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In 1994, the U.S. president announced the National Homeownership Strategy, which aimed to raise the rate of homeowners in the United States, focused primarily on the disadvantaged. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was given the task of developing, in partnership with the financial industry and everything that revolves around the real estate community, mortgage products that eliminated the obstacles to granting mortgage financing to the disadvantaged. Meanwhile, the Community Reinvestment Act was modified in such a way that banks were forced to demonstrate that they have been creative in increasing funding in disadvantaged areas. In addition, government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who buy half of U.S. mortgages with an implicit government guarantee, were forced to provide minimum proportions of funding for the disadvantaged. With the easy money policy followed by the Federal Reserve between 2003 and 2006, significant agency problems developed on the shadow banking system where subprime loans were originated prior to securitization. The interests of mortgage brokers who negotiated the loans, specialized mortgage lenders that would allow them, large investment banks that securitized these loans, and rating agencies that evaluated the risks of these securities all converged toward excessive risk-taking. However, this paper argues that without the requirements imposed by the U.S. government, it is unlikely that the credit quality would have been affected as much and that the crisis would have reached such a magnitude.

AbstractThis article examines the place of the concept of impartiality in theories of deliberative democracy. Drawing on and extending recent feminist critiques of deliberative democracy, it explores two interrelated challenges to deliberative theory, one focused on the standard of reasonableness and the idea of reason-giving and the other on the contingent social and political circumstances under which marginalized-groups perspectives may sway the judgment of other citizens. Finally, some of the changes required of deliberative theory to address these concerns are discussed, and the implications of these changes for our more general notions of the virtues and responsibilities of citizenship are explored.

In this article I contend that “winner-take-all markets” (i.e., those where slight differences in performance mean huge differences in income) do not respect the libertarian principle that individuals are entitled to the fruits of their labour. If income must reflect the fruits of one's labour (which must itself be measured by performance), then income in these markets is much higher than the fruits of the labour – which, on this principle, justifies the adoption of a very progressive tax system.

Keywords: justice distributive, libertarianisme, travail, distributive justice, libertarianism, labor

The aim of this research is to understand, within the institutional field of French retailing, the carbon strategies that are implemented by integrated retailers such as Auchan, Casino and Carrefour. By combining the Boltanski and Thevenot polity model with the neo-institutionalist approach, we examine both the discourses and the practices that deal with low-carbon energy. These theoretical analyses are then used to understand the actual behaviours as well as the effective strategies that are initiated by retailers in respect of low-carbon activities. Finally, we discuss the place the integrated retailers grant to the wider issue of climate change.

Keywords: sobriété carbone, grande distribution, théorie des cités, néo-institutionnalisme, analyse de discours, low-carbon, retailers, polity model, neo-institutionalism, discourse analysis, baja emisión de carbono, grandes distribuidores, teoría de las ciudades, neo-institucionalismo, análisis del discurso

Our article deals with the emergence of an organization devoted to innovation (Le Masson et al., 2006), based on inventive design approaches. We use a multiple case study to analyze the implementation of a TRIZ approach within SMEs.As pointed out by Boldrini (2008, 2010), SMEs willing to implement an innovation oriented organization are likely to seek outside support. Our exploratory study of two innovative firms highlights the role of the intrapreneur for the achievement of organizational innovations (Daft and Becker, 1978; Hage, 1999; Carrier, 1994, 1996, 1997) in SMEs).

Keywords: conception, innovation, entrepreneuriat, PME, engineering design, innovation, entrepreneurship, SMEs, ingeniería de diseño, innovación, iniciativa empresarial, las PYMES

This study examined the effect of socially controlled motivation for caregivers on turnover intentions and absenteeism within the COVID-19 context. We applie a self-determination theory framework to analyze the effect of external social regulation as mediated by emotional engagement on turnover intentions and absenteeism. The data for this study came from survey and archived data of 303 caregivers in ten nursing homes in France. Our findings show that the external social regulation dimension was related positively to emotional engagement which in turn mediated a negative relationship to the turnover intentions and absenteeism of caregivers. We discuss how expressions of social approval can promote caregivers' retention.

Keywords: self-determination theory, controlled motivation, engagement, turnover intentions, absenteeism, COVID-19, théorie de l'autodétermination, motivation contrôlée, engagement, intentions de quitter, absentéisme, COVID-19, teoría de la autodeterminación, motivación controlada, compromiso, intenciones de rotación, absentismo, COVID-19

For several years now, the business environment has been undergoing major changes that amplify uncertainty. This implies that strategic decisions are made without any assurance that the expected results will be achieved. This uncertainty gives rise to many risks, including the risk of making bad decisions that could disrupt the company's activities and compromise its survival. To reduce these consequences, risk management is increasingly becoming a strategic capability to be deployed. However, we note that few SMEs are actively engaged in this process, even though it can have beneficial effects on their performance. Our study aims to shed light on this observation by examining the factors that encourage active risk management in SMEs and the consequences for their overall performance. The results of a survey conducted among 500 Quebec manufacturing SMEs show that the mobilization of active risk management practices strengthens their overall performance. This mobilization is influenced by organizational capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation. So, to maintain their performance in the long term, SME managers are called upon to strengthen risk management practices by relying on their organizational capabilities and by being proactive, innovative and risk-takers.

Keywords: Incertitude, Gestion des risques, Performance, PME manufacturières, Uncertainty, Risk Management, Performance, Manufacturing SMEs, Incertidumbre, Gestión de riesgos, Desempeño, PyME manufactureras

The purpose of this paper is to enhance existing insights into the complex relationship between legal language, legal interpretation and legal translation that challenges the participants of a particular domain-specific communicative situation. This situation can be described as a complex communicative-cognitive procedure taking into consideration a pragmatic approach to reach its addressees on a continuum from lay persons to experts.The analysis of some “typical” examples shows (not surprisingly) that different kinds of knowledge are necessary in order to achieve a felicitous communicative act in which a high degree of specialist knowledge is of paramount importance to a successful result both in intra- and interlingual translation.The particular legal language under scrutiny, in other words German contrastive to Norwegian, form the basis for the analysis of the activity of translation in which the translator must be able to understand/interpret the text and must be aware of not taking the words at their “face value” to be able to render their meaning in the target language.

Keywords: langue juridique, interprétation juridique, traduction juridique, pragmatique, legal language, legal interpretation, legal translation, pragmatics

There has been a lack of research on risk management in SMEs over the past years, however, interest for this increasingly important area is growing. Brustbauer (2016) and St-Pierre and El Fadil (2017) for example, have started to lay the foundations of a strategic risk management in SMEs (ERMSME or Enterprise Risk Management for SMEs). This reflects the way SMEs can overcome the vulnerabilities often due to their main specificities (e.g. proximity, limited resources, and strategic myopia). Such firms can thus develop resilience helping them to face multiple risks, often resulting in chains of risks when they design their development strategies. We propose here the foundations of what could be a strategic capability of risk management for SMEs, taking into account recent work on this issue (Brustbauer, 2016, St-Pierre and El Fadil, 2017) as well as an analysis of contributions selected for this special issue on risk management by SMEs in different contexts (internationalisation, integration into supply chain or partnership).

Keywords: Capacité dynamique à gérer les risques, Cascade de risques, Gestion des risques, Management stratégique des risques, Résilience, Vulnérabilités, Ability to dynamically manage risk, Risk Chain, Risk Management, Strategic Management of Risk, Resilience, Vulnerabilities, Habilidad dinámica para gestionar los riesgos, Cascada de riesgos, Gestión de Riesgos, Gestión Estratégica del Riesgo, Resiliencia, Vulnerabilidad