Traitement légal de la défaillance et gouvernance : une comparaison internationale
Christine Pochet
Significant changes in corporate governance may occur when firms face bankruptcy.
First, as the worsening of performance becomes more and more obvious,
stakeholders will modify their behavior towards the firm. Furthermore, once a
bankruptcy procedure is filed (and especially in the case of reorganizations on which
we focus), a new balance of power is established by the provisions included in each
national bankruptcy law.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the legal treatment of bankruptcy and its impact
on corporate governance in a comparative perspective. For that purpose, we rely on
a broad definition of corporate governance i.e. one which emphasizes not only the
relation between top executives and shareholders but also takes into account the
influence of all stakeholders on managerial discretion. This is particularly relevant
for our research object because not only shareholders and top management but also
creditors, customers and usually employees bear the consequences of bankruptcy.
To understand the effects of bankruptcy on corporate governance, we first examine
the insolvency codes of five countries (i.e. France, Germany, Great-Britain, Japan
ant the United States). The stance of the law (rather favorable to the creditors or to
the debtor) is discussed in relation to the legal tradition of each country. We then
study the enforcement of the law, pointing to existing problems and current reforms.
• 1 La règle de droit et son inscription dans une tradition juridique
— 1.1 Caractéristiques des dispositifs légaux nationaux
— 1.2 Orientation de la loi, tradition juridique
et contexte politico-économique
• 2 Les modes de traitement de la défaillance :
la mise en oeuvre du dispositif légal
— 2.1 Réorganisation privée ou traitement judiciaire
des difficultés
— 2.2 L’organisation judiciaire en matière de défaillance
— 2.3 Dysfonctionnements et réformes du droit de la défaillance
• Conclusion
• Références bibliographiques