@techreport{Dorrenbacher2005Micro,
abstract = {Beyond functional-structuralist approaches this paper sheds some light on  micro political aspects of mandate development and learning processes in  multinational corporations (MNC). As classical micro-political studies have  shown, management behaviour and learning are not only constrained or  enabled by certain structural and (national) cultural patterns, but have its own  political agendas and are shaped by individual interests which leads to game  playing, active or passive resistance and (re)negotiation of the 'rules of the  game'. Based on the assumption that actors are neither the organs of given  structures nor acting fully autonomous, the paper focuses on how subsidiary  managers interpret and integrate individual, organisational as well as home and  host country institutional factors into certain strategies of action. By discussing  critical events in mini case studies on mandate development and learning in  German subsidiaries in France we will highlight the interactive dynamics  between key-actors micro-political strategies and particular institutional settings.  Here we, firstly, discuss institutionalist approaches and investigate how different  forms of home and host country embeddedness do influence the development  of distinct managerial competences and decision making strategies at the subsidiary  level. The paper refers then to the question how the overall strategy and  multinational organisational design and policies relate to individual interests of  key subsidiary actors. These can to higher or lower degrees be influenced by  e.g. differences in nationalities, professional backgrounds as well as career  stages, orientations and aspirations. By integrating these diverse relational layers,  the paper will provide a more dynamic actor centred approach stressing  both, the micro-political aspects and interactive construction of intra and intersubsidiary  power relations, a key variable to explain mandate development and  learning processes in MNCs. --  -- \"{U}ber funktional-strukturalistische Ans\"{a}tze hinausgehend, besch\"{a}ftigt sich dieser  Beitrag mit den mikropolitischen Aspekten von Mandatsentwicklungsprozessen  in multinationalen Unternehmen. Im Zentrum der Betrachtung stehen die Strategien  und Handlungsrationalit\"{a}ten von Tochtergesellschaftsmanagern im Ausland.  Anhand von drei Fallbeispielen zeigt der Beitrag wie Manager deutscher  Auslandsgesellschaften in Frankreich individuelle, organisationale und institutionelle  Faktoren (Heimat- und Gastlandeffekte) interpretieren und zu einer  Handlungsstrategie verbinden. Ausgangspunkt ist dabei zun\"{a}chst eine Diskussion  relevanter Ans\"{a}tze des Internationalen Managements und der international  vergleichenden Organisationsforschung. Diese Ans\"{a}tze werden um einen  mikropolitischen Ansatz erweitert, der auf die spezifische Bedeutung von Nationalzugeh\"{o}rigkeit,  professionellem Background und individueller Karriereorientierung  bei Tochtergesellschaftsmanagern im Ausland abstellt.},
address = {Berlin},
author = {Christoph D\"{o}rrenb\"{a}cher and Mike Geppert},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {650; Auslandsniederlassung; Deutsch; F\"{u}hrungskr\"{a}fte; Lernprozess; Mikropolitik; Theorie; Frankreich},
language = {eng},
number = {SP III 2005-202},
publisher = {WZB},
title = {Micro-political aspects of mandate development and learning in local subsidiaries of multinational corporations},
type = {Discussion paper // Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin f\"{u}r Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Organisationen und Wissen, Abteilung Internationalisierung und Organisation},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/48950},
year = {2005}
}
