La rentabilite des entreprises industrielles et les conditions de la production
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Abstract EN:
The french industry saw its profitability (perceived as being the ratio between the total amount of profits made yearly and the capital invested as a whole) noticeably decrease during the 70ies. The main cause of this decline is to be found in the heart of the process of production; the efficiency of the latter (productivity of the work, of the equipment, of intermediate consumptions) worsened or increased less quickly than before. The slackening of the rise in productivity retroacted particularly on the rise of the ratio wages-profit (the slowdown of the relative surplus-value) as well as on the organic composition of capital, but to a lesser extent, while the value-composition has remained stable during that time. The combination of these phenomena leads us to wonder about the different forms that the law of the falling tendency of the rate of profit can take as marx had envisaged them. Peculiar movements at the level of production branches are concealed by this general tendency. Two original remarks can be made. First, the industrial sectors which realize the highest rates of profit own the lowest compositions of capital and vice-versa. This observation questions the traditional approach to the equalization of the rates of profit in different sectors which says that the social surplus-value should be distributed proportionally to the total capital investment (constant and variable). Second, during this whole period and for most sectors, the rise in productivity is not synonymous with better profitability. On the contrary, we can notice rather a hierarchical organization of sectors in terms of profitability as opposed to a hierarchical organization of sectors in terms of productive efficiency. Thus we come to wonder in some cases (sectors, national economy) about the relevance of the rate of profit as an indicator of the efficiency of a process of production.
Abstract FR:
L'industrie francaise a vu sa rentabilite (percue comme le rapport entre la masse de profit realisee annuellement et l'ensemble des capitaux avances) diminuer sensiblement au cours de la decennie soixante-dix. La cause fondamentale de cette degradation est a rechercher au coeur des proces de production; l'efficacite de ces derniers (productivites du travail, du capital fixe, des consommations intermediaires) s'est deterioree ou a augmente moins vite qu'auparavant. Le freinage des gains de productivite a retroagi en particulier sur la hausse du rapport salaires-profit (ralentissement de la plus-value relative) ainsi que sur la composition organique du capital, mais dans une moindre mesure, alors que la composition valeur est restee quasi stable pendant cette periode. La combinaison de ces phenomenes conduit a s'interroger sur les formes de de la manifestation de la loi de baisse tendancielle du taux de profit telles que les avait envisagees marx. Derriere ce mouvement d'ensemble se cachent des mouvements particuliers au niveau des branches de production. Deux constats originaux peuvent etre faits. Premierement, les branches d'industrie realisant les taux de profit les plus eleves possedent les compositions de capital les plus faibles, et inversement. Ce constat remet en cause l'approche traditionnelle de la perequation des taux de profit entre branches qui veut que la plus-value sociale soit repartie proportionnellement aux avances en capital total (constant et variable). Deuxiemement, sur l'ensemble de la periode, et pour la grande majorite des branches, les gains de productivite ne sont pas synonymes de meilleure rentabilite. Au contraire, nous observons plutot une hierarchisation des branches en termes de rentabilite inverse a la hierarchisation des branches en termes d'efficacite productive. Cela conduit a s'interroger dans certains cas (branches, economie nationale) sur la pertinence du taux de profit comme indicateur de l'efficacite d'un proces de production.