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Although it is difficult to accurately estimate the socio-economic impacts for countries, some studies show that acts of corruption break the social fabric of communities and trample on the notion of general interest by interfering in the functioning of markets, companies and states. Faced with this international “collective evil”, the fight against corruption and efforts to prevent it have become, since the 1990s, a priority in the reform of countries and their institutions. The main objective of this article is to provide a summary of the laws to help managers of public and private organizations wishing to disentangle the normative web of Canadian international and national law on corruption. We will also see some significant decisions on this subject from Canadian courts. Economic criminal law is a sector of law that has changed considerably over the years, and which will still undergo significant changes in the more or less short future. It is important for managers to be aware of this evolution since these standards can have considerable impacts on the management and governance of their organization.

Keywords: Corruption, Corruption, prévention, prevent, droit international canadien, canadian international law, droit national canadien, canadian national law, public organizations, organisations puibliques, private organizations, organisations privées

This article draws on the proposals of recent academic researches regarding the relevance of a renewed reflection on the contingent specificity of the SME as an object of analysis. Using a series of eloquent empirical observations made in the field of biotechnology firms in Quebec (Canada) – namely, that most firms in this market are less than 10 years old, and 43 percent of biotech firms have less than 10 employees – as its starting point, this article attempts to answer the following research question : Do biotechnology VSEs constitute a separate species and/or are they unique of their kind, resembling the “organized” type of very small enterprises evoked by Marchesnay (2003) ?This article is organized in three parts. In the first, the authors propose a theoretical framework that attempts to identify VSEs according to “what they do.” This section is based mainly on a review of the literature on the contemporary criteria used to define small enterprises and on the concept of the business model. Secondly, the authors outline the methodology of multi-factorial analysis and cluster analysis used to observe, by induction, the different behaviours of very small enterprises in the bio-industry cluster in Quebec. They then proceed to propose a framework for the analysis of these firms' contingent specificity. This article proposes an empirical validation of the specificity of “organized”, “world-class” VSEs as well as of Torrès' argument (1997) regarding the manifestation of a significant denaturation trend, while adding previously neglected components to the continuum of prevailing criteria defining the VSE. At the methodological level, the use of the five components of a business model in the age of innovation without borders proves effective in identifying the diversity within this specificity by revealing four main types of biotechnology VSEs : discoverers, toolmakers, specialized suppliers and generic suppliers of biotechnology products and services. This empirical study thus establishes VSEs as both specific VSE-forms (in relation to the species), and as special VSE-forms (unique of their kind : the organized VSE).

Keywords: Modèles d'affaires, Biotechnologie, TPE, PME, Spécificité, Haute technologie, Gouvernance, Innovation ouverte, Réseau de valeur

Among the tenets of enterprise risk management (ERM) is the need to instill a risk-aware culture throughout the firm. Yet, how to actually interpret and change organizational culture is generally missing from the ERM literature. Prior surveys found risk managers lacked useful information about organizational culture and cultural change to implement a “risk aware culture.” Our survey of risk managers found this gap persists. The disciplines of organizational studies, business anthropology and sociology provide guidance on organizational culture, which involves identifying and interpreting the embedded assumptions, values, myths, artifacts, rituals, and stories that communicate and perpetuate a culture. The risk manager can use this knowledge to apply change to the culture. Changing behavior without changing culture may simply result in compliance without adoption. This article seeks to bridge the studies of organizational culture and change to the risk manager.

The following article describes the extent to which private parties to an international transaction in the free trade area may avoid disputes as to the law applicable to the contract and as to the court that would have the jurisdictional competency to hear disputes arising therefrom. As the study demonstrates serious limitations to the effectiveness of party autonomy, the author concludes that Government intervention is necessary to ensure a more favourable framework for international commercial transactions within the free trade area. The author also examines the growing use of alternative methods to resolve international disputes and makes a certain number of recommendations to improve and increase their use.

The French Law of 11 March 1957 on copyright applied in Cameroon until 1982 was not adapted to the Cameroonian politico-cultural context. This provoked its replacement by the Law n° 82-18 of 26 November 1982 regulating copyright. This law had the advantage of protecting the Cameroonian folklore and works inspired by it, but had the weakness of not protecting neighboring rights. The necessity of protecting neighboring rights led to the adoption of the Law n° 90/010 of August 10th 1990 relating to copyright and neighboring rights. The prodigious development of computers and new technologies of information and communication, which is responsible for the existence of the new works and new possibilities of diffusion has quickly revealed that the 1990 Law was obsolete. The law adopted on the 19th of December 2000 on copyright and neighboring rights integrates the numerical environment in which we live henceforth, widening the categories of protected art works and improving conditions for creators and diffusers of intellectual works.In Cameroon's substantive law, new categories of protected works were added to the existing categories. These consist of commissioned works and works relating to computer science such as software, data bases, and multimedia works. At the same time, mechanisms to protect intellectual works have been simplified and improved in order to procure to creators and diffusers the most effective guarantees. That is why in the 2000 law we notice a reinforcement of the attributes of moral rights of authors and artists and the safety of their royalty, so as to help them out of their poor working conditions.

AbstractAnalysis of the various programmes offered by the Canada Council for the Arts reveals that government financial aid is not sufficient to allow for the consistent creation of operatic works. This is further borne out by studies of the operations of various professional organisations that benefit from these programmes (including professional and university workshops), as well as all the mechanisms that surround the premiere of a new opera (from its commissioning to its first staging). In sum, most of the funds are used to meet operating costs of the country's various operatic organisations. In order for Canadian opera to thrive, composers must turn to lyrical companies and not opera houses.

This comparative paper analyses the disparity between Quebec and French Lawwith respect to compulsory insurance and highlights the importance attached tothe principle of contractual freedom in Quebec. The steadfast development andprotection of this principle in Quebec may be attributed to the influence of North-American capitalism and long-standing principles of both the Anglo-Saxon andNapoleonic legal traditions while, in France, an ever-growing trend towards thecollective protection of the public has overshadowed any individual right to contractualfreedom with respect to many activities. With 119 compulsory insurancestipulations forming an integral chapter of the French Code des assurances, onebegins to wonder whether Insurance Law in Quebec will follow suit. Could thisever occur? Should it? The legal repercussions of such a development (such as thecorrelative obligation to insure necessarily imposed on private insurance companies)are examined, as well as the current state of Quebec and French Law pertainingto compulsory insurance and contractual freedom. This Part One of a two-partseries deals entirely with French Law. Part Two, which deals with Quebec Law,will be published in the April 2006 issue.