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Examination of the relationship between rational strategic planning and company performance has received a great deal of attention in the strategic management research over the past four decades. Although an extensive literature suggests a positive relationship, several authors support the opposite view. This paper contributes to this important debate for both researchers and managers, with an emphasis on the operationalization of the concepts of rational strategic planning and company performance. A quantitative empirical study conducted among European, North American, Asian and Middle Eastern companies, reveals a positive association between rational strategic planning and company performance.

Keywords: Planification stratégique rationnelle, formalisation, exhaustivité, contrôle stratégique, performance, Rational strategic planning, formalization, comprehensiveness, strategic control, performance, Planificación estratégica racional, la formalización, la integralidad, el control estratégico, el rendimiento

The labor union movement is a recent phenomenon on Canadian University campuses. For the time being, the full fledge certified labor union with a collective agreement is confined to the constituencies of the newly created Université du Quebec. These unions account for about 12 per cent of the total number of university professors in Québec. However, the trend towards certified unions may be intensified in the future. In fact, professors at Université de Montréal and Université de Sherbrooke have already applied for certification.Several factors are responsible for the labor movement of university professors. The rapid expansion of public and para-public sectors including the sector of higher education, the loss of financial autonomy of universities, the passive attitude of university management towards increasing interventions of the government, the more radical social outlook of young faculty members and of course the worsening economic position relative to other occupational groups have all been the contributing factors.However, the outright unionization of faculty members is not equally well accepted by all. On the contrary, strong resistence is observed in some quarters. The main reason seems to be the fear of being subject to rigid rules of conduct which may be imposed upon by the collective agreement, fear of violence which may be provoked by strikes, the alleged incompatibility of professionalism with the spirit of the collective agreement, fear of being manipulated by a small group of radical leaders and, perhaps, the outright conservatism. At any rate, it is not altogether certain that the certified labor union is the preferred form of labor organization on the university campus.However, the traditional form of voluntary faculty association does not seem appropriate in the present context, for somehow professors should find a way to discuss, if not negotiate, with the ultimate provider, the government. One of the possible ways of creating such a mechanism is to regroup local organizations within a provincial or a national organization not only because of the economies of scale it creates in the area of technical services but also for the needed internal cohesion and the coordination of efforts which may be better ensured through a central organization.The central organization may be one of the traditional organizations such as the CNTU, the Q.F.L. or the C.E.Q. In fact, the latter organization has already launched a campain of recruting university faculty members. However, for the time being, the possibility of professors' affiliation to these organizations appears limited partly because of ideological reasons. The alternative is to strengthen the « Federation des Associations des professeurs d'Université du Québec » (FAPUQ) which already regroup about 70 per cent of the total number of faculty members in Quebec.To conclude, the traditional form of faculty association is no longer efficient, because of external pressure, structural changes within the education system, the loss of autonomy by universities and the passive attitude of university management towards increasing interventions of government in higher education. The new form of faculty organization should be flexible enough to accommodate various heterogeneous groups within the university and at the same time strong enough to face up to government. The real challenge lies in finding the most suitable form of organization which is not necessarily that of certified labor union.

Professor Benoît Heilbrunn draws on abundant resources and references from social and human sciences to conduct original research on marketing at ESCP Business School. This approach leads him to question spirituality, sacredness, and belief in the consumer society. Author of numerous books and articles, Heilbrunn regularly discussed the convergence between religion and brands by looking at how their economy resolves around the mystery of the Trinity through the three complementary sides of an absent god: a “sensorial” side, linked to the material products of the consumer good and to its tangible aspects, directly prehensile by consumers; a “rhetoric” side, which refers to the ideological dimension of the brand, to its place and its capacity to convey values and imagination; a “pragmatic” side, which points towards engaging corporal practices and which orchestrate, among others, the rituals of buying and consumption.

Keywords: marque, religion, sémiotique, Benoît Heilbrunn, consommateur, produit, brands, religion, semiotics, Benoît Heilbrunn, consumer, product

Boyer and Bissonnette (2021) published a synthesis of research that measured the effects of virtual school on student achievement before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The researchers showed that fully online schools generally produce significantly lower learning gains than brick-and-mortar schools. Following this publication, Allaire et al. (2022) reanalyzed some of this research and present different arguments attempting to mitigate the ineffectiveness of virtual schools. In this article, we take up each of these arguments and demonstrate that they are flawed, invalid, and unauthorized. Therefore, we consider the conclusions made by Boyer and Bissonnette in 2021 to be just as valid and tenable in 2023.

Keywords: distance education, enseignement à distance, virtual school, école virtuelle, enseignement en présence, face-to-face teaching, teaching method, méthode d’enseignement, achievement effects, effets sur le rendement

In this paper, we start with a case study of rice production organization models in the Senegal River Valley to show how the productive performance of rice farmers is influenced by the cooperative model in force in the valley. The model of social entrepreneurship that we recommend corresponds to an institutional arrangement that offers greater resilience to and climate and sanitary shocks to producers than those in other production areas.

A major theme in contemporary urban literature concerns the intrametropolitan distribution of economic activities. In North American metropolitan areas, the most recent phase of post-WWII employment decentralisation has culminated in the creation of « suburban downtowns » or « edge cities » that are often direct competitors to the CBD. In this paper, we first examine the extent to which Montréal has undergone a decentralisation of employment over the period 1981-1996, then attempt to determine whether the observed decentralisation involves a reconcentration in a limited number of employment poles (polycentricity) or a more generalised dispersion (scatteration). Our analysis is based upon place-of-work employment data at the census tract level. The results indicate that decentralisation is indeed a reality in Montréal, and that it tends to be of a polycentric nature, rather than the more widely dispersed form that appears to be characterizing many U.S. metropolitan areas.

Keywords: centre-ville, décentralisation, pôles d'emploi, forme urbaine, polycentricité, « scatteration », CBD, decentralization, employment poles, urban form, polycentricity, scatteration

Focused on « Actor-Network Theory » concepts (Callon, 1986; Latur, 2005), this paper offers an innovative perspective of participatory research in CSSS-CAU. The case of partnership ARIMA, created in Quebec by the Centre de recherche et de partage des savoirs InterActions, helps to illustrate how participatory research practices are gradually organized as innovative networks of knowledge translation. The partnership configuration of this network is associated to many potentially transforming translations. This gives participatory research a perspective of innovative practice which is performed in a complex context of intersectoral knowledge mobilization.

Keywords: recherche participative, théorie de l'acteur-réseau, innovation sociotechnique, traduction des savoirs, action intersectorielle, Participatory Research, Actor-Network Theory, Sociotechnical Innovation, Knowledge Translation, Intersectoral Action

The medicalization of addictive behaviors is a more and more privileged modality of social control. How does a condition like addiction behavior pass from a social status to a disease and medical status ? On what scientific and ideological basis does the discourse on medicalization permit to make these behaviors socially more acceptable, more desirable ? With a review of the literature, this article wishes to put the focus on the social tendency of medicalization in the field of addictions. To that end, four aspects will be privileged : 1- an attempt to define the medicalization process ; 2- an illustration of two emerging addictions : cyberaddiction and addiction to plastic surgery ; 3- an analysis of the addiction concept as a multifactor phenomenon ; 4- a critical view of the 12-step philosophy as it plays a major ideological role in the medicalization process. In conclusion, some paths of intervention and empowerment are suggested.