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Institutionen, Technik und Ökonomie : eine organisationstheoretische Untersuchung des deutschen und italienischen Maschinenbaus /
Abstract
Mannheim, Universität, Thesis (doctoral), 2001.
... Theoretical expectations were derived by applying the theory presented in the previous section and by referring it to the specific contexts of the Italian NBS and the subsidiaries of Anglo-Saxon and non-Anglo-Saxon international firms. In particular, with regard to the Italian NBS, one should consider the points of relevance for the research question at hand discussed below (for an extensive treatment of the Italian NBS, see Ranci, 1987; Gagliardi & Turner, 1993; and Delmestri, 2002). In Italy, trust relations are institutionalized as informal personal relations supported by local and regional cultural traditions (Regini, 1997; Delmestri, 1998 Delmestri, , 2002), formal regulations tend to be weak (Ranci, 1987) and the family remains an important 'structuring' idea (Gagliardi & Turner, 1993). ...
... In particular, with regard to the Italian NBS, one should consider the points of relevance for the research question at hand discussed below (for an extensive treatment of the Italian NBS, see Ranci, 1987; Gagliardi & Turner, 1993; and Delmestri, 2002). In Italy, trust relations are institutionalized as informal personal relations supported by local and regional cultural traditions (Regini, 1997; Delmestri, 1998 Delmestri, , 2002), formal regulations tend to be weak (Ranci, 1987) and the family remains an important 'structuring' idea (Gagliardi & Turner, 1993). Therefore, while for instance in the United States HR managers were able to pursue a professional agenda successfully, in Italy a weak professional status of their role prevails and the occupational field is contested by lawyers and former state officials (Sparrow & Hiltrop, 1997). ...
Conceiving institutional effects as occurring within the boundaries of predefined institutional environments, spaces or fields leaves little leeway for understanding transnational phenomena of interaction, competition and overlapping jurisdiction of ideas, norms and regulations of multiple origin. I propose here the metaphor of intersecting institutional streams, which influence social actors due to their different origin, strength and fluidity. Thanks to a new understanding of the interaction between roles, institutionalized identities and the self, I refer to individuals not as cultural and institutional dopes, but as able, in varying degrees, to participate in multiple cultural traditions and to maintain distinctive and inconsistent action frames. I collected quantitative information on 418 Italian middle managers, working for local and international firms in Italy, and qualitative information on 113 of them. The majority in international firms enacted Anglo-Saxon identities, and more so in US and British firms; hybridizations occurred with positively perceived aspects of Italian institutions. The majority in Italian firms enacted a traditional Italian identity. Enactment was dependent on characteristics of the role (hierarchical level, international interconnectedness) and on the degree of identification with the international firm’s culture. The latter was spurred by the global integrated use of HRM practices.
Purpose
This paper aims to unpack the organization of an multinational enterprise (MNE) and confront its meso‐level complexity of structures and strategies. It seeks to uncover how the glocalization process unfolds, which are the mechanisms at its base and the outcomes in terms of stability, convergence or divergence in strategies and structures.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a case study research design, the paper investigates strategic change in an Italian MNE from 2005 to 2011. In 2008 and 2010, extensive data on organizational configurations were also collected. Overall, the paper analyses the glocalized blending of corporate and subsidiary strategies and organizational structures. Attention is also paid to the cognitive, political and institutional mechanisms that accounted for this process before and during the late‐2000 financial crisis.
Findings
Glocalization, largely interpreted as an in‐between process compromising between homogeneous global standards and heterogeneous local traditions, unfolds as a beyond process leading to divergent outcomes outside the poles of an imagined local‐global continuum. The mechanisms driving strategic change partly differ from those usually described in strategic change literature emphasizing managerial cognition. Sensegiving from the center is found to be proactive during economic expansion and reactive during economic downturn. Following change initiation, cognitive mechanisms are “taken over” by political and institutional ones. Paradoxically, local societal‐specific patterns of organization and strategy were preserved due to the actions of powerful central HQ actors.
Originality/value
A theory of institutional‐bound strategic change within MNEs is outlined.
We investigate the adoption of ISO 9000 standards by the German mechanical engineering industry and analyze how organizational contingencies affect susceptibility to institutional forces. Our study’s findings show that differences in organizational size, proportion of administrative staff, and type of production technology lead to variations in the probability of adopting ISO 9000 standards. Moreover, our findings show that despite the modern anti-bureaucratic management ideology, there has been a remarkable increase in the degree of formalization.
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