Martina Fuchs

Counteracting path dependencies: ‘rational’ investment decisions in the globalising commercial property market

The commercial property market is transforming from a locally embedded industry to an international one. In the neverending search for opportunities, an increasing number of investors are turning their attention to new, distant, and opaque property markets. Still largely unknown to the investors, such markets generate much uncertainty for decision making. Investors seek to overcome this by adopting new decision-making strategies based on economic models promising transparent optimum solutions. Using global office investors as an example, we show that these actors attempt to generate know-how systematically, to take better ‘rational’ decisions rooted in neoclassical economy and based on key performance indicators. However, we also highlight that the process of rational decision making contains some cracks in its edifice, thus providing space for path dependencies to intrude.

Global Encounters Challenge Western Rationality Assumptions

Over the last 20 years, an interdisciplinary debate in science and technology studies (STS), political economy, sociology of knowledge and economic geography has started to consider the economic assumptions underlying Western management rationality. Such academic contributions emphasise conceptual problems created by economic assumptions about rationality. At the same time, the highly normative power of economic assumptions challenges society. The case presented here concerns investors from China, India and Russia who acquire well-established companies in the Global North, particularly in Germany. Based on the methodology of structural hermeneutics, the results show how German managers defend their own professional ethics and thereby mobilise different underlying normative economic assumptions about rationality.

Othering practices toward new firm owners: empirical insights from South-North firm acquisitions in Germany

Abstract By dealing with the process of othering in the context of acquisitions, this paper seeks to expand the concept of othering to Economic Geography. It argues that multinational companies should not only be viewed as victims of othering in that they suffer from obstructive policies and hostile public opinion, but rather that othering also matters within such firms. As a consequence of the links they establish between different countries, employees in such companies are constantly confronted with various socio-cultural backgrounds and frequently develop rather different expectations of how their counterparts should perform. This contribution analyses how and why managers and works councils in Germany practice distancing or othering towards owners of German firms located in China and India. It shows that othering can be critical within foreign direct investments. We approach the issue of othering by focusing on the sense of superiority of the involved parties, their positions in the company organisation and their related professional ethics, as well as the dynamics of othering that are mobilised in critical situations. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews from two different research projects.

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

This book is mainly a revised version of an earlier volume by Paul Krugman from 1999, enriched by some passages and chapters commenting on the recent financial and economic crisis. Since the publication is obviously propelled by the prospective marketing value of the author’s fresh Nobel Prize for Economics, it has to satisfy readers interested in instructive economic analysis as well as those who want to learn more about the celebrity behind. The resulting book is an entertaining read, which is quite surprising given the complexity and seriousness of its topic. While style and also the somewhat simplistic presentation of facts and interpretations are obviously geared towards a broad readership, the book nonetheless makes interesting points and provides a good starting point for a much-needed discussion of the crisis beyond mere academia and politics. This review will focus on the book’s political intention, its academic merit, and its significance for geography and regional research.

Der internationale Berufsbildungstransfer im Lichte der deutschen Berufsbildungsforschung: Wie der Geist aus der Flasche

Was hat der internationale Berufsbildungstransfer mit einem ‚Geist aus der Flasche‘ gemeinsam? Der Leserin bzw. dem Leser mag sich im Kontext einer wissenschaftlichen Publikation der Verdacht eines Fehlers oder aber zumindest eines Missverstandnisses aufdrangen. Die somit gegebenenfalls erzeugte Irritation ist jedoch durchaus erwunscht und lasst sich durch die nachfolgenden Ausfuhrungen aufklaren.

Duale Ausbildung im Ausland: Ein ‚Heimspiel‘? Zur Qualifizierung von Produktionsbeschäftigten in deutschen Unternehmen in China, Indien und Mexiko

Qualifizierung der Beschaftigten in technischen Bereichen stellt eine zentrale Herausforderung fur international agierende Unternehmen in ihren weltweiten Niederlassungen dar. Zurzeit wird die Internationalisierung von Praktiken der dualen Berufsausbildung als Losung diskutiert, um Qualifizierungsdefizite auszugleichen. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert theoretischkonzeptionell, welche Bedingungen und Probleme bei einer Ubertragung dualer Ausbildungsformen auftreten konnen. Am Beispiel von China, Indien und Mexiko werden Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten ortlich angepasster Formen dualer Praktiken dargestellt und in die vorhandenen Qualifizierungskontexte eingeordnet.

‚Lost (in) VET‘: Zum Stand der Transferforschung in der internationalen Berufsbildungszusammenarbeit aus Sicht verschiedener Wissenschaftsdisziplinen

Die Frage nach der Transferierbarkeit berufsbildender Systemansatze bildet eine zentrale Fragestellung der international vergleichenden Berufsbildungsforschung. Doch auch wissenschaftliche Nachbardisziplinen rekurrieren auf Aspekte der internationalen Berufsbildungszusammenarbeit. Dieser Beitrag skizziert einschlagige Erkenntnisse der vergleichenden Politikwissenschaften, vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaften, der Wirtschaftsgeographie sowie der Berufsbildungsforschung und diskutiert Unterschiede sowie Parallelen. Dabei zeigen sich verschiedene Betrachtungsschwerpunkte: So fokussieren die vergleichenden Politik- und Erziehungswissenschaften vorrangig Transferaktivitaten auf systemischer Ebene, wahrend die Wirtschaftsgeographie insbesondere lokale und regionale Aktivitaten einbezieht. Die Berufsbildungsforschung richtet den Fokus auf Erfolgs- und Hemmnisfaktoren fur Berufsbildungszusammenarbeit. Doch wird ebenfalls deutlich, dass Erkenntnisse nicht innerhalb ihrer Disziplinen verbleiben, wie die zahlreichen gegenseitigen Bezugnahmen zeigen. Die Erkenntnisse der Nachbardisziplinen halten fruchtbare Erkenntnisse fur die Untersuchung der Transferierbarkeit berufsbildender Systemansatze bereit.

Innovation in Socio-Cultural Context

Innovation in Socio-Cultural Context is an essential contribution to the discussion on socio-culturally embedded innovation. Innovation in socio-cultural contexts is a broad topic, and there is no agreement or commonly accepted definition. The volume reflects this vagueness and combines views from economics and the social and spatial sciences. The book is particularly relevant to the ongoing debate in economic geography and regional studies on innovative regions as a nexus of untraded interdependencies (STORPER, 1995), learning regions (HASSINK andKLAERDING, 2012), regionswith supportive social capital (MALECKI, 2012), and the local ‘creative class’ (FLORIDA, 2007). However, empirical studies often show there is no simple connection between socio-cultural contexts and innovation (MARROCU and PACI, 2012; SPENCER, 2011; SUNLEY et al., 2008). Undeniably, and as these contributions prove, there is a relationship between socio-cultural contexts and innovation. The question remains how this relationship works. The preface to Adam and Westlund’s volume concedes this was a problem when planning the book, stating that socio-cultural contexts can exert a positive or negative influence on innovation (p. 4). Later, Mast and Stehr argue that innovations do not follow consistent patterns and that the evolution of innovation is a fragile social process which is difficult to predict (p. 27). Still, the book does offer insights and examples on the how. Adam and Westlund suggest ‘social capital’ (understood as social networks and the norms and values distributed in these networks) as a useful conceptual approach and way of bundling diverse views. Westlund and Li examine social capital in innovation systems. Adam gives an overview of the national and regional innovation capacity driven by social capital. Rutten and Irawati focus on social capital in regional networks as drivers for and barriers to innovation. Thus, ‘social capital’ replaces the ‘socio-cultural context’ in large parts of the volume. The empirical studies also offer profound and theoretically reflected insights. Ferreira, Vieira and Neira present an econometric analysis of European countries. Pustovrh focuses on socially responsible innovation. Roberts suggests communities act as facilitators of innovation. Ivancǐc ̌ et al. discuss the role of independent inventors in the regional innovation system of Slovenia. Benneworth and Rutten show the social dynamics of regional actors’ networks and innovation in the Netherlands. However, given the predominant focus on social capital, the cultural element inherent in socio-cultural context could have attracted more attention. The editors define culture as a forma mentis, in other words a symbolic–semantic quality that influences individual and collective behaviour as an invisible force behind tangible and observable behaviour. Culture is understood to provide meaning, direction and mobilization, shaping the way people think and act (pp. 10–11). This understanding raises questions that the book partially addresses (pp. 11–13), but which demand further explanation: