Arndt Sorge and Malcolm Warner
The international comparison of organisations in near‐identical situations with regard to size, technology, the task environment, dependence and location suggests itself as the…
Abstract
The international comparison of organisations in near‐identical situations with regard to size, technology, the task environment, dependence and location suggests itself as the most appropriate opportunity to test the “null hypothesis” of the cultural influence on organisation structures for the purposes of this study. The overall design of the project is based on earlier French research work, which had initiated cross‐national comparisons in the early 1970s. This article specifically focuses on British‐German comparisons.
Marielle G. Heijltjes, Ayse Saka-Helmhout and Arjen van Witteloostuijn
Elen Riot and Emmanuel de la Burgade
The aim of this paper is to explain how the globalisation of services can be limited or enhanced by societal effects.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explain how the globalisation of services can be limited or enhanced by societal effects.
Design/methodology/approach
This analysis is based on a single case study. The authors use a qualitative and longitudinal approach, with in‐depth interviews and archives collected during a six‐year period of participant observation inside the firm.
Findings
The authors argue that societal dimensions are at play in the evolution of services activities, and that their influence is especially strong in ex‐public services monopolies. They illustrate the limits of strategic change due to the specific dynamics of societal effects. The authors first look at the evolution of strategic fit before and after multiple changes in La Poste. They then identify different types of reactions at local level. They conclude by insisting on the enduring influence of social patterns and traditions on the adoption of new technologies and modes of organisation.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this research is that a more thorough comparison with other European national leaders in postal services would have helped strengthen this analysis.
Practical implications
A first practical implication for services firms is that societal changes should be greatly considered in their globalisation process and that societal changes are often underestimated. Another practical implication is that a globalisation of services process must certainly be situated at a global level based on national and local specificities built in time.
Originality/value
While comparative studies on international management have often focused on the different modes of organisation depending on culture and institutions, the impact of globalisation on services have been left relatively under‐explored. This paper takes the example of the service industry to show that cultural reasons are not sufficient to explain why the internationalisation of services may encounter difficulties. Other factors such as societal effect should be included.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to explore internationalisation strategies of service firms in sectors where markets become increasingly globalised while resource environments still remain…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore internationalisation strategies of service firms in sectors where markets become increasingly globalised while resource environments still remain distinctively shaped by national institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical framework is proposed that suggests that the more firms expand their business activities across borders by building up offices abroad or merging with firms from other countries, the more likely they are to embrace recombinant strategies to blend elements of different societal legacies. Subsequently, a comparative case study of internationalisation strategies, governance modes and organisational forms of European and US law firms is presented to illustrate the value of the framework, followed by the analysis of a novel data set on multi‐jurisdictional qualifications of partners in these international law firms.
Findings
By virtue of their integrative organisational model and mobilisation of versatile legal competences, large pan‐European law firms are challenging the dominance of US law firms in international legal markets, while the latter in response are revising their own previous export‐oriented internationalisation strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The present study provides a starting point for further research on internationalisation in service industries.
Originality/value
The framework is useful to expand effect societal analysis to dynamic international environments.
Details
Keywords
Arndt Sorge, Gert Hartmann, Malcolm Warner and Ian Nicholas
Those who believe that the effects of micro‐electronics are due to the working of technical imperatives, or to the mechanisms of the capitalist system, are prone to neglect…
Abstract
Those who believe that the effects of micro‐electronics are due to the working of technical imperatives, or to the mechanisms of the capitalist system, are prone to neglect national differences. Our suggestion is that micro‐electronics, and specifically CNC, may have different con‐sequences and be used to different ends, according to the prevailing traditions within society. We expressly include, under such traditions, technical, organisational, and labour variables. We then conjecture that the stability of work traditions will not be changed by the incidence of micro‐electronics; it will only be expressed in new ways. We thus see the development and application of supposed‐ly “high technology” as constrained by an unchanging socio‐technical tradition.
Economics and economic history, general history and sociology have all usefully informed debates about the decline of the British economy relative to those of other nations, and…
Abstract
Economics and economic history, general history and sociology have all usefully informed debates about the decline of the British economy relative to those of other nations, and useful contributions have also been made by political scientists, psychologists, students of industrial relations and of management and organisational behaviour. However, the most fundamental contributions have generally come from the three major disciplines of economics (with economic history), general history and sociology. Unfortunately habits and traditions peculiar to these disciplines have sometimes been unhelpful to processes of approaching comprehensive understanding. Further, interdisciplinary discussions and controversies have sometimes produced a certain amount of ‘noise’, even on some occasions where agreement on substantive points has been considerable.
Outlines briefly the history and progression of business systems inThe Netherlands. Describes how human resources are produced andcultivated, in particular through the Dutch…
Abstract
Outlines briefly the history and progression of business systems in The Netherlands. Describes how human resources are produced and cultivated, in particular through the Dutch education system, and assesses its effectiveness. Looks at the integration of human resources in the work organization, pinpointing particular experiments which have been carried out. Outlines various shifts in emphasis from the post Second World War period in Dutch industry and human resource concepts. Concludes that the changes in industrial work organization and human resource management are in line with traditional Dutch ideals and are becoming increasingly effective.
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Keywords
A wave of discussion about the consequences of recent technical change has come to sweep industrialised countries. The topic is mainly the development, production, and use of…
Abstract
A wave of discussion about the consequences of recent technical change has come to sweep industrialised countries. The topic is mainly the development, production, and use of integrated electronic circuits, specifically in the sophisticated form of microelectronics. The technology of information and control has made striking advances, and it effects important changes throughout all manner of products, production processes, and administrative procedures. Conspicuous and often‐quoted examples are watch‐making and newspaper production. These branches are often held up as showing what is to come everywhere: a radical transformation of technology, the death of established trades and vocations, and large‐scale redundancy and unemployment. Furthermore, such prospects are often associated with a change in the international division of labour, whereby recently industrialising countries of the Third World, such as Algeria, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, and many others, have come to produce industrial goods and import them to Europe and North America on an increasing scale. Because of higher labour costs here, there is a constraint to rationalise production and strengthen technical improvement, both of which are facilitated by new semiconductor technologies, particularly microelectronics, and the automation associated with it.
Greater recognition should be given to the importance of national education and training patterns as determinants of industrial performance. But it would be wrong to interpret…
Abstract
Greater recognition should be given to the importance of national education and training patterns as determinants of industrial performance. But it would be wrong to interpret such patterns merely as more or less rational responses to the imperatives of the industrial world. Political factors in a country's social history can be shown to exert a powerful influence on the evolution of the system by which manpower is trained and qualified for work in manufacturing. They account for a lot of national institutional differences, and they have to be borne in mind when discussing have to be borne in mind when discusing possibilities of improving performance by changing institutions. This is argued with particular reference to the situation in Britain.
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.