretation. The holistic and multi-criteria conception of health is manifested by the perception of a body-mind-environment unity included in a spiritual whole, by the plurality of modes of access to the holistic health universe, and by the consideration of factors depending on the individual's lifestyle. Health representations vary according to their professional and lay nature, and are characterized by an influence of the professional discourse on the lay discourse and also a reformulation of the professional discourse by the patient-consumer. Moreover, the status of professionals and patient-consumers is shifting and depends on the links between them. The positive conception of health is manifested by the self-empowerment of the consumer. The positivist conception of the organism affected by external elements appears through the perception of food and drugs as factors of modification of the organism. The functional conception, which locates the existence of the disease within the patient, corresponds to the holistic conception of the individual within which are located both the causes of the health problem and the potential solutions. Finally, the subtractive and additive conceptions appear through the behaviors of fortification and purification. The body is the object of a plurality of different conceptions. The field survey has in fact enabled the emergence of the notions of body acted upon vs. body actor, which highlight the different relationships of the individual with his or her body, thus constructing his or her identity Holistic health is characterized by the plurality of consumer behaviors and related lifestyles, the individual being able to accumulate several of them and thus form a multi-faceted global attitude towards health.

This research is focused on the following question: how do French high-tech start-ups integrate the concept of value for customers? After an exploration of the academic literature, we present an empirical approach, based on our professional background as entrepreneur. This chapter offers a quantitative approach towards primary data: 1 196 managers of high-tech start-ups, with 280 qualified answers. This approach is based on a research model, 6 hypotheses, variables allowing the design of a questionnaire, and a coding system. We finally propose 5 main findings. First, an eleven step process, allowing a start-up manager to position its price. Second, a typology of the value propositions, including 9 possibilities. Third, we established a general weakness of the 58 % of the French high-tech startups value propositions, without correlation between start-ups maturity and value proposition’s improvement. Fourth finding: the poor level of value creation: only 26 % of our panel creates more value than the competition. Our fifth and last main finding will address some macro-economic considerations, using syllogism: the majority of the French high-tech start-ups have an unattractive value proposition. the correlation between value proposition and companies’ performances has been established by the literature: is the value propositions’ weakness could contribute to explain the poor growth of French SME’s, as well as the poor average profitability of French VC’s?.

This qualitative research is interested in understanding the links between the success of retailers' terroir brands and the skills developed by their managers. Terroir is a growing market in volume and value without a major manufacturing player. Our methodology is articulated around three main parts: an empirical investigation, the study and analysis of an English case and two French case studies . a review of the literature in strategic management and marketing . the triangulation of propositions to concepts by several groups of practitioners that generate and justify a theoretical model and results. The success of retailers' land brands is first of all linked to learning about cooperation management, learning that can be transferred to subsequent cooperations. Dynamic relational skills are strategic assets that create a sustainable competitive advantage.

The objective of this research is to show the role of market orientation, perceived value and market performance in the context of a customer value creation problem. This issue has been the subject of many conceptual discussions but few empirical results have been proposed. The conceptualization of customer value creation integrates contributions from four streams of literature: research on market-oriented strategies, on the consequences of market orientation, on customer perceived value from a dual perspective and on subjective indicators of market performance. The creation of customer value is conceptualized as a sequence of relationships between these variables within the framework of integrated models of "market-oriented value creation". These models identify, among other things, the market mechanisms through which organizational performance flows, i.e. how market orientation influences perceived value which in turn influences market performance. The main objective of the empirical study is to reveal the influence of an organizational factor, market orientation, on: first, the relationships between customer perceived value and several variables reflecting market performance, satisfaction, loyalty behaviors, and reputation; and second, the average/aggregate scores of perceived value and satisfaction. The study focuses on market orientation as assessed by 146 managers of 55 corporate brands and on the perceptions of 425 consumers of the latter's branded products. The results provide positive support for the theory of the relationship between market orientation, perceived value and market performance. Furthermore, the results show that perceived value has an impact on market performance. This supports the hypothesis that a firm's creation of value that is perceived as superior by consumers generates greater market performance for the firm. Therefore, creating more value for consumers leads to higher market performance for the firm.

This thesis on work is articulated in three parts: the synthesis of work carried out since 1984 through a general reflection on their behavioral dynamics, the analysis of the practices of collective mobilization and a presentation of the behaviors of self-regulation of the actors. the conceptual clarifications including the clarification of the management of the sales force as an object and of the organizational behavior as a disciplinary field, the presentation of the theoretical reference marks as for the processes of managerial activation of the actors, the analysis of the dynamics of self-direction of the subjects in situation. A more in-depth reflection on the concept of anticipation behavior, presenting the notion of anticipation through contributions from several disciplines (psychology, ergonomics, sociology, management sciences), an anticipation model for understanding anticipation behavior in the organizational field, and two application tools for the anticipation model developed in the context of consulting interventions.

In France, producers and large retailers have long been considered as opposites within the distribution channel, even in conflict. Changes in the environment and the discourse of public authorities affect the strategic orientations and organization of institutions that seek to improve their often tense relationship. One of the orientations is cooperation. Alongside the balance of power specific to trade negotiations, cooperation is trying to make its place in other areas. Its diffusion is inseparable from the trend towards relationship marketing. Its development is explained by the desire to increase the performance of the channel. Thus, institutions will be able to secure and improve their competitive advantage. In practice, the cooperation appears with the implementation of trade marketing and the efficient consumer response. Our questions are: is the evolution towards cooperation a reality? why should it be developed? and what are the preconditions? the present research is based on various currents (economic, behavioral, strategic) whose aim is to give a theorical foundation to the inter-firm relations and to cooperation. This is followed by an exploratory qualitative study that takes stock of the current state of relationships in the marketing of consumer products and verifies the reality and necessity of cooperation. A quantitative survey was then conducted to identify its antecedents. Dyads were formed to collect the opinions of distributors and manufacturers of their own brands. The results show that cooperation is real in some areas, that it can only develop under certain conditions, such as trust, commitment and dependence of the partners and cannot be envisaged with all the actors of the channel.