Bøger af Bernard Paranque

Numerous studies have looked into the future of our healthcare system, and have attempted to study the industrial activities involved, in an attempt to identify the major future trends that the social protection system will have to face. In fact, most of this research focuses less on the production of biomedical equipment and products than on biomedical technologies. In other words, the focus is not on how products are produced, but rather on the evolution of diagnostic and therapeutic practices and methods.Our work is based on this observation, and posits that the study of the conditions of emergence of a healthcare industry requires consideration of the social function it performs.This does indeed concern the production of the resources needed for medical and care procedures. In the final analysis, however, the latter only take on meaning if we simultaneously take into account the way in which care is provided (biomedical technologies, staff training, etc.) and the reason for providing it.

This book deals with what are usually called SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, including very small enterprises). But it begins by asking the question of the relevance, from an economic point of view, of this statistical category, defined, for example, as firms with fewer than 500 employees by INSEE1. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical framework for understanding this form of organization for the production of wealth, with a view to building actions to transform existing situations in order to increase the economic and social efficiency, not only of the enterprise but also of the territories in which it is located.