Politics and Power within Multinational
Corporations: Mainstream Studies,
Emerging Critical Approaches and
Suggestions for Future Research
Mike Geppert and Christoph Dörrenbächer1
Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK, and 1Faculty of Business and Economics,
Berlin School of Economics and Law, Badensche Strasse 50/51, D-10825 Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author email: [email protected]
Given the increased public interest in the use and misuse of power in multinationals in
the aftermath of the financial crisis, it is notable that power relations in multinational
corporations (MNCs) have not gained enhanced attention in the academic community.
What is missing so far in the study of MNCs is a systematic examination of how power
and politics within MNCs have been addressed in mainstream international business
(IB) and sociological research studying the MNC. This paper starts by critically review-
ing these two mainstream approaches in the study of MNCs as organizations and
seeking to understand the shortcomings of former research. Next, it reviews new
emergent critical perspectives, which the authors call socio-political studies of MNCs,
where power and politics are addressed not just more prominently, but also differently,
from a more bottom-up and actor-centred perspective. After reviewing this emergent
stream of research, the authors propose that future studies should take a more micro-
political perspective and focus in more detail on the micro-foundations of power
relations. In the concluding section, the authors show how future studies of MNCs can
learn from both critical interactionist and discursive theories when analysing organ-
izational politics and power relations. A framework is proposed for the study of micro-
level political game-playing in MNCs, based on a three-dimensional framework for
organizational power (episodic, rules of the game and domination), and some key
research questions for future studies are suggested.
Introduction
It is interesting that, historically, power and politics
within multinational corporations (MNCs) have not
had a more central role in the study of MNCs in the
academic field of international business (IB), which
is dedicated to the study of internationalization,
foreign direct investment (FDI) and internationally
operating firms. International business scholars have
occasionally shown some interest in the study of
MNC power and even organized a symposium to
shed some light on the ‘Janus face’ and ‘dark side’ of
MNCs (e.g. see Eden and Lenway 2001). However,
the main emphasis for a long time was chiefly on
the power of MNCs, e.g. political bargaining strat-
egies of MNCs when dealing with host country
governments and nation states (e.g. see Fagre
and Wells 1982; Nebus and Rufín 2010). The
most prominent IB research on politics and power
within MNCs is concentrated on subsidiary entrepre-
neurship, innovation and mandate change (e.g.
Birkinshaw 1996). Political approac.
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This document summarizes a chapter that examines policy entrepreneurship related to human embryonic stem cell research. It provides context on the science of stem cells and discusses the moral controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cell research. It then examines case studies of policy entrepreneurship efforts in California, the UK, and Italy that sought more funding and less restrictive regulation for this controversial area of science, despite facing significant opposition due to the moral issues involved. The chapter analyzes how policy entrepreneurs pursue their goals in the face of intense morality politics and how their success is influenced by the political context in their respective locations.
This paper analyzes how the value of political capital varies across different institutional domains in China's transitioning market economy. The researchers conducted a transaction-focused analysis to compare advantages from political connections. Their results show political capital is most valuable in domains where the government restricts economic activity. This suggests China may have experienced a transition tipping point around 2000, as the value of political connections there does not differ fundamentally from patterns in established market economies. The paper aims to provide a nuanced view of political capital's fungibility across different transaction types and institutional settings.
This document summarizes an article by Prof. Mukul Asher arguing for reforms to public enterprises in Asia. The key points are:
1. Theoretical literature suggests a firm's ownership (public or private) should not impact its efficiency, but empirical evidence shows both efficient and inefficient firms in both sectors. Ownership is too simplistic a distinction as complex structures have emerged.
2. A firm's efficiency depends more on competitive pressures, outcome-oriented incentives, technological adaptability, and individual incentives aligned with organizational goals.
3. Singapore's experience shows a focus on divesting selected public enterprises while maintaining government control, and defining responsibilities, not ownership changes, to balance service and value.
r Academy of Management Journal2015, Vol. 1015, No. 1, 1–9..docxmakdul
r Academy of Management Journal
2015, Vol. 1015, No. 1, 1–9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.4006
FROM THE EDITORS
RETHINKING GOVERNANCE IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
In the field of management, the study of gover-
nance has primarily dealt with decision-making by
boards of directors, chief executives, and senior
managers. The corporate governance literature has
generated important insights regarding incentive
alignment, risk taking, and coordination chal-
lenges. Emerging trends, highlighted in this issue,
raise new questions regarding managerial roles,
organizational contexts, internal and social pro-
cesses, and changes in governance over time. We
encourage management scholars to rethink their
approach to governance research by considering
stakeholder engagement, the implications of big
data, social impact, global dimensions, and com-
parative analysis of governance. A broadened con-
ceptualization of governance may also deal with the
dynamics of interorganizational arrangements, in-
cluding the co-creation of organizations of varying
governance forms.
WHAT IS GOVERNANCE?
In this “thematic issue,” we assembled articles
that reflect evolving practices in governance.1
Corporate governance is the system by which
companies are directed and controlled. Boards of
directors are responsible for the governance of
their companies. The shareholders’ role in gover-
nance is to appoint the directors and the auditors
and to satisfy themselves that an appropriate gov-
ernance structure is in place. The responsibilities
of the board include setting the company’s strategic
aims, providing the leadership to put them into
effect, supervising the management of the business,
and reporting to shareholders on their stewardship.
The board’s actions are subject to laws, regulations,
and the shareholders in general meeting (Cadbury,
1992). Corporate governance is therefore about
what the board of a company does and how it sets
the values of the company, but is distinct from the
operational management of the company by full-
time executives.
These views of corporate governance stem pre-
dominantly from a financial perspective. For ex-
ample, Shleifer and Vishny (1997: 737) address
corporate governance as “the ways in which sup-
pliers of finance to corporations assure themselves
of getting a return on their investment. How do the
suppliers of finance get managers to return some
of the profits to them? How do they make sure
that managers do not steal the capital they supply
or invest it in bad projects? How do suppliers
of finance control managers?” These views stem
primarily from an agency theoretical perspective
that investigates the consequences of separation of
ownership and control in the modern corporation
(Jensen & Meckling, 1976). Recent corporate ac-
tivity and views, however, have an expanded view
of governance as involving stewardship and lead-
ership, in addition to the narrower financial pru-
dence role. From a survey of board members from
15 countri ...
Chapter 8 Policy Entrepreneurs and Morality Politics Lea.docxmccormicknadine86
This document summarizes a chapter that examines policy entrepreneurship related to human embryonic stem cell research. It provides context on the science of stem cells and discusses the moral controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cell research. It then examines case studies of policy entrepreneurship efforts in California, the UK, and Italy that sought more funding and less restrictive regulation for this controversial area of science, despite facing significant opposition due to the moral issues involved. The chapter analyzes how policy entrepreneurs pursue their goals in the face of intense morality politics and how their success is influenced by the political context in their respective locations.
This paper analyzes how the value of political capital varies across different institutional domains in China's transitioning market economy. The researchers conducted a transaction-focused analysis to compare advantages from political connections. Their results show political capital is most valuable in domains where the government restricts economic activity. This suggests China may have experienced a transition tipping point around 2000, as the value of political connections there does not differ fundamentally from patterns in established market economies. The paper aims to provide a nuanced view of political capital's fungibility across different transaction types and institutional settings.
This document summarizes an article by Prof. Mukul Asher arguing for reforms to public enterprises in Asia. The key points are:
1. Theoretical literature suggests a firm's ownership (public or private) should not impact its efficiency, but empirical evidence shows both efficient and inefficient firms in both sectors. Ownership is too simplistic a distinction as complex structures have emerged.
2. A firm's efficiency depends more on competitive pressures, outcome-oriented incentives, technological adaptability, and individual incentives aligned with organizational goals.
3. Singapore's experience shows a focus on divesting selected public enterprises while maintaining government control, and defining responsibilities, not ownership changes, to balance service and value.
r Academy of Management Journal2015, Vol. 1015, No. 1, 1–9..docxmakdul
r Academy of Management Journal
2015, Vol. 1015, No. 1, 1–9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.4006
FROM THE EDITORS
RETHINKING GOVERNANCE IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
In the field of management, the study of gover-
nance has primarily dealt with decision-making by
boards of directors, chief executives, and senior
managers. The corporate governance literature has
generated important insights regarding incentive
alignment, risk taking, and coordination chal-
lenges. Emerging trends, highlighted in this issue,
raise new questions regarding managerial roles,
organizational contexts, internal and social pro-
cesses, and changes in governance over time. We
encourage management scholars to rethink their
approach to governance research by considering
stakeholder engagement, the implications of big
data, social impact, global dimensions, and com-
parative analysis of governance. A broadened con-
ceptualization of governance may also deal with the
dynamics of interorganizational arrangements, in-
cluding the co-creation of organizations of varying
governance forms.
WHAT IS GOVERNANCE?
In this “thematic issue,” we assembled articles
that reflect evolving practices in governance.1
Corporate governance is the system by which
companies are directed and controlled. Boards of
directors are responsible for the governance of
their companies. The shareholders’ role in gover-
nance is to appoint the directors and the auditors
and to satisfy themselves that an appropriate gov-
ernance structure is in place. The responsibilities
of the board include setting the company’s strategic
aims, providing the leadership to put them into
effect, supervising the management of the business,
and reporting to shareholders on their stewardship.
The board’s actions are subject to laws, regulations,
and the shareholders in general meeting (Cadbury,
1992). Corporate governance is therefore about
what the board of a company does and how it sets
the values of the company, but is distinct from the
operational management of the company by full-
time executives.
These views of corporate governance stem pre-
dominantly from a financial perspective. For ex-
ample, Shleifer and Vishny (1997: 737) address
corporate governance as “the ways in which sup-
pliers of finance to corporations assure themselves
of getting a return on their investment. How do the
suppliers of finance get managers to return some
of the profits to them? How do they make sure
that managers do not steal the capital they supply
or invest it in bad projects? How do suppliers
of finance control managers?” These views stem
primarily from an agency theoretical perspective
that investigates the consequences of separation of
ownership and control in the modern corporation
(Jensen & Meckling, 1976). Recent corporate ac-
tivity and views, however, have an expanded view
of governance as involving stewardship and lead-
ership, in addition to the narrower financial pru-
dence role. From a survey of board members from
15 countri ...
Mayur barochiya's corporate governance and the public interestMayur Patel
This document discusses governance of strategic decision-making in corporations. It argues that governance in the public interest requires more than just free market processes, as control over strategic decisions typically rests with a small subset of shareholders and managers, rather than all stakeholders. The paper advocates for increasing participation in strategic decision-making through more democratic governance structures. This could involve reforming corporate laws to give more consideration to the interests of employees, creditors, and other stakeholders impacted by corporate decisions. The overall goal is to ensure strategic decision-making and corporate governance serves the broader public interest.
Mass Incarceration Essay
Structure and Agency Essay
Essay about Organizational Structures
Essay on Capital Structure
Essay about Organizational Structure
My Family Structure
Lewis Structure
The document discusses the importance of considering context in corporate social responsibility (CSR) research, particularly for developing countries. It focuses on three key contextual issues that influence CSR and CSR reporting: political ideology and state control in China, cultural understandings in the Middle East, and the impact of historical economic context in Sri Lanka. The document argues that CSR research often fails to fully investigate these important contextual factors and instead relies on theories developed from Western contexts, which may not apply to developing countries with very different socio-political environments.
The memo discusses whether the UNB Faculty of Business Administration in Fredericton should pursue third-party accreditation, specifically AACSB accreditation. It considers the benefits and costs of accreditation, changes to AACSB standards, stakeholder views on value, and the impact on short- and long-term strategy. The final decision should weigh costs/benefits for all, long-term impact on the faculty, and alignment with strategic direction.
This document discusses knowledge transfer within multinational enterprises (MNEs) from an institutional theory perspective. It notes that most studies of MNE knowledge transfer focus on structural factors like isomorphic pressures but rarely consider the influence of social institutions or the role of human agency. The document calls for integrating institutional theory and organizational learning perspectives to examine how broader institutional arrangements and micro-level processes shape knowledge transfer and practice adoption within MNEs. It encourages papers that adopt contextual, practice-based views of learning and highlight how institutional influences interact with actor orientations.
Business strategies in transition economiesHusnain Haider
This review summarizes a book that analyzes how unique institutions in transition economies influence business behaviors and strategies. The bulk of the book examines how institutions shape the strategies of different types of firms operating in transition economies, including state-owned enterprises, privatized firms, and entrepreneurial start-ups. It also discusses strategies of foreign firms exporting to or investing in transition economies. The review finds the book provides valuable insights for business executives seeking to understand potential competitors, collaborators, suppliers and customers in transition economies.
Arrangements by which politically connected firms receive economic favors are a common feature around the world, but little is known of the form or effects of influence in business-government relationships. We argue that influence not only brings significant privileges for selected firms, but requires firms to relinquish certain control rights in exchange for subsidies and protection. We show that, under these conditions, political influence can actually harm firm performance. Enterprise surveys from approximately 8,000 firms in 40 developing countries indicate that influential firms benefit from lower administrative and regulatory barriers (including bribe taxes), greater pricing power, and easier access to credit. But these firms also provide politically valuable benefits to incumbents through bloated payrolls and greater tax payments. These firms are also less likely to invest and innovate, and suffer from lower productivity than their non-influential counterparts. Our results highlight a potential channel by which cronyism leads to persistent underdevelopment.
This document summarizes a research paper that examines how Mark Moore's theory of public value can provide an ethical framework to guide businesses taking on political roles beyond corporate social responsibility. The paper discusses how businesses are increasingly engaging in activities traditionally viewed as government activities, like providing public services. It argues public value theory can help businesses make decisions about these new political roles by considering public goods, virtue ethics, and civic virtue. The theory aims to address normative ambiguities around businesses extending into the political realm and provide guidance for individuals within these organizations.
Comparing Public and Private Organizations-Empirical Research and teh Power o...Muhelwan Muhelwan
This article summarizes and assesses over two decades of empirical research comparing public and private organizations in areas such as goal complexity, organizational structure, personnel processes, and work attitudes. The research both supports and refutes conventional assumptions about differences between public and private organizations. For example, while public organizations are assumed to have more complex goals, public managers do not report higher goal complexity than private managers. Similarly, while public organizations are assumed to have more rules, public and private managers report similar levels of formalization. The research converges in some ways but also presents anomalies, supporting the need for continued empirical examination of the public-private distinction.
This document summarizes research on the effect of government funding on nonprofit administrative efficiency. Some research finds that government funding can increase nonprofit administrative costs through increased bureaucracy, professionalization, and compliance requirements. However, other research finds government funding can also improve efficiency by allowing nonprofits to achieve scale. This paper aims to empirically test the relationship between public funding and nonprofit efficiency using a longitudinal dataset of nonprofit organizations.
Running head Annotated bibliography1Annotated bibli.docxSUBHI7
Running head: Annotated bibliography
1
Annotated bibliography
2
Annotated bibliography
Vibert Jacob
South University
Administration-Politics Dichotomy
Getha-taylor, H. (2008). Review of Public Personnel Administration. Review of Public Personnel Administration,, 28(2), 103-119.
The author demonstrates where personnel administration lies. The authors explain that the personnel administration lies at the very core of administrative management. The thrust should substantive and positive, and not protective and negative. The article further states that public personnel administration should not be specialized and procedural as it was emphasized in the earlier times. The issues involved in the administration system is that, it is centralized and not effectively delegated which makes it lose the immediate relationship with the middle and lower managers whom they serve. Besides, the model involves traditional ways of management which focus on a central personnel organization that dictates the rules and procedures, mainly to achieve fairness and equity in public sector organizations. Little concern is given to line functions of the organization, whether they are paving roads, providing recreational services to the citizens, fostering diplomatic services, or delivering social services to clients with a foreign country. However, this was not the original intent, as the author points out in his study of the U.S civil services (1958), central personnel functions were aimed at professionalizing the workforce and providing equity and fairness in distributing a public good: government jobs. Beginning in the late 1800s, the federal government and major U.S. cities.
Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2000). Public Personnel Management. Public Personnel Management,, 29(1), 55-74.
Public personnel administration is depicted as to contribute to the creation of an environment that values and manages diversity, managers must decide who are diversity leaders and find support for those individuals. Managing and valuing diversity in administration-public dichotomy require a team approach: therefore, managers identified for the process must recognize that leadership and management skills are seldom concentrated on individuals. The big issues in the public personnel administration are managing diversity. Organizations must assist managers and personnel who manage the human resource to learn what the objectives of the organization are with respect to diversity, then receive pertinent training that will help personnel serving the public to accomplish the government’s roles. Therefore, public personnel administration commitment should start at the top of the organization pyramid with the recognition that the bottom-up organizational effort from diverse citizens can enhance the quality of decisions. Thus, leading to more substantive and innovative policies.
Kellough, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). The Reinvention of Public Personnel Administration. Public Administration Review,, ...
need an Administration-Politics Dichotomy written using these Anno.docxTanaMaeskm
need an Administration-Politics Dichotomy written using these
Annotated bibliography
Getha-taylor, H. (2008). Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Review of Public Personnel Administration,, 28
(2), 103-119.
The author demonstrates where personnel administration lies. The authors
explain
that the personnel administration lies at the very core of administrative management. The thrust should substantive and positive, and not protective and negative. The article further states that public personnel administration should not be specialized and procedural as it was emphasized in the earlier times. The issues involved in the administration system is that, it is centralized and not effectively delegated which makes it
lose
the immediate relationship with the middle and lower managers whom they serve. Besides, the model involves traditional ways of management which
focus
on a central personnel organization that dictates the rules and procedures, mainly to achieve fairness and equity in public sector organizations. Little concern is given to line functions of the organization, whether they are paving roads, providing recreational services to the citizens, fostering diplomatic services, or delivering social services to clients with a foreign country. However, this was not the original intent, as the author points out in his study of the U.S civil services (1958), central personnel functions were aimed at professionalizing the
workforce
and providing equity and fairness in distributing a public good: government jobs. Beginning in the late 1800s, the federal government and major U.S. cities.
Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2000). Public Personnel Management.
Public Personnel Management,, 29
(1), 55-74.
Public personnel administration is depicted as to contribute to the creation of an environment that values and manages diversity, managers must decide who are diversity leaders and find support for those individuals. Managing and valuing diversity in administration-public dichotomy require a team approach: therefore, managers identified for the process must recognize that leadership and management skills are seldom concentrated on individuals. The big issues in the
public
personnel administration
are
managing diversity. Organizations must assist
managers
and personnel who manage the
human
resource to learn what the objectives of the organization are with respect to diversity, then receive pertinent training that will help personnel serving the public to accomplish the government’s roles. Therefore, public personnel administration commitment should start at the top of the organization pyramid with the recognition that the bottom-up organizational effort from diverse citizens can enhance the quality of decisions. Thus, leading to more substantive and innovative policies.
Kellough, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). The Reinvention of Public Personnel Administration.
Public Administration Review,, 63
(2), 165-176.
The ar.
need anAdministration-Politics Dichotomy written using these Ann.docxTanaMaeskm
need an
Administration-Politics Dichotomy written using these
Annotated bibliography
Getha-taylor, H. (2008). Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Review of Public Personnel Administration,, 28
(2), 103-119.
The author demonstrates where personnel administration lies. The authors
explain
that the personnel administration lies at the very core of administrative management. The thrust should substantive and positive, and not protective and negative. The article further states that public personnel administration should not be specialized and procedural as it was emphasized in the earlier times. The issues involved in the administration system is that, it is centralized and not effectively delegated which makes it
lose
the immediate relationship with the middle and lower managers whom they serve. Besides, the model involves traditional ways of management which
focus
on a central personnel organization that dictates the rules and procedures, mainly to achieve fairness and equity in public sector organizations. Little concern is given to line functions of the organization, whether they are paving roads, providing recreational services to the citizens, fostering diplomatic services, or delivering social services to clients with a foreign country. However, this was not the original intent, as the author points out in his study of the U.S civil services (1958), central personnel functions were aimed at professionalizing the
workforce
and providing equity and fairness in distributing a public good: government jobs. Beginning in the late 1800s, the federal government and major U.S. cities.
Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2000). Public Personnel Management.
Public Personnel Management,, 29
(1), 55-74.
Public personnel administration is depicted as to contribute to the creation of an environment that values and manages diversity, managers must decide who are diversity leaders and find support for those individuals. Managing and valuing diversity in administration-public dichotomy require a team approach: therefore, managers identified for the process must recognize that leadership and management skills are seldom concentrated on individuals. The big issues in the
public
personnel administration
are
managing diversity. Organizations must assist
managers
and personnel who manage the
human
resource to learn what the objectives of the organization are with respect to diversity, then receive pertinent training that will help personnel serving the public to accomplish the government’s roles. Therefore, public personnel administration commitment should start at the top of the organization pyramid with the recognition that the bottom-up organizational effort from diverse citizens can enhance the quality of decisions. Thus, leading to more substantive and innovative policies.
Kellough, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). The Reinvention of Public Personnel Administration.
Public Administration Review,, 63
(2), 165-176.
The article portrays how.
Policy support for harnessing informal sector entrepreneurs Dr Lendy Spires
This document analyzes policy support and regulatory interventions for informal sector entrepreneurs across different country contexts through a comparative analysis. It discusses two main approaches to understanding informal sector entrepreneurship: the institutionalist perspective that focuses on regulations and structures, and the opportunity-driven perspective that examines individual entrepreneurs and opportunities. The document then examines specific country examples, categorizing national perspectives as either supportive or focused on control. It analyzes regulatory changes made by transition economies like Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, as well as developing economies like India, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The approaches taken by different countries range from facilitation and recognition of the informal sector to strict regulatory control.
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1) Research shows fewer than 20% of mergers and acquisitions achieve their desired objectives due to issues like unrealistic expectations, poor planning, talent loss, and cultural clashes during integration.
2) Significant research has explored factors like organizational culture, personnel morale, and career impacts, but human and organizational dynamics remain less explored than strategic and technological dimensions.
3) A landmark study of over 50 mergers identified problems like underestimating integration challenges, destruction of core competencies, and cultural clashes triggering stress as primary causes of
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ABSTRACT
This study develops an internal–external institutional framework that explains why firms act in socially responsible ways in the emerging country context of India and Saudi Arabia. Utilizing a mixed method of in-depth study selected companies & individuals, the author found that internal institutional factors, including ethical corporate culture and top management commitment, and external institutional factors, including globalization pressure, Government embeddedness, and normative social pressure, will affect the likelihood of firms to act in socially responsible ways. In particular, implicit ethical corporate culture plays a key role in predicting different aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR), while external institutional mechanisms mainly predict market-oriented CSR initiatives. This study contributes to the research on CSR antecedents by showing that in the emerging economy of India and Saudi Arabia, CSR toward non market stakeholders is more close
§ 6.01 IntroductionBackground checks are an important component .docxharrisonhoward80223
§ 6.01 Introduction
Background checks are an important component of an effective compliance program under the United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual, § 8B2.1(b)(3) (2011). If the personnel involved in promulgating the compliance program are known as people of integrity then the compliance program will be perceived as the result of a sincere effort to create a culture of ethics within the corporation.
Since the integrity of the senior management, compliance officer, and the compliance office personnel is critical to the effectiveness of the compliance program, enhanced background checks need to be conducted on all personnel who are involved in the conduct and dissemination of the compliance program.
__________
Timing:
These background checks should be conducted at the time of employment, promotion, salary increase or change of position to a compliance related function.
__________
Typically, conducting background checks on certain prospective employees can be an important part of the employee selection process for any company.
__________
Timing:
Background checks may also be advisable for employees considered for promotion or transfer into managerial or sensitive positions, or those positions which involve unsupervised employee contact with customers.
__________
__________
Strategic Point:
This practice should be reinforced throughout the company in hiring all employees since every employee is involved in promoting and participating in the compliance program.
__________
§ 6.02 Steps Involved in the Background Check Process
__________Trap:Strategic Point:
While seemingly straightforward, the steps required to conduct a legal background check are full of traps for the unwary. As a matter of federal law (and the law of many states), the process involves the following steps:
· 1.Obtain written consent for a background check from the applicant or employee;
· 2.Obtain and analyze the results of the background check;
· 3.Provide a copy of the background check to the applicant (if the results are relevant to the selection process) along with a written statement of rights and request a response;
· 4.Provide the applicant with an opportunity to respond with written comments to the background check results;
· 5.Consider the applicant’s written comments and the background check results in making a final determination as to whether the applicant will be hired, promoted, or transferred, and;
· 6.Provide the applicant with written notice (if the background check results are relevant to the selection process) of the fact that the background check results played a part in the selection process and that the applicant was not selected as a result.
__________
__________Warning:
These steps are more than just a set of best practices, they are designed to help an employer fully comply with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Failing to follow one or more of these steps when using background checks for employment decisions can leave a c.
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This review summarizes a book that analyzes how unique institutions in transition economies influence business behaviors and strategies. The bulk of the book examines how institutions shape the strategies of different types of firms operating in transition economies, including state-owned enterprises, privatized firms, and entrepreneurial start-ups. It also discusses strategies of foreign firms exporting to or investing in transition economies. The review finds the book provides valuable insights for business executives seeking to understand potential competitors, collaborators, suppliers and customers in transition economies.
Arrangements by which politically connected firms receive economic favors are a common feature around the world, but little is known of the form or effects of influence in business-government relationships. We argue that influence not only brings significant privileges for selected firms, but requires firms to relinquish certain control rights in exchange for subsidies and protection. We show that, under these conditions, political influence can actually harm firm performance. Enterprise surveys from approximately 8,000 firms in 40 developing countries indicate that influential firms benefit from lower administrative and regulatory barriers (including bribe taxes), greater pricing power, and easier access to credit. But these firms also provide politically valuable benefits to incumbents through bloated payrolls and greater tax payments. These firms are also less likely to invest and innovate, and suffer from lower productivity than their non-influential counterparts. Our results highlight a potential channel by which cronyism leads to persistent underdevelopment.
This document summarizes a research paper that examines how Mark Moore's theory of public value can provide an ethical framework to guide businesses taking on political roles beyond corporate social responsibility. The paper discusses how businesses are increasingly engaging in activities traditionally viewed as government activities, like providing public services. It argues public value theory can help businesses make decisions about these new political roles by considering public goods, virtue ethics, and civic virtue. The theory aims to address normative ambiguities around businesses extending into the political realm and provide guidance for individuals within these organizations.
Comparing Public and Private Organizations-Empirical Research and teh Power o...Muhelwan Muhelwan
This article summarizes and assesses over two decades of empirical research comparing public and private organizations in areas such as goal complexity, organizational structure, personnel processes, and work attitudes. The research both supports and refutes conventional assumptions about differences between public and private organizations. For example, while public organizations are assumed to have more complex goals, public managers do not report higher goal complexity than private managers. Similarly, while public organizations are assumed to have more rules, public and private managers report similar levels of formalization. The research converges in some ways but also presents anomalies, supporting the need for continued empirical examination of the public-private distinction.
This document summarizes research on the effect of government funding on nonprofit administrative efficiency. Some research finds that government funding can increase nonprofit administrative costs through increased bureaucracy, professionalization, and compliance requirements. However, other research finds government funding can also improve efficiency by allowing nonprofits to achieve scale. This paper aims to empirically test the relationship between public funding and nonprofit efficiency using a longitudinal dataset of nonprofit organizations.
Running head Annotated bibliography1Annotated bibli.docxSUBHI7
Running head: Annotated bibliography
1
Annotated bibliography
2
Annotated bibliography
Vibert Jacob
South University
Administration-Politics Dichotomy
Getha-taylor, H. (2008). Review of Public Personnel Administration. Review of Public Personnel Administration,, 28(2), 103-119.
The author demonstrates where personnel administration lies. The authors explain that the personnel administration lies at the very core of administrative management. The thrust should substantive and positive, and not protective and negative. The article further states that public personnel administration should not be specialized and procedural as it was emphasized in the earlier times. The issues involved in the administration system is that, it is centralized and not effectively delegated which makes it lose the immediate relationship with the middle and lower managers whom they serve. Besides, the model involves traditional ways of management which focus on a central personnel organization that dictates the rules and procedures, mainly to achieve fairness and equity in public sector organizations. Little concern is given to line functions of the organization, whether they are paving roads, providing recreational services to the citizens, fostering diplomatic services, or delivering social services to clients with a foreign country. However, this was not the original intent, as the author points out in his study of the U.S civil services (1958), central personnel functions were aimed at professionalizing the workforce and providing equity and fairness in distributing a public good: government jobs. Beginning in the late 1800s, the federal government and major U.S. cities.
Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2000). Public Personnel Management. Public Personnel Management,, 29(1), 55-74.
Public personnel administration is depicted as to contribute to the creation of an environment that values and manages diversity, managers must decide who are diversity leaders and find support for those individuals. Managing and valuing diversity in administration-public dichotomy require a team approach: therefore, managers identified for the process must recognize that leadership and management skills are seldom concentrated on individuals. The big issues in the public personnel administration are managing diversity. Organizations must assist managers and personnel who manage the human resource to learn what the objectives of the organization are with respect to diversity, then receive pertinent training that will help personnel serving the public to accomplish the government’s roles. Therefore, public personnel administration commitment should start at the top of the organization pyramid with the recognition that the bottom-up organizational effort from diverse citizens can enhance the quality of decisions. Thus, leading to more substantive and innovative policies.
Kellough, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). The Reinvention of Public Personnel Administration. Public Administration Review,, ...
need an Administration-Politics Dichotomy written using these Anno.docxTanaMaeskm
need an Administration-Politics Dichotomy written using these
Annotated bibliography
Getha-taylor, H. (2008). Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Review of Public Personnel Administration,, 28
(2), 103-119.
The author demonstrates where personnel administration lies. The authors
explain
that the personnel administration lies at the very core of administrative management. The thrust should substantive and positive, and not protective and negative. The article further states that public personnel administration should not be specialized and procedural as it was emphasized in the earlier times. The issues involved in the administration system is that, it is centralized and not effectively delegated which makes it
lose
the immediate relationship with the middle and lower managers whom they serve. Besides, the model involves traditional ways of management which
focus
on a central personnel organization that dictates the rules and procedures, mainly to achieve fairness and equity in public sector organizations. Little concern is given to line functions of the organization, whether they are paving roads, providing recreational services to the citizens, fostering diplomatic services, or delivering social services to clients with a foreign country. However, this was not the original intent, as the author points out in his study of the U.S civil services (1958), central personnel functions were aimed at professionalizing the
workforce
and providing equity and fairness in distributing a public good: government jobs. Beginning in the late 1800s, the federal government and major U.S. cities.
Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2000). Public Personnel Management.
Public Personnel Management,, 29
(1), 55-74.
Public personnel administration is depicted as to contribute to the creation of an environment that values and manages diversity, managers must decide who are diversity leaders and find support for those individuals. Managing and valuing diversity in administration-public dichotomy require a team approach: therefore, managers identified for the process must recognize that leadership and management skills are seldom concentrated on individuals. The big issues in the
public
personnel administration
are
managing diversity. Organizations must assist
managers
and personnel who manage the
human
resource to learn what the objectives of the organization are with respect to diversity, then receive pertinent training that will help personnel serving the public to accomplish the government’s roles. Therefore, public personnel administration commitment should start at the top of the organization pyramid with the recognition that the bottom-up organizational effort from diverse citizens can enhance the quality of decisions. Thus, leading to more substantive and innovative policies.
Kellough, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). The Reinvention of Public Personnel Administration.
Public Administration Review,, 63
(2), 165-176.
The ar.
need anAdministration-Politics Dichotomy written using these Ann.docxTanaMaeskm
need an
Administration-Politics Dichotomy written using these
Annotated bibliography
Getha-taylor, H. (2008). Review of Public Personnel Administration.
Review of Public Personnel Administration,, 28
(2), 103-119.
The author demonstrates where personnel administration lies. The authors
explain
that the personnel administration lies at the very core of administrative management. The thrust should substantive and positive, and not protective and negative. The article further states that public personnel administration should not be specialized and procedural as it was emphasized in the earlier times. The issues involved in the administration system is that, it is centralized and not effectively delegated which makes it
lose
the immediate relationship with the middle and lower managers whom they serve. Besides, the model involves traditional ways of management which
focus
on a central personnel organization that dictates the rules and procedures, mainly to achieve fairness and equity in public sector organizations. Little concern is given to line functions of the organization, whether they are paving roads, providing recreational services to the citizens, fostering diplomatic services, or delivering social services to clients with a foreign country. However, this was not the original intent, as the author points out in his study of the U.S civil services (1958), central personnel functions were aimed at professionalizing the
workforce
and providing equity and fairness in distributing a public good: government jobs. Beginning in the late 1800s, the federal government and major U.S. cities.
Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2000). Public Personnel Management.
Public Personnel Management,, 29
(1), 55-74.
Public personnel administration is depicted as to contribute to the creation of an environment that values and manages diversity, managers must decide who are diversity leaders and find support for those individuals. Managing and valuing diversity in administration-public dichotomy require a team approach: therefore, managers identified for the process must recognize that leadership and management skills are seldom concentrated on individuals. The big issues in the
public
personnel administration
are
managing diversity. Organizations must assist
managers
and personnel who manage the
human
resource to learn what the objectives of the organization are with respect to diversity, then receive pertinent training that will help personnel serving the public to accomplish the government’s roles. Therefore, public personnel administration commitment should start at the top of the organization pyramid with the recognition that the bottom-up organizational effort from diverse citizens can enhance the quality of decisions. Thus, leading to more substantive and innovative policies.
Kellough, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). The Reinvention of Public Personnel Administration.
Public Administration Review,, 63
(2), 165-176.
The article portrays how.
Policy support for harnessing informal sector entrepreneurs Dr Lendy Spires
This document analyzes policy support and regulatory interventions for informal sector entrepreneurs across different country contexts through a comparative analysis. It discusses two main approaches to understanding informal sector entrepreneurship: the institutionalist perspective that focuses on regulations and structures, and the opportunity-driven perspective that examines individual entrepreneurs and opportunities. The document then examines specific country examples, categorizing national perspectives as either supportive or focused on control. It analyzes regulatory changes made by transition economies like Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, as well as developing economies like India, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The approaches taken by different countries range from facilitation and recognition of the informal sector to strict regulatory control.
This document summarizes a case study examining resistance to change within the US State Department during the implementation of a new management initiative called ICASS. ICASS aimed to restructure administrative support and shift costs to other agencies with overseas presences. The study used interviews and surveys of State Department and other federal agency employees involved in ICASS implementation. It found significant resistance from stakeholders who felt their roles, control, and benefits were threatened by the changes. Understanding sources of this political and psychological resistance could help make future organizational reforms more successful.
This document summarizes research on factors that influence the successful implementation of mergers and acquisitions. It reviews literature from economics, finance, strategic management, and behavioral perspectives. Key findings include:
1) Research shows fewer than 20% of mergers and acquisitions achieve their desired objectives due to issues like unrealistic expectations, poor planning, talent loss, and cultural clashes during integration.
2) Significant research has explored factors like organizational culture, personnel morale, and career impacts, but human and organizational dynamics remain less explored than strategic and technological dimensions.
3) A landmark study of over 50 mergers identified problems like underestimating integration challenges, destruction of core competencies, and cultural clashes triggering stress as primary causes of
Corporate social responsibility institutional drivers a comparative study fro...Adam Shafi Shaik PhD.
ABSTRACT
This study develops an internal–external institutional framework that explains why firms act in socially responsible ways in the emerging country context of India and Saudi Arabia. Utilizing a mixed method of in-depth study selected companies & individuals, the author found that internal institutional factors, including ethical corporate culture and top management commitment, and external institutional factors, including globalization pressure, Government embeddedness, and normative social pressure, will affect the likelihood of firms to act in socially responsible ways. In particular, implicit ethical corporate culture plays a key role in predicting different aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR), while external institutional mechanisms mainly predict market-oriented CSR initiatives. This study contributes to the research on CSR antecedents by showing that in the emerging economy of India and Saudi Arabia, CSR toward non market stakeholders is more close
Similar to Politics and Power within MultinationalCorporations Mainstr.docx (20)
§ 6.01 IntroductionBackground checks are an important component .docxharrisonhoward80223
§ 6.01 Introduction
Background checks are an important component of an effective compliance program under the United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual, § 8B2.1(b)(3) (2011). If the personnel involved in promulgating the compliance program are known as people of integrity then the compliance program will be perceived as the result of a sincere effort to create a culture of ethics within the corporation.
Since the integrity of the senior management, compliance officer, and the compliance office personnel is critical to the effectiveness of the compliance program, enhanced background checks need to be conducted on all personnel who are involved in the conduct and dissemination of the compliance program.
__________
Timing:
These background checks should be conducted at the time of employment, promotion, salary increase or change of position to a compliance related function.
__________
Typically, conducting background checks on certain prospective employees can be an important part of the employee selection process for any company.
__________
Timing:
Background checks may also be advisable for employees considered for promotion or transfer into managerial or sensitive positions, or those positions which involve unsupervised employee contact with customers.
__________
__________
Strategic Point:
This practice should be reinforced throughout the company in hiring all employees since every employee is involved in promoting and participating in the compliance program.
__________
§ 6.02 Steps Involved in the Background Check Process
__________Trap:Strategic Point:
While seemingly straightforward, the steps required to conduct a legal background check are full of traps for the unwary. As a matter of federal law (and the law of many states), the process involves the following steps:
· 1.Obtain written consent for a background check from the applicant or employee;
· 2.Obtain and analyze the results of the background check;
· 3.Provide a copy of the background check to the applicant (if the results are relevant to the selection process) along with a written statement of rights and request a response;
· 4.Provide the applicant with an opportunity to respond with written comments to the background check results;
· 5.Consider the applicant’s written comments and the background check results in making a final determination as to whether the applicant will be hired, promoted, or transferred, and;
· 6.Provide the applicant with written notice (if the background check results are relevant to the selection process) of the fact that the background check results played a part in the selection process and that the applicant was not selected as a result.
__________
__________Warning:
These steps are more than just a set of best practices, they are designed to help an employer fully comply with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Failing to follow one or more of these steps when using background checks for employment decisions can leave a c.
This document summarizes and responds to critiques of the author's original paper on conflicting values and disparate epistemologies in psychiatry. The author agrees with some of the critiques but also clarifies and expands on his original arguments. He argues that psychiatrists must adopt patients' languages and frame problems in a way that respects patients' values, in order to avoid inadvertently harming patients. However, psychiatrists do not need to abandon their own frameworks, but should recognize other possible frameworks and engage in open communication with patients to negotiate care plans in a non-coercive way. Involuntary hospitalization can cause harm and psychiatry's assumptions may need reform, but psychiatry also plays an important role
¡A Presentar en Español!Prepare To prepare for this activit.docxharrisonhoward80223
¡A Presentar en Español!
Prepare: To prepare for this activity, review the vocabulary and grammar explanations from Capítulo 4. Continue to practice conjugating verbs in the present tense, to ask and answer questions, and to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary by completing several of the assigned practice activities in MySpanishLab.
Reflect: What makes your city unique? What kinds of things do you and your friends enjoy doing on the weekends? Can you convey what you think will happen in the future? When was the last time that you wrote a postcard? What picture would make a perfect postcard for your city or town?
Write: Choose one of the following activities to use for your initial response.
· Activity #1: In Capítulo 4 of your primary text, explore activity 4-20 Qué Será, Será… (p. 148). Use the ir + a + infinitive construction to predict the future for yourself, your friends, your family, famous people, and so forth.
Write five predictions of what will occur in the future for five different subjects (e.g., your children, the president of the United States, you, etc.). Consult page 148 for a model.
· Activity #2: In Capítulo 4 of your primary text, explore activity 4-38 Una Tarjeta Postal (A Postcard) (p. 159). Write a postcard highlighting different things in your city or town. See if you can convince your classmates to visit!
Use the following questions to organize your ideas. Write at least five complete sentences. Consult the model on page 159 of your primary text if needed.
· ¿Qué lugares hay en tu pueblo o ciudad?
· ¿Por qué son importantes o interesantes?
· Normalmente, ¿qué haces allí?
· ¿Adónde vas los fines de semana?
· ¿Qué te gusta de tu pueblo o de tu ciudad?
· Activity #3: In Capítulo 4 of your primary text, explore activity 4-22 En Tu Opinión (p. 150). Complete the following sentences about volunteer work. Be sure to follow up with additional details to give the reader a clear description of your opinion. Refer to the model on page 150.
· Yo (no) soy un/a consejero/a perfecto/a porque…
· Dos trabajos voluntarios que me gustan son …
· Hay muchas residencias de ancianos en los Estados Unidos porque…
· Yo apoyo al candidato __________ porque . . .
· Cuando repartes comidas, puedes . . .
Respond to Peers: Read through your classmates’ posts. Choose two different posts, and ask one question to each classmate, in Spanish, to elicit more information (Due by Day 5). Also, respond to one of the questions posed by your classmates in response to your initial post (Due by Day 5).
Note: You will have a minimum of four posts, in Spanish, in this forum:
· Your initial post (Due by Day 3)
· A question posed to classmate 1 (Due by Day 5)
· A question posed to classmate 2 (Due by Day 5)
· An answer to a question posed by a classmate in response to your initial post (Due by Day 7)
Tips for success:
· Post your initial response by Day 3. If you post late, you may not have a question from a classmate to respond to in order to fu.
You are the Human Resource Director for a 500-bed hospital. You have learned that the American Professionals Union is attempting to unionize your 1,000 registered nurses. The CEO has asked you to draft a plan—either supporting the nurses in their efforts OR attempting to remain union-free. Draft solid arguments—either pro or con—for presentation and recommendation to the CEO.
Your paper should be a well-organized paper of six to eight pages in length (in addition to a title page identifying your name and the course number), clearly articulated, and to the point. Your paper must reflect APA style and contain at least three references other than the textbook, which may include Internet sources, professional journal articles,
Carrell, M. R., & Heavrin, C. (2010).
Labor relations and collective bargaining: Cases, practice, and law
(9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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إضغ بين إيديكم من أقوى الملازم التي صممتها
ملزمة تشريح الجهاز الهيكلي (نظري 3)
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تتميز هذهِ الملزمة بعِدة مُميزات :
1- مُترجمة ترجمة تُناسب جميع المستويات
2- تحتوي على 78 رسم توضيحي لكل كلمة موجودة بالملزمة (لكل كلمة !!!!)
#فهم_ماكو_درخ
3- دقة الكتابة والصور عالية جداً جداً جداً
4- هُنالك بعض المعلومات تم توضيحها بشكل تفصيلي جداً (تُعتبر لدى الطالب أو الطالبة بإنها معلومات مُبهمة ومع ذلك تم توضيح هذهِ المعلومات المُبهمة بشكل تفصيلي جداً
5- الملزمة تشرح نفسها ب نفسها بس تكلك تعال اقراني
6- تحتوي الملزمة في اول سلايد على خارطة تتضمن جميع تفرُعات معلومات الجهاز الهيكلي المذكورة في هذهِ الملزمة
واخيراً هذهِ الملزمة حلالٌ عليكم وإتمنى منكم إن تدعولي بالخير والصحة والعافية فقط
كل التوفيق زملائي وزميلاتي ، زميلكم محمد الذهبي 💊💊
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How Barcodes Can Be Leveraged Within Odoo 17Celine George
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The recent surge in pro-Palestine student activism has prompted significant responses from universities, ranging from negotiations and divestment commitments to increased transparency about investments in companies supporting the war on Gaza. This activism has led to the cessation of student encampments but also highlighted the substantial sacrifices made by students, including academic disruptions and personal risks. The primary drivers of these protests are poor university administration, lack of transparency, and inadequate communication between officials and students. This study examines the profound emotional, psychological, and professional impacts on students engaged in pro-Palestine protests, focusing on Generation Z's (Gen-Z) activism dynamics. This paper explores the significant sacrifices made by these students and even the professors supporting the pro-Palestine movement, with a focus on recent global movements. Through an in-depth analysis of printed and electronic media, the study examines the impacts of these sacrifices on the academic and personal lives of those involved. The paper highlights examples from various universities, demonstrating student activism's long-term and short-term effects, including disciplinary actions, social backlash, and career implications. The researchers also explore the broader implications of student sacrifices. The findings reveal that these sacrifices are driven by a profound commitment to justice and human rights, and are influenced by the increasing availability of information, peer interactions, and personal convictions. The study also discusses the broader implications of this activism, comparing it to historical precedents and assessing its potential to influence policy and public opinion. The emotional and psychological toll on student activists is significant, but their sense of purpose and community support mitigates some of these challenges. However, the researchers call for acknowledging the broader Impact of these sacrifices on the future global movement of FreePalestine.
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Politics and Power within MultinationalCorporations Mainstr.docx
1. Politics and Power within Multinational
Corporations: Mainstream Studies,
Emerging Critical Approaches and
Suggestions for Future Research
Mike Geppert and Christoph Dörrenbächer1
Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2
7XH, UK, and 1Faculty of Business and Economics,
Berlin School of Economics and Law, Badensche Strasse 50/51,
D-10825 Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author email: [email protected]
Given the increased public interest in the use and misuse of
power in multinationals in
the aftermath of the financial crisis, it is notable that power
relations in multinational
corporations (MNCs) have not gained enhanced attention in the
academic community.
What is missing so far in the study of MNCs is a systematic
examination of how power
and politics within MNCs have been addressed in mainstream
international business
(IB) and sociological research studying the MNC. This paper
starts by critically review-
ing these two mainstream approaches in the study of MNCs as
organizations and
seeking to understand the shortcomings of former research.
Next, it reviews new
emergent critical perspectives, which the authors call socio-
political studies of MNCs,
2. where power and politics are addressed not just more
prominently, but also differently,
from a more bottom-up and actor-centred perspective. After
reviewing this emergent
stream of research, the authors propose that future studies
should take a more micro-
political perspective and focus in more detail on the micro-
foundations of power
relations. In the concluding section, the authors show how
future studies of MNCs can
learn from both critical interactionist and discursive theories
when analysing organ-
izational politics and power relations. A framework is proposed
for the study of micro-
level political game-playing in MNCs, based on a three-
dimensional framework for
organizational power (episodic, rules of the game and
domination), and some key
research questions for future studies are suggested.
Introduction
It is interesting that, historically, power and politics
within multinational corporations (MNCs) have not
had a more central role in the study of MNCs in the
academic field of international business (IB), which
is dedicated to the study of internationalization,
foreign direct investment (FDI) and internationally
operating firms. International business scholars have
occasionally shown some interest in the study of
MNC power and even organized a symposium to
shed some light on the ‘Janus face’ and ‘dark side’ of
MNCs (e.g. see Eden and Lenway 2001). However,
the main emphasis for a long time was chiefly on
the power of MNCs, e.g. political bargaining strat-
4. within MNCs, all offering alternative perspectives to
the dominant rationalistic mainstream IB views on
power and politics in MNCs.
This paper unfolds as follows. It starts with a sys-
tematic overview on how the subject of power and
politics within MNCs has been addressed in main-
stream IB and what the shortcomings are. After that,
we discuss how mainstream organization sociologi-
cal researchers, especially institutionalist scholars,
have treated power and politics. We demonstrate that
the key focus of former studies on external societal
influences and supra-organizational authority and
power structures has left little room for developing a
deeper understanding of organizational power rela-
tions within MNCs. Next, we review and reflect on
emerging critical approaches, which bring together
two typically separated theoretical debates: first,
about the institutional and cultural embeddedness of
social relationships in the MNC and, second, about
the role of agency and diverse key actors, which
constitute the MNC as a ‘political system’ (Bélanger
and Edwards 2006; see also Morgan and Whitley
2003). In the final and concluding section, we intro-
duce interactionist and discursive approaches, which
provide deep insights into the micro-foundations of
MNC power relations. We refer to ideas of organiza-
tional power developed by organization studies
scholars, which have not been systematically dis-
cussed in mainstream IB. Accordingly, we define
power relations in MNCs from a processual perspec-
tive that closely links micro-political and language
games. Our key question is how power is exercised
through micro-political game-playing within MNCs,
which can have both stabilizing and de-stabilizing
effects on established power relations. The proces-
5. sual nature of micro-political game-playing has been
captured in the term ‘politics-as-activity’, which
points to two aspects of political activities: ‘politick-
ing’ and ‘politicization’ (Palonen 2003). Politicking
refers to struggles over redistribution of existing
power resources and thus might often have stabiliz-
ing effects on established power relations. Politiciza-
tion is more concerned with challenges to established
power structures. It refers to the question of whether
or not the games played by key actors undermine the
established rules of the game and patterns of domi-
nation. Accordingly, the concern of this paper is
threefold: (a) to what extent meanings or established
rules of the game become ‘fixed or reified in certain
forms’ (Clegg 1989, p. 183), i.e. to what degree pow-
erful key actors take these rules for granted when
playing games; (b) how active agency and powerful
actors reflect on the established meanings of rules,
and (c) how the rules of games, such as coercive
benchmarking of subsidiaries, become ‘powerful’
social practices within contemporary MNCs, and
why some actors choose to resist them.
Power and politics within MNCs in
mainstream IB studies
Historically, IB research on power and politics within
MNCs focused on studying the influence and chang-
ing role of HQ management (e.g. Stopford and Wells
1972; Vernon 1966), with, for example, Hymer
(1970) actually predicting that more geographical
dispersion of MNCs would lead to greater concen-
tration of decision-making power at the centre. As
long as HQ management was seen as being in the
driving seat, the role of lower-level managers, for
7. Mainstream economic research focuses on the effi-
ciency of managerial control when studying FDI and
how MNCs internationalize. Drawing on ideas of
transaction cost economics, this research asserts that
MNCs apply either market-oriented or hierarchical
forms of control (or some combination of them) to
control international ventures. A highly influential
approach in this academic camp is Dunning’s eclec-
tic paradigm (also called the OLI paradigm), which
explains FDI and the existence of MNCs by arguing
that internationally operating firms are able to
combine ‘ownership’, ‘locational’ and ‘internaliza-
tion’ advantages (e.g. Dunning 2000; Dunning and
Rugman 1985). According to this scheme, ownership
advantages refer to a company’s specialized home
country capabilities, such as human capital, patents,
technologies, intellectual property rights, brands and
reputation. This approach assumes that these assets
must be hierarchically controlled when replicated by
MNCs in new international market environments,
with a key question being how to transfer knowledge
and management practices efficiently. Locational
advantages are mainly seen as cost saving and market
opportunities. Finally, internalization advantages are
seen as the ability of a firm to organize its IB activi-
ties in a more transaction cost-efficient way by FDI
than by other means.
The OLI paradigm has been developed further,
mainly with reference to the so-called ‘knowledge
economy’. For example, Dunning and Lundan
(2009) argue that resource-seeking and market-
seeking activities are not sufficient and that strategic
assets are more knowledge-intensive than originally
assumed in IB studies of the MNC. They suggest
that, instead of transferring just ‘hard technologies’,
8. the transfer of ‘soft technology’, such as organization
structures and work practices, becomes increasingly
important and requires rethinking of traditional
approaches to studying MNCs. However, the OLI
paradigm ignores associated political processes and
power in the creation of knowledge and assets in the
MNC, or simply reduces them to principal agent
relationships (e.g. see Perrow 1986 for a critique). In
this view, managers (agents) need to be controlled by
owners (principals) in their internationalization deci-
sions because of the potential risk of opportunistic
behaviour and the threat of selfish profit- and career-
enhancing behaviour, especially if ‘assets’ are highly
specific and ‘uncertainty’ is high. A key problem
with such simplifications of human nature and
agency is that the economic rationality of agents is
described as universal, despite the paramount role of
social context, the social embeddedness of economic
actions (Granovetter 1985) and the influence of
diverse contextual rationalities (Morgan 2001a).
Moreover, the conceptualization of MNCs as pre-
dominantly economic systems is misleading,
because rationality is not only ‘bounded’ by incom-
plete contracts and opportunistic managerial behav-
iour, but also by the political nature of economic
decisions, which are based on political coalition
building and are therefore often sub-optimal, as
stressed by organizational theory pioneers Cyert and
March (1992, pp. 226–230).
In summary, we believe that economic studies
such as the eclectic paradigm neglect politics and
power in MNCs, despite the fact that they implicitly
assume selfish and cheating actors that need to be
controlled by either contractual or hierarchical
74. the role of power and politics in the MNC, based on
their normative mantra that when managers learn to
effectively create and manage transnational cultures,
‘inter-functional and cross-divisional conflicts, the
dysfunctional effects and illegitimate aspects of poli-
tics and power will hardly ever appear – they may
even disappear’ (Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2006,
p. 253).
In summary, mainstream evolutionary approaches
to the study of MNCs, while implicitly recognizing
the role of power and politics in MNC evolution,
ignore or dismiss the political nature of the MNC’s
evolution as a social organization. In particular, they
see bottom-up political action as simply dysfunc-
tional and to be tamed by the HQ through normative
integration.
Research on business networks and subsidiary
entrepreneurship: explicit focus on power and
politics within MNCs, but still largely drawing
on rationalistic views
The work of Hedlund (1986) was pioneering and
inspiring for many IB scholars, including Bartlett and
Ghoshal (1989) when developing their ideas about the
evolution of MNC strategies and structures. In com-
parison with mainstream IB research, Hedlund made
us aware that the strategic approaches of MNCs are
more dynamic and might switch back and forth
between more or less hierarchical control and coordi-
nation mechanisms, which he called ‘heterarchy’ (see
also the discussion in Collinson and Morgan 2009). In
this context, heterarchy is not the same as what eco-
nomic studies discuss under the label of market coor-
75. dination but, rather, points to the strategic choices and
roles of subsidiaries, which cannot be fully controlled
by the HQ. This observation is picked up and devel-
oped further by Forsgren and colleagues (e.g. see
Andersson et al. 2007; Forsgren 2008; Forsgren et al.
2005). They begin by strongly objecting to the evolu-
tionary model’s basic premises that HQs’ formal
authority is the dominant source of power in MNCs
and that ‘global mindsets’ or shared values can be
built (Forsgren et al. 2005). Instead they propose a
business network approach to power and politics in
MNCs in which ‘it is normal for a struggle for influ-
ence to exist. . . . between the headquarters and the
subsidiaries, as well as among the subsidiaries’
(Forsgren 2008, p. 115). Hence, the business network
approach sees the MNC as a ‘federation’, where the
HQ is one player among others, which, rather than
being able to exert formal authority, faces the problem
of balancing the influence and power of subsidiaries
(Andersson et al. 2007). This approach further
assumes that subsidiary power is largely defined by
the subsidiary’s particular business network, as this
network constitutes a large proportion of the
resources on which a subsidiary can draw. Here, both
internal relationships with other units of the MNC as
well as external relationships (e.g. with customers,
suppliers, government agencies) are considered as
sources of power. To what extent such power resources
can be leveraged depends largely on a subsidiary’s
2There are, of course, exceptions, as we discuss later. Here,
we refer especially to the seminal paper of Doz and Prahalad
(1991) and the work of Birkinshaw and colleagues on sub-
sidiary mandate change. Most of the work of the latter schol-
ars, however, remains closely linked to the evolutionary
model of the MNC, and theory-building on politics and
77. HQ – in reference to Weber’s classical definition
(Weber 1947) of bureaucratic power – as authority-
based power that is counterbalanced by the relative
power position of subsidiaries which, in reference
to resource-dependency theory, is based on the
control of critical resources (e.g. Birkinshaw 1996).
However, they go beyond the business network
approach to address in more detail how subsidiaries
and their key managers actively influence relations
with HQ and with fellow subsidiaries when develop-
ing and negotiating mandate changes. Here, Bouquet
and Birkinshaw (2008) refer to subsidiaries that
actively attempt to attract HQ’s attention, e.g.
through feedback-seeking or issue-framing. Simi-
larly a study by Birkinshaw and Ridderstråle (1999,
p. 152) reveals that HQ managers can effectively
block subsidiary initiatives by building up a finely
meshed corporate immune system that filters out any
initiatives that go against the HQ’s existing routines,
incur high risks, challenge the HQ’s power base or
unleash ‘fears of the unknown’ (Birkinshaw and
Ridderstråle 1999, p. 154).
In summary, the business network approach, along
with studies on subsidiary initiative-taking and entre-
preneurship, are quite important for understanding
the role of power and politics within MNCs, a phe-
nomenon that has either been neglected or only indi-
rectly referred to in mainstream IB research (see
also Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2006). The most
recent paper of Bouquet and Birkinshaw (2008) goes
far beyond the rationalistic arguments of previous
studies, in which HQ and subsidiaries were seen as
rational actors simply enacting their specific power
base. This paper, which combines economic and
78. sociological ideas, studies why and how some sub-
sidiaries in a lower power position are able to influ-
ence HQ decision-making (see also Dörrenbächer
and Gammelgaard 2011). It provides a much broader
view of political dynamics and power relations
within MNCs. This work bears a relationship to
mainstream sociological studies (most notably insti-
tutionalist studies), as discussed in the next section.
Power and politics within MNCs in
mainstream sociological studies4
We concentrate in this section on one of the most
prominent sociological research streams – institution-
alism – dedicated to the study of organizations,
including the MNC. Institutionalist scholars stress the
role of social institutions and different institutional
environments in the social constitution of MNCs.
There are two main streams of institutionalist litera-
ture on the MNC. Both stress that organizations need
to adapt and respond to their institutional environ-
ments, but they come to very different conclusions
about how organizational forms and management
practices are transferred across societal borders and
about the degree and impact of pressures for global
standardization on managerial and organizational
practices in MNCs (e.g. see Geppert and Williams
2006; Tempel and Walgenbach 2007). The first stream
was introduced by Westney (1993) and by Kostova
and colleagues (e.g. Kostova 1999; Kostova and Roth
2002; Kostova and Zaheer 1999) and draws heavily on
neo-institutionalist organization theories developed
in North America. The second stream draws on a
mixture of ideas introduced by European comparative
institutionalists such as ‘divergent capitalisms’ and
‘national business systems’. In contrast to the three
80. Neo-institutionalists believe that such management
ideas and ideologies create isomorphic pulls not so
much because they are seen as more efficient, as in
rationalistic approaches, but because adoption is
seen as crucial in order to enhance an organization’s
legitimacy and thus its survival (e.g. DiMaggio and
Powell 1983; Meyer 2000, Scott 2001; Tempel and
Walgenbach 2007).
Isomorphic pulls forcing MNCs to transfer organ-
izational practices across the globe consist of regula-
tive, normative and cognitive–cultural pressures
(Kostova 1999; Scott 2001). Regulative pressures
refer to the influence of transnational regulatory
bodies and organizations such as the WTO; normative
pressures refer to the infusion of particular values
through a growing number of MBA alumni in (top)
management positions; and cognitive–cultural pres-
sures refer to the increasing number of globally shared
ideas and ideologies, such as market liberalization. At
the same time, this research argues that MNCs must
comply with the different expectations of the various
host country institutional environments in which they
operate when adopting and implementing certain
management ideas and practices across national
borders (Kostova 1999). It is clear that different exter-
nal institutional pulls from the organizational field
and host countries lead to tensions (Kostova and
Zaheer 1999). This is especially the case when insti-
tutional distance between the home country of an
MNC (where organizational practices originate) and
the host country (where organizational practices are
transferred) is greater (Kostova and Roth 2002). This
problem is discussed as institutional duality. However,
these scholars rarely discuss the obvious political
implications within MNCs that emanate from institu-
81. tional duality. Actor-related questions such as who
pulls, why and how, are completely neglected, owing
to an over-socialized concept of actors. They discuss
the role of ‘MNC power relations’ only in relation to
cross-border transfers of management practices, and
in a limited way. They argue that the ‘dependency’ of
a subsidiary on its HQ will influence the degree to
which the subsidiary ‘adopts’, ‘implements’ and
‘internalizes’ practices and ideas transferred by the
HQ (Kostova and Roth 2002, p. 230).
In summary, politics and power relations within
MNCs have been little addressed by North-American
neo-institutionalist approaches. Their focus is on the
power that external institutional pressures exert on
organizations, most notably pressures that emanate
from dominant management ideas and practices, and
pressures that emanate from host-country institu-
tions. The different interests, identities and behav-
iours of actors involved in legitimizing and/or
de-legitimizing certain global or local organizational
practices, as well as the political implications of such
processes, are hardly acknowledged (Tempel and
Walgenbach 2007). The same is true for country-of-
origin effects, which play an important role in the
approaches of European comparative institutional-
ists, which we discuss next.
European comparative institutionalist studies: the
role of diverse societal specific institutional
regimes on power structures within MNCs
European comparative institutionalist studies assume
that the type and degree of social and societal embed-
dedness differs significantly between capitalist
83. European institutionalists assume that MNC
behaviour with regard to internationalization depends
on the MNC’s country-of-origin. These scholars see
differences in power structures within a particular
national business system as not only explaining dif-
ferences in the internationalization strategies of
MNCs (Dörrenbächer 2000; Geppert et al. 2013;
Whitley 2001), but also how power and authority are
shared within MNCs (Whitley 2009), and especially
how the HQ controls its subsidiaries (Harzing and
Sorge 2003).
They argue, for example, that liberal types of
national business systems are characterized by the
direct control of owners (e.g. reflected in strong
shareholder value orientation) and a weak influence
of other external stakeholders (such as employer
and employee associations), combined with a strong
authority of top management and a weak influence of
lower-level management and employees. Accord-
ingly, research has shown that MNCs from liberal
national business systems (such as the USA) –
because of lower degrees of social commitment to
power sharing with various internal and external
stakeholders and pressure from stock owners to meet
short-term financial goals – have developed more
standardized organizational practices and transfer
them internationally as ‘best practices’ (Almond and
Ferner 2006; Geppert 2003).
In comparison, MNCs originating from more
coordinated national business systems are under-
stood to have more difficulties in standardizing and
transferring their home country developed idiosyn-
cratic organizational practices, because of greater
social commitments with stakeholders and because
84. host countries often do not ‘offer’ the same high level
of institutional support as the home country in terms
of skills development for lower-level managers and
employees (Whitley 2009). Moreover, this research
suggests that a lack of ‘complementarities’ between
home and host country institutions has led to ‘avoid-
ance strategies’, i.e. MNCs from liberal market
economies avoid investing in coordinated market
economies such as Germany because of ‘constrain-
ing’ host country institutions (e.g. see Tempel 2002).
Research also found evidence that MNCs originating
from coordinated market economies flee their
national business system. For example, German
MNCs selectively transfer home country work and
organizational practices to subsidiaries in less coor-
dinated emerging market economies, to escape insti-
tutional ‘constraints’ of the home country (e.g. see
Bluhm 2001; Dörrenbächer 2004).
In summary, European comparative institutional-
ists assert that the distribution of authority and power
within MNCs cannot be understood without reflect-
ing on their societal institutional features and foun-
dations, which differ significantly across countries.
This is an important message that is little addressed
in mainstream IB literature, including in neo-
institutionalist studies of the MNC. However, like the
other approaches discussed above, European com-
parative institutionalism neglects to bring power rela-
tions in HQ and subsidiaries to life and shed more
light on the ‘contests’ and dynamic political proc-
esses that both sustain and undermine the authority
of powerful managers and other stakeholders. Power
and politics are conceptualized in a rather static and
over-socialized way, in which interests and identities
87. interactions through which power relationships are
socially sedimented into relatively permanent and
stable authority structures and specific institutional
features (Fincham 1992). The emphasis here is on
socio-political processes, referring to aspects of
social agency which can stabilize but also destabilize
established power relation and authority, e.g. of the
HQ.
It is here where newly emerging perspectives
make an important contribution, by taking a socio-
political view that goes beyond mainstream studies
to open up new routes for studying power and
politics in MNCs. In this review, we refer to two new
developments in neo-institutionalist and comparative
institutionalist research, which see the study of
MNCs as a challenge for theory-building and call
for a more actor-centred approach with power and
politics at centre stage. We discuss these new devel-
opments, which Barner-Rasmussen et al. (2010)
described as ‘emergent critical perspectives’ of MNC
research, in the next two sections and also reflect on
what we can learn from these new developments
for the study of the ‘contemporary multinational’
(Andersson and Holm 2010), both conceptually and
empirically.
The MNC as a challenge for mainstream
neo-institutionalist theory: institutional
contradictions and emergent space for
political action
The first new development in institutionalist theories
about the MNC can be seen in a recent ‘provocative’
essay by Kostova et al. (2008), which questions
88. whether basic ideas of neo-institutionalism can be
uncritically applied to the study of MNCs. They
argue that, despite being subject to institutional
influences, ‘MNCs have a very different institutional
story that fits better the conditions of equivocality,
ambiguity, and complexity’ (Kostova et al. 2008, p.
997). Reflecting critically on neo-institutionalist key
ideas, they conclude that a ‘blended institutional per-
spective’ is needed to study MNCs, leaving space for
understanding the role of social agency and power
and politics. The main argument is that the MNC as
a collective actor has the power to influence transna-
tional and national institution-building, and that its
subunits and individual key actors are not just
responding to a variety of institutional pressures and
‘pulls’, but that MNCs are political arenas where
powerful actors ‘must make sense, manipulate,
negotiate, and partially construct their institutional
environments’ (Kostova et al. 2008, p. 1001). This
view is in line with Morgan’s (2001b) research,
which argues that MNCs do not just respond to regu-
lative institutional pressures, but actively influence
transnational standard setting, e.g. product and legal
standards such as ‘fair dealing’ (Morgan 2001b, pp.
228–247). This research comes close to the focus of
our paper, by showing that MNCs cannot be seen as
coherent organizations that can be controlled top-
down and mainly respond to external economic and
institutional pressures, leaving no ‘space’ for social
agency.
In this approach, social agency comes into play
for two reasons. First, the agency of individuals
becomes important, because isomorphic institutional
pressures are seen as ‘limited’ in the case of the
MNC, which ‘creates a rich landscape of diverse
90. This new institutionalist approach argues that the
key tools of mainstream neo-institutionalist studies
of the MNC (e.g. the role of isomorphism and how
legitimacy is achieved across national and intra-
organizational borders) need to be revised. A more
actor-centred approach is needed to understand the
dialectics of institutional stability and change, which
brings the role of political processes and power
relations in the MNC from the shadows into the
limelight. This is crucial, because collective and indi-
vidual actors often have different identities and inter-
ests, creating (transnational) social spaces, which are
increasingly ‘contested’, especially when MNC strat-
egies narrowly focus on financial control mecha-
nisms and global standardization of organization
and work.
The MNC as a challenge for comparative
institutionalism: emergence of politically
contested terrains
The second new institutionalist development, which,
as with the above approach, we call ‘socio-political
studies of the MNC’, introduces ideas about the MNC
as a ‘transnational social space’ (Geppert and
Williams 2006; Morgan 2001a) and a ‘contested
terrain’ (e.g. Edwards and Bélanger 2009; Ferner
et al. 2006). Similarly to Kostova et al. (2008), this
socio-political approach challenges mainstream
studies of the MNC by stressing that these are not
unique organizational forms but multi-level and
diverse organizations, which must socially and soci-
etally embed their managerial and organizational
practices locally. This is actually a more difficult
91. process in the case of the MNC, because the diversity
of contextual rationalities of both collective and indi-
vidual actors is much higher than in a domestic firm.
This latter argument points to the political
dimensions of emerging transnational social spaces
within and through the various cross-border activi-
ties of the MNC. Here, different actors within
MNCs, their particular identities and interests, as
well as the social constitution of their agency come
to the fore (cf. Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2006,
2010). This perspective highlights the role of the
key actors’ career patterns, their professional and
career ambitions, their specific resource mobiliza-
tion strategies and their political sensemaking
approaches. This research also shows that global
‘best practices’ always need to be locally adapted,
which involves often lively and dynamic political
activities of key actors, making the MNC a ‘con-
tested terrain’. This also means that the process of
political contestation is not just an ‘effect’, follow-
ing the ‘logic’ of relatively stable and coherent
home country or host country institutional features,
as mainstream comparative institutionalist scholars
believe. Multinational corporations are indeed
social constructs enacted by powerful actors, which
bring diverse and sometimes contradictory ‘contex-
tual rationalities’ into play when contesting and
negotiating the methods and degrees of local
adaptations.
Taking a bottom-up view, the analysis of the
MNC as transnational social space focuses on the
process and political nature of the internal function-
ing and structuring of the MNC, which is consti-
tuted by a ‘set of relations between a range of
93. important for MNCs that are products of mergers and
acquisitions. Therefore, these studies suggest that,
instead of concentrating on formal authority and
power structures, MNCs should be studied as ‘fed-
erations of national companies where expertise and
knowledge rested in national contexts’ (Morgan and
Kristensen 2009), and where the HQ has little ability
or interest to exert full control. The HQ’s ability to
impose hierarchical control and globally standard-
ized organization structures and processes is highly
limited, even when they attempt otherwise. Accord-
ingly, Kristensen and Zeitlin (2001), based on an
in-depth case study, argue that the MNC’s ‘ “admin-
istrative heritage” continues to be diverse and rooted
in the experience that local actors had gained from
their involvement in the games of diverse regional
and national business systems’ (Kristensen and
Zeitlin (2001, p. 188). This includes not just the
subsidiaries, but also the HQ, where key actors have
had their own experiences when internationalizing
across borders.
Second, the idea of political contestation stresses
the importance of local resource-building activities
in order to both resist and negotiate the transfer and
implementation of organizational practices and strat-
egies developed elsewhere. Studies have illustrated
how local managers and employees in certain local
and national contexts have more opportunities to
draw on resources and mobilize the political support
of internal and external stakeholders in processes of
political contestation: for example, with the HQ and
governmental bodies about global restructuring and
subsidiary mandate development (Geppert and
Williams 2006; Kristensen and Zeitlin 2001). This
research has shown that in transnational corporations
94. (which it was assumed are better equipped to deal
with the global–local dilemma) local resource-
building is of utmost importance and requires skilful
political activities (e.g. see Bélanger et al. 2003). For
these political activities, local actors draw on distinct
societal institutional features, including supportive
industrial relations and high quality skill develop-
ment systems, which we still find in certain regions
and manufacturing sectors of Germany (e.g. see
Geppert and Williams 2006). However, this research
also suggests that societal institutional features are
only supportive for local actors in certain core
sectors of the German economy, and that in other
sectors, e.g. food retailing (Wortmann 2004) and fast
food (Royle 2002), local actors have fewer opportu-
nities to resist.
This brings us to the third distinct characteristic
of contestation that is highlighted in these socio-
political studies – the crucial role of social actors in
micro-political games played within MNCs. Pio-
neering research, especially by Kristensen and
Zeitlin (2001, 2005) and by other authors taking a
socio-political approach (e.g. Geppert and Williams
2006) has suggested that political contestation can
be studied in the various micro-political games
found in MNCs. Most studies have focused on the
study of micro-political games played between the
HQ and its subsidiaries to influence budget alloca-
tion, mandate change and relocation decisions
(Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2010). The analysis of
micro-political game-playing starts from the bottom
and asks how different identities and interests of
key actors stabilize and destabilize established insti-
tutional, cultural and organizational structures, and
96. different identities of subsidiary key actors can be
‘local patriotic’ or ‘cosmopolitan’ strategic orien-
tated, which leads to different approaches of
political strategizing when negotiating with HQ
managers, who also have their own distinct interests
and identities, leading to either ethnocentric or
more polycentric strategies in negotiations with
local managers. The study identifies four scenarios
or different ‘political sense-making’ processes,
which create either institutionally and politically
stable transnational social spaces based on develop-
ing mutual interests and shared identities, or more
unstable and conflicting transnational social spaces
drifting into ‘disorder’.
An inroad into the distinct interests and identities
of HQ managers is provided by the literature that
revolves around the notion of a transnational capital
class. Despite strongly differing views about to what
extent the capitalist class has/will become transna-
tional, it is taken as common sense in the debate that
corporate executives (and owners) of large MNCs
create inner circles of power (Carroll 2010; Murray
and Scott 2012; Robinson 2004; Sklair 2001).
According to Higley and Burton (2006), common
interests and a shared code of behaviour emerges
through interlocked networks of communication and
influence and a basic value agreement. Such
common interests, e.g. to follow a global logic of
accumulation rather than a national one, are assumed
to be manifested in the corporate chain of command
and translated into company policies which trigger a
variety of conflicts, e.g. with strongly locally ori-
ented actors (Scott 1997). More recently, a number of
authors have stressed that changes in corporate gov-
ernance, including the decreasing role of banks and
97. increasing role of a few mutual funds in financing
large corporations, have led to notable shifts in the
strategic agenda of large MNCs (Carroll 2010; Davis
2008). Thereby, a stronger emphasis on shareholder
value, and subsequently on benchmarking and cor-
porate restructuring is seen to infuse more and
heightened conflicts into the transnational social
space constituted by MNCs (Froud et al. 2002;
Lazonick 2012).
In summary, in contrast to most mainstream
studies focused on how MNCs are managed, struc-
tured and institutionally constrained, the new critical
perspectives reviewed above bring attention to the
role of the diverse interests, ideologies and identities
of key actors initiating and participating in micro-
political games. From this viewpoint, power relations
are dynamic and relational, interactively created not
just by key actors (managers and owners), but also by
employees, including international trade unions and
their representatives (e.g. Edwards and Bélanger
2009). The latter are often neglected by the manage-
rialist focus of mainstream IB research, but are
increasingly understood as a crucial part of local
resource-building activities and a resource for
organizing local resistance to centrally imposed HQ
policies.
In the next and concluding sections, we systemati-
cally discuss political game-playing within MNCs.
We look in detail at how two micro-perspectives in
the study of MNCs – micropolitics and discursive
analysis – can be combined by outlining a three-
dimensional framework for the study of political
game-playing. Finally, we highlight some ques-
100. 2009). The main focus is on the different interests of
various key actors within the HQ and within subsidi-
aries, who develop various political strategies in
order to initiate, influence, resist and/or negotiate,
e.g. the change of mandates or coercive comparisons
(Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2009; see also Morgan
and Kristensen 2006).
Studies on language games draw on theories of
power, especially of Foucault (1980) and Critical
Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough 1997), and
focus on the power of discourses and political sense-
making, e.g. the political role and impact of stories
and storytelling and identity constructions (e.g. see
Vaara and Tienari 2008; see also Geppert 2003).
Language games have been analysed mainly as dis-
courses and narrative constructions, reflecting power
relations as well as political discourses in situations
of cross-border mergers and post-merger situations
(e.g. see Riad 2005; Vaara et al. 2005). A number of
studies have examined post-acquisition situations as
critical events that trigger discursive contestations
between HQ and subsidiaries (Vaara et al. 2005) as
well as political sensemaking processes among key
HQ and subsidiary actors (Geppert 2003; Vaara
2003).
The two camps apply different conceptual and
methodological approaches to the game metaphor.
The micro-political camp is more interested in
analyzing micro-political strategizing approaches
and the role and interests of key actors, both at
the HQ and at the local subsidiary level. Scholars
use comparative case studies in order to illustrate
and compare micro-political game-playing, based
101. primarily on in-depth interviews, triangulating these
with company and various other data, including
media sources. Discursive studies on language
games concentrate more on the narrative construc-
tion of the MNC (Vaara and Tienari 2011), often
focusing on discursive contests between acquiring
and acquired companies in post-merger situations.
One focus of analysis is on the dialogical dynamics
of nationalist, globalist and local (e.g. Nordic)
storytelling approaches and how these inform
discursive struggles between the HQ and the newly
acquired subsidiaries (ibid). Researchers apply
‘multi-method’ approaches, combining CDA, ethno-
graphic and antenarrative methodologies when
analysing and interpreting texts, vocabularies and
rhetorical strategies of key actors (Vaara and
Tienari 2011).
Concluding comments and
suggestions for future research
Having described differences in research traditions,
methodology and focus of analysis, we conclude by
suggesting that future research on power and politics
in MNCs could gain from combining the idea of
language games with that of micropolitics. For this
purpose, we find especially useful the ideas of Hardy
(1996), Clegg 1989 and Clegg et al. (2006) on organ-
izational power, which have not been systematically
applied to the MNC context.
A first step in combining these conceptual
approaches is to distinguish between ‘surface’ and
6When referring to language games, we refer to the defini-
tion of Rindova et al. (2004), who argue that language
103. ated actions, texts and resources used in games, as
well as how games manifest themselves and are
played out on the stage of the MNC. Next, the second
and deeper power dimension consists of the rules of
the game themselves. Questions that need to be
asked here are: What are the rules? Who sets them?
and How far are key subsidiary actors involved in
these processes? The third and deepest dimension of
organizational power relates to the patterns of domi-
nation and the societal dimensions of MNC power,
e.g. the role of post- and neo-colonial thought or
the pervasive financialization of capitalist societies.
The latter dimension is about the influence of new
transnational elites within and around MNCs. These
elites are often seen as representatives of a new trans-
national capitalist class that guards dominant ideolo-
gies, such as the primacy of ‘shareholder value’ (e.g.
see Murray and Scott 2012). For example, extraordi-
nary bonus systems for investment bankers and
CEOs have maintained their central part in the rules
of the game, despite the destructive effects of the
current financial crisis on many national economies
(see Table 2 for overview).
Now we explore some questions of political game-
playing in MNCs in relation to the first dimension of
organizational power – episodic power, i.e. the most
visible contests and games played in the MNC. These
episodes are not random, as Clegg et al. (2006)
remind us, but are related to deeper organizational
power relations within the MNC and forms of domi-
nation shaped by post- and neo-colonial histories
between HQ and certain local subsidiaries (e.g.
Vaara et al. 2005). A key research question here is:
What types of games are ideally typically played in
104. the MNC? Research has focused on games related to
mandate changes (Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2009),
subsidiary initiative-taking (e.g. Dörrenbächer and
Geppert 2010) or the transfer of HR and employment
practices within MNCs (e.g. Ferner et al. 2006).
Other language game-focused research concentrates,
e.g. on games played in international expansion strat-
egies (Hartt et al. 2012), in post-merger situations
regarding the future corporate language (e.g. Vaara
et al. 2005) and in the use of stories to legitimate and
resist post-merger changes (Vaara and Tienari 2011).
Table 2. Framework for research of micro-political game-
playing in MNCs
Dimensions of power Analytic focus Key research questions
Episodic power
(the actions, texts and resources used in
games – how games manifest themselves,
how they are played out on the stage of the
MNC)
• Games played between HQ and subsidiaries
related to situations of e.g. mandate
changes, subsidiary initiatives, post-merger
integration, coercive comparisons between
subsidiaries
• Who wins and who loses the game?
• What are the (local and MNC-internal)
resources on which key actors can draw?
Rules of the game
105. (what are they, who sets them and how far are
key subsidiary actors involved in this
process)
• Constitution of rule setting, implementation
and change, i.e. is change of rule negotiated,
imposed by HQ
• Skills, identities and interests of key actors
in HQ and subsidiaries to legitimate or
resist setting and changing of rules in the
games played
• Who set the rules, just the HQ?
• What are the rules?
• What are the interests and identities of
the key actors in playing the games?
Domination
(the societal dimensions of organizational
power, e.g. post- and neo-colonial or
financial capitalism)
• Dominant and counter vocabularies
• Legitimizing and counter frames for e.g.
financialization and standardization
• Post- and neo-colonial hegemonies
• Why are the rules in place and have
been changed?
• What are the aims of the games played?
107. established rules. Thus, micro-political game-
playing is also about interpreting and reinterpreting
the rules of the game in the process of playing. It is
not always clear what the rules of the games are
before actors start interpreting, questioning and
sometimes resisting existing or new rules, e.g. in the
case of mandate changes. That is why the skills and
identities of key actors come into play, as well as
interest differences between key players, e.g. in the
subsidiary which might not like the change of rules
of the game when HQ proposes mandate changes
(Dörrenbächer and Geppert 2009) or the change
of the corporate language after a merger (Vaara
et al. 2005). Key players might decide to mobilize
resources internally and externally to resist these
changes, because career prospects or path might be
affected because of a lack of corporate language
skills (Vaara et al. 2005). However, in order to play
the game successfully, key actors need various types
of skills (e.g. political, rhetorical, social networking
skills). These social skills put certain key actors in
prominent positions as powerful brokers and players
in game-playing between subsidiaries and HQ. A
final, important question is whether the HQ is willing
to negotiate or, rather, imposes new rules or rule
change, and whether local actors are able and willing
to negotiate if invited by HQ (e.g. Clark and Geppert
2011).
Finally, we move to the third dimension of organ-
izational power – patterns of domination in game-
playing. Neo-institutionalists have stressed that
global standardization is the outcome of isomorphic
pressures (e.g. see Tempel and Walgenbach 2007)
and that MNCs might decide to implement new
financial accounting measures to meet shareholder
108. expectations (e.g. Geppert 2003). In this view, game-
playing might be triggered by increasing global
isomorphic pressures on large business firms to
implement financial control measures (Fligstein
1990). Moreover, research on language and power
refers to post-colonial theories of power (Prasad
2003). Accordingly, research by Vaara et al. (2005)
stressed that language policies and related internal
contests between HQ and subsidiaries might encour-
age the reproduction of post-colonial and creation of
new colonial identities and conflicts.
Last, a word of caution. Students of power and
politics, when analysing and linking the third dimen-
sion of power back to the other two, should be careful
that pressures of isomorphism and forms of domi-
nance are not interpreted one-sidedly, as determi-
nants of political game-playing within MNCs. Future
research needs to carefully examine alternative
forms and dynamics of political strategizing, based
on counter vocabularies and counter frames used
by powerful actors in political game-playing in
contemporary MNCs. This is especially important in
the aftermath of the current financial and economic
crisis, which questioned the hegemony and isomor-
phic pressures of stock markets. This has now opened
up some interesting new routes of critical studies on
the transnational capitalist class and financial elites
(Carroll 2010; Davis 2008; Murray and Scott 2012).
Given how the financial crisis has affected us all,
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