IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intman/v12y2006i3p302-317.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Micro-political or inter-cultural conflicts? - An integrating approach

Author

Listed:
  • Mense-Petermann, Ursula

Abstract

The article focuses on inner-organizational conflicts arising with respect to processes of organizational transnationalization of multinational companies (MNCs). Two strands of debate are identified and discussed in this respect: one focusing on micro-political, the other one focusing on inter-cultural conflicts. It is argued that an integrative perspective on conflict processes is needed as neither power nor culture can be neglected or put in a secondary position when explaining conflicts in MNCs. Such an integrative framework is developed following Giddens' analytical differentiation of three dimensions of social systems: signification, domination and legitimation. It is argued that it depends on contextual variables framing the process of transnationalization, whether actors conceive of occurring conflicts as being either inter-cultural or micro-political. This theoretical argument is underscored by referring to two case studies from a German MNC in the process of transnationalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Mense-Petermann, Ursula, 2006. "Micro-political or inter-cultural conflicts? - An integrating approach," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 302-317, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:12:y:2006:i:3:p:302-317
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1075425306000603
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roth, Kendall & Nigh, Douglas, 1992. "The effectiveness of headquarters-subsidiary relationships: The role of coordination, control, and conflict," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 277-301, December.
    2. Joshi, Aparna & Labianca, Giuseppe & Caligiuri, Paula M., 2002. "Getting along long distance: understanding conflict in a multinational team through network analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 277-284, January.
    3. Forsgren, Mats, 1990. "Managing the international multi-centre firm: Case studies from Sweden," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 261-267, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yorgos Rizopoulos & Dimitrios E Sergakis, 2010. "MNEs and policy networks: Institutional embeddedness and strategic choice," Post-Print halshs-01968233, HAL.
    2. Moore, Fiona, 2012. "Identity, knowledge and strategy in the UK subsidiary of an Anglo-German automobile manufacturer," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 281-292.
    3. Rizopoulos, Yorgos A. & Sergakis, Dimitrios E., 2010. "MNEs and policy networks: Institutional embeddedness and strategic choice," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 250-256, July.
    4. Piotti, Geny, 2007. "Why do companies relocate? The German discourse on relocation," MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/14, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florian Becker-Ritterspach & Christoph Dörrenbächer, 2011. "An Organizational Politics Perspective on Intra-firm Competition in Multinational Corporations," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 533-559, August.
    2. Schmid, Stefan & Schurig, Andreas, 2003. "The development of critical capabilities in foreign subsidiaries: disentangling the role of the subsidiary's business network," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 755-782, December.
    3. Zander, Ivo, 1997. "Technological diversification in the multinational corporation--historical evolution and future prospects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 209-227, May.
    4. Alberto Onetti & Hal Steger, 2007. "Formulating an open source business model requires community segmentation and targeted marketing," Economics and Quantitative Methods qf0707, Department of Economics, University of Insubria.
    5. Liao, Shu-Hsien & Hu, Da-Chian & Ding, Li-Wen, 2017. "Assessing the influence of supply chain collaboration value innovation, supply chain capability and competitive advantage in Taiwan's networking communication industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 143-153.
    6. Drogendijk, H.J., 2001. "Expansion patterns of Dutch firms in Central and Eastern Europe : Learning to internationalize," Other publications TiSEM 18571cef-0dd0-46ff-82aa-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Gabriel Robertstad G. Benito & Jorma Larimo & Rajneesh Narula & Torben Pedersen, 2009. "Multinational Enterprises from Small Economies: The Internationalization Patterns of Large Companies from Denmark, Finland and Norway," Chapters, in: Daniel Van Den Bulcke & Alain Verbeke & Wenlong Yuan (ed.), Handbook on Small Nations in the Global Economy, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Ciabuschi, Francesco & Dellestrand, Henrik & Kappen, Philip, 2012. "The good, the bad, and the ugly: Technology transfer competence, rent-seeking, and bargaining power," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 664-674.
    9. Kappen, Philip, 2011. "Competence-creating overlaps and subsidiary technological evolution in the multinational corporation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 673-686, June.
    10. Igor Gurkov, 2016. "Oriflame CIS: The Successful Evolution of a Regional Subsidiary’s Mandate," HSE Working papers WP BRP 50/MAN/2016, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    11. Hezron Mogaka Osano, 2019. "Global expansion of SMEs: role of global market strategy for Kenyan SMEs," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-31, December.
    12. Nawel Amrouche & Ruiliang Yan, 2016. "A manufacturer distribution issue: how to manage an online and a traditional retailer," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 244(2), pages 257-294, September.
    13. Xiaotao Liu & Arnold Wright & Yi-Jing Wu, 2015. "Managers’ Unethical Fraudulent Financial Reporting: The Effect of Control Strength and Control Framing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 295-310, June.
    14. Dörrenbächer, Christoph & Gammelgaard, Jens, 2006. "Subsidiary role development: The effect of micro-political headquarters-subsidiary negotiations on the product, market and value-added scope of foreign-owned subsidiaries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 266-283, September.
    15. Kawai, Norifumi & Strange, Roger, 2014. "Subsidiary autonomy and performance in Japanese multinationals in Europe," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 504-515.
    16. Liao, Shu-Hsien & Kuo, Fang-I, 2014. "The study of relationships between the collaboration for supply chain, supply chain capabilities and firm performance: A case of the Taiwan׳s TFT-LCD industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 295-304.
    17. Pisoni, Alessia & Fratocchi, Luciano & Onetti, Alberto, 2013. "Subsidiary autonomy in transition economies: Italian SMEs in Central and Eastern European countries," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 18(3), pages 336-370.
    18. Evangelos Ioannidis & Nikos Varsakelis & Ioannis Antoniou, 2020. "Promoters versus Adversaries of Change: Agent-Based Modeling of Organizational Conflict in Co-Evolving Networks," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-25, December.
    19. Lisa Calvano, 2008. "Multinational Corporations and Local Communities: A Critical Analysis of Conflict," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 793-805, November.
    20. Zeng, Rong & Grøgaard, Birgitte & Steel, Piers, 2018. "Complements or substitutes? A meta-analysis of the role of integration mechanisms for knowledge transfer in the MNE network," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 415-432.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:12:y:2006:i:3:p:302-317. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/601266/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.