Florian Becker-Ritterspach

Learning in multinational enterprises as the socially embedded translation of practices

Purpose – With a few exceptions, the mainstream literature on learning in multinational enterprises (MNEs) has shown little concern for the transformational nature and the social constitution of learning. This paper aims to address this gap by drawing on Scandinavian institutionalism, social learning perspectives, and comparative institutionalism.Design/methodology/approach – A comparative case study of two subsidiaries of the same MNE was conducted. The subsidiaries received similar practices from headquarters (HQ) but displayed contrasting learning outcomes.Findings – It is shown that learning outcomes differed based on the varying extent to which practices were translated, which depends on the participation of local actors. The difference in participation pattern, in turn, is rooted in differences in the institutional context of the two subsidiaries.Research limitations/implications – It is recognized that apart from institutional influences, organizational idiosyncrasies may be at work. In addition, t...

Intrafirm Competition in Multinational Corporations: Towards a Political Framework:

Intrafirm competition is one of the most contentious issues in multinational companies (MNCs). It occurs when different subsidiaries of an MNC overlap with regard to products, markets or technologies and headquarters try to make use of this overlap by coercive comparisons. It also occurs when a subsidiary takes an initiative that challenges an existing mandate of another subsidiary. Despite the large potential for conflict in intrafirm competition, neither the literature on intrafirm competition nor the more extensive literature on subsidiary mandate change has paid systematic attention to the political dimension of intrafirm competition. Therefore, a political framework to study intrafirm competition is developed in this paper, drawing on classical organisational politics approaches. The focus of this framework is on core actors in intrafirm competition, i.e. headquarters and subsidiary executives, their interest-based strategies, and their interaction in micro-political games evolving around intrafirm competition.

Bringing context and structure back into situated learning

Practice-based studies have progressed thinking in the knowledge, learning and innovation fields by emphasizing the continual negotiation of social structures and meaning through participation. Yet, only a few contributions discuss how participation and learning are affected by broader structures. This is an inconsistency in the understanding of ‘situated’ learning where learning through participation is restricted to the immediate community involved in a social activity. We aim to address this inconsistency by investigating the effects of the interplay between institutional and organizational structures on patterns of participation and, in turn, learning outcomes. We develop a framework of situated learning in multinational enterprises, and explore its value through a comparative case study of the introduction of new practices in four subsidiaries of two multinational enterprises in two contrasting national institutional systems.In contrast to older views, our case findings suggest that while the interplay between institutional context and organizational structure indeed matters, it does not determine collective participation and situated learning as actors can actively create solutions when structural conditions and institutioanl demands are less aligned.

Politics and Power in Multinational Companies: Integrating the International Business and Organization Studies Perspectives

The study of power and politics in multinational companies (MNCs) has been a niche area of study for both scholars of organization studies (OS) and international business (IB). Further, the awareness of each research community with regard to the efforts of the other has been rather superficial. Hence, bridge-building efforts to cross-fertilize ideas developed in IB and OS in order to enhance our understanding of the nature and role of politics and power in the MNC are overdue. In order to develop the basis for integration, we trace the conceptual developments in the two disciplines, that enables us to highlight particularly promising opportunities for integrative advances. Using a typology which differentiates among four ‘faces’ of power in the study of management and organization, we discuss how focusing on each of these four dimensions may help us to both see and make sense of different aspects of power relations and facets of politics in MNCs. We then use the ‘four faces’ framework to outline how OS and IB approaches can be integrated to develop a more complete understanding of politics and power in MNCs. Finally we suggest some directions for future research.

Changing Business Models and Employee Representation in the Airline Industry: A Comparison of British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa

In recent years, the notion of business models has gained momentum in management research. Scholars have discussed several barriers to changing business models in established firms. However, the national institutions of market economies have not yet been discussed as barriers, even though they can constrain the latitude of action of a firms management. Based on interviews and a longitudinal content analysis, we analyse the extent to which full service carriers in two countries (British Airways in the UK and Deutsche Lufthansa in Germany) have adopted elements of a low cost model over time. Furthermore, we investigate how this process has been influenced by the differences in each national institutional context. We particularly focus on the role of the rights of employee representatives in changes in business models. Our results show that British Airways has moved its business model more in the direction of low cost carriers than Deutsche Lufthansa, although the business model of the former airline still differs significantly from that of a typical low cost carrier. We identify national institutions that potentially strengthen the position of employee representatives as a factor that can influence, and also act as a barrier to, business model change.

Konzerninterner Wettbewerb in Multinationalen Unternehmen: Eine organisationspolitische Skizze

Konzerninterner Wettbewerb ist ein hochst sensibles Thema in Multinationalen Unternehmen (MNU). Die Drohung, Produktion, Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE) oder andere Wertschopfungsaktivitaten zu einer konkurrierenden Schwestergesellschaft zu verlagern, ruft in aller Regel heftige strategische und politische Reaktionen der betroffenen Konzerneinheiten hervor, und nicht selten entzunden sich daran Konflikte, die weit uber die Unternehmensgrenzen hinausreichen. Konzerninterner Wettbewerb kann dabei zum einen von den Konzernzentralen und ihren Wunschen nach Effizienzsteigerung ausgelost werden (Geppert/Matten 2006). Er kann aber zum anderen die Folge von Tochtergesellschaftsinitiativen sein, etwa wenn eine Tochtergesellschaft versucht, auf Kosten ihrer Schwestergesellschaften Mandate auszuweiten bzw. neue zu gewinnen.

The Case of Mercedes-Benz India

While the internationalization of Daimler’s commercial vehicle production starts already in the 1900s, the internationalization of passenger car production, starts late compared to other auto manufacturers. At the beginning of the 1990s, Daimler-Benz (DB) has practically no internationalization experience in passenger car production (GrunowOsswald, 2006; Pries, 2000). This changes, however, in the 1990s. The most noteworthy steps of internationalization are the mergers/takeovers of Chrysler in 1998 and Mitsubishi in 2001. Proving unsuccessful, the two mergers/takeovers are dissolved in 2007 and 2004 respectively.

The Case of Skoda Auto India

VW’s internationalization in the passenger car segment starts early compared to other German auto manufacturers. In the 1950s VW opens its first CKD-operations in Brazil (1953), Mexico (1954) and South Africa (1956). Responding to stringent protectionism in the respective countries, these plants soon develop into fully integrated production sites (Eckardt et al., 2000). The internationalization pattern of setting up production sites for ‘mature products’ in peripheral markets continues throughout the 1970s and 1980s and involves the establishment of new sites in Nigeria (1975), Argentina (1980), Egypt (1981) and China (starting in 1983). This development is paralleled by VW’s Europe-centred internationalization (Eckardt et al., 2000).

India’s Business Context and the Automotive Sector

This chapter provides an introduction to India’s institutional and strategic context conditions that proved particularly relevant for understanding the production system hybridization. It should be noted, that the institutional patterns discussed here, describe tendencies at a rather general level.

Subsidiary Hybridization — Conceptual and Methodological Tools

The unit of analysis of this research project is the production systems of four automobile subsidiaries in India. The core goal is to identify, compare and explain the hybridization profiles of their production systems. Instead of identifying the hybridization profiles by asking if predefined aspects of a production template or model (e.g. the Japanese) were successfully applied or adapted (e.g. Abo et al., 1994), this project turns the identification of hybridization profiles upside down by asking about the contextual origins of the organizational configuration on functionally predefined dimensions of a production system. In such an approach transfers and adaptations are still relevant for the identification of the profile. However, this approach allows seeing hybridization profiles also as a result of more or less deliberate non-transfer. If, for example, a certain dimension of a production system is not targeted by transfer, it may either be locally constituted or neither locally nor foreign constituted. This perspective stresses the possibility that firms do not always undertake the transfer of clearly defined production templates. Instead, they may be very selective with regard to what they transfer, depending on particular strategic choices and strategic and institutional contexts of their subsidiaries. The advantage of this approach is that instead of defining some abstract transfer model in advance that may or may not exist, a more open approach is taken. This involves defining functionally the core dimensions of a production system and identifying what contextual origin the different dimensions reflect.