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Article
Publication date: 10 April 2024

Christoph Dörrenbächer, Mike Geppert and Ödül Bozkurt

The purpose of this study is to address the relationship between multinational corporations (MNCs) and grand challenges. Stressing the moderating impact of stakeholders and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to address the relationship between multinational corporations (MNCs) and grand challenges. Stressing the moderating impact of stakeholders and governments, it frames and introduces the six contributions of the special issue, equally divided into those illustrating how MNCs contribute to the existence of grand challenges and those exploring how MNCs contribute to addressing grand challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a review of the existing literature on the relationship between MNCs and grand challenges and recent developments in mainstream international business, the viewpoint emphasizes the need to move beyond a one-sided focus on the positive contributions of MNCs to grand challenges.

Findings

The special issue contributions reveal that even established MNCs are actively engaged in strategic efforts to perpetuate unsustainable practices and minimize the impact of societal rules and stakeholders. The contributions also highlight the complications when MNCs aim to tackle grand challenges.

Practical implications

Displaying positive practices of how MNCs contribute to the solution of grand challenges should not be considered a functional substitute for regulatory action, contrary to the frequent assertion of MNCs and their political representatives.

Originality/value

This special issue is the first one in IB to address the relationship between MNCs and grand challenges from an empirical vantage point.

Article
Publication date: 6 June 2019

Christoph Dörrenbächer and Jens Gammelgaard

This paper aims to address the relationship between critical and mainstream international business (IB) research and discuss the ways forward for the former.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address the relationship between critical and mainstream international business (IB) research and discuss the ways forward for the former.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper empirically maps critical IB scholarship by analysing more than 250 academic articles published in critical perspectives on international business (cpoib) from 2005 to 2017. The paper also includes a citation analysis that uncovers how critical IB research is recognized and discussed in mainstream IB studies.

Findings

The extant critical IB research can be broken into five main topical clusters: positioning critical IB research, postcolonial IB studies, effects of international business activities, financialization and the global financial crisis and “Black IB” and corporate social responsibility. The citation analysis demonstrates that critical IB research is rarely recognized in mainstream IB academic outlets.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to empirically map critical IB research and to measure its impact on mainstream IB research. Based on these insights, as well as discussions of the more critical voices within mainstream IB studies and the debate over critical performativity in critical management studies, ways of developing critical IB research are examined.

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 15 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 February 2021

Christoph Dörrenbächer, Heinz Tüselmann, Heinz-Rudolf Meissner and Qi Cao

The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework to categorize the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates. Using the case of foreign affiliates in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework to categorize the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates. Using the case of foreign affiliates in Germany, this paper further explores what factors shape the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates.

Design/methodology/approach

Given the scarcity of research on industrial relations in foreign affiliates, this paper is based on conceptual work as well as on a comparative case investigation of 21 foreign affiliates in Germany, involving informants from both labor and management.

Findings

Industrial relations in foreign affiliates in Germany can take four different qualities, based on the following: social partnership; conflict partnership; latently adversarial; and adversarial relations. While previous literature focused on country-of-origin effects, the authors’ case-based investigation further revealed that both affiliate effects and multinational corporation (MNC) effects have a strong impact on the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates in Germany.

Originality/value

This paper provides systematic evidence on the presumption that micro-organizational and MNC-specific factors are necessary to gain a deeper understanding of industrial relations in MNCs. Moreover, this paper contributes to the discussion on the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates in Germany, by placing results from both single-case studies and management surveys into perspective.

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 17 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 18 June 2019

Christoph Dörrenbächer and Snejina Michailova

Abstract

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 15 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Article
Publication date: 13 July 2020

Christoph Dörrenbächer, Mike Geppert and Aline Hoffmann

This paper addresses the so far hardly understood contemporary restructuring trends in European Multinational corporations (MNCs), their rationales and their labour-related…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper addresses the so far hardly understood contemporary restructuring trends in European Multinational corporations (MNCs), their rationales and their labour-related implications.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a systematic evaluation of academic and non-academic literature, as well as on more than 30 in-depth interviews with academic experts, management consultants, trade union consultants and workers’ representatives.

Findings

European MNCs continue to grow bigger, mostly through debt financed mergers and acquisitions. This triggers intensive cross-border standardization and reorganization activities that most prominently materialize as a sustained move towards global factories; a new wave of cross-border standardization in Human Resource Management, information technology and Big Data-driven, as well as compliance-induced reorganization measures.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to empirically map contemporary restructuring trends in European MNCs in a comprehensive way. Moreover, it addresses the managerial rationale underlying these restructuring trends. Based on these insights the paper assesses labour related implications that are both positive and negative.

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2021

Christoph Dörrenbächer, Rudolf R. Sinkovics, Florian Becker-Ritterspach, Mehdi Boussebaa, Louise Curran, Alice de Jonge and Zaheer Khan

This viewpoint takes up the Covid-19 pandemic as a trigger for a research agenda around societally engaged international business (IB) research.

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Abstract

Purpose

This viewpoint takes up the Covid-19 pandemic as a trigger for a research agenda around societally engaged international business (IB) research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is organized as a viewpoint. First, it provides an overview of Covid-19 research in business and management and IB in particular. Second, it introduces a societally engaged IB perspective, around poverty and human rights as well as trade.

Findings

The paper offers an annotated introduction to the paper contributions of the special issue with three clusters, “re-reading the crisis”, “crisis protectionism” and “firm strategies during the pandemic”.

Research limitations/implications

The paper points to future research opportunities in terms of crisis management and societally engaged IB research.

Practical implications

The Covid-19 crisis poses new questions for research on international business and its related disciplines. In particular, the political, economic and societal disruption which the pandemic has caused highlights the importance of addressing broader societal issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality through a purposeful and forward-looking research agenda.

Originality/value

The paper and the special issue are some of the first combined research outputs on the Covid-19 pandemic in international business.

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 2 March 2015

Joanne Roberts and Christoph Dörrenbächer

166

Abstract

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Christoph Dörrenbächer and Joanne Roberts

122

Abstract

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2011

Christoph Dörrenbächer and Jens Gammelgaard

As subsidiary power has received relatively little attention in existing research, this paper aims to enhance the understanding of genuine sources of subsidiary power and how they…

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Abstract

Purpose

As subsidiary power has received relatively little attention in existing research, this paper aims to enhance the understanding of genuine sources of subsidiary power and how they work in headquarters‐subsidiary relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a review of the relevant literature and four illustrative case studies, which are written on the basis of secondary sources. Each case was selected because it adequately represents a particular type of power. This allows for cross‐case comparisons of the strengths and sustainability of different types of power, and facilitates the exploration of the application of subsidiary power in headquarters‐subsidiary relationships.

Findings

Four genuine types of subsidiary power are identified. One of these – micro‐political bargaining power – plays a subtle but crucial role, as it is important in the enactment of the three other types of power, i.e. systemic, resource‐dependency, and institutional.

Practical implications

As headquarters have unlimited access to formal power, subsidiaries find it necessary to constantly apply micro‐political bargaining power. The empirical material suggests that the effectiveness of micro‐political bargaining power for subsidiary actors is based on two factors: information retrieval from headquarters and the leveraging of such information in issue‐selling or conflict‐handling processes.

Originality/value

The paper contributes by theoretically delineating genuine types of subsidiary power and by illustrating the strength, sustainability and interaction of these types of power in headquarters‐subsidiary relationships.

Details

Critical perspectives on international business, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 January 2012

Joanne Roberts and Christoph Dörrenbächer

The purpose of this extended editorial is to elaborate on the possible future trajectories of critical perspectives on international business. In addition, the content of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this extended editorial is to elaborate on the possible future trajectories of critical perspectives on international business. In addition, the content of the current issue is introduced.

Design/methodology/approach

This editorial reviews recent reflections on the field of international business to identify the concerns of mainstream scholars and to contrast these with those of central concern to critical scholars of international business. In the light of this, consideration is given to how critical perspectives on international business seeks to facilitate the development of academic debates that continue to question orthodox approaches to international business whilst also offering relevance for all stakeholders in international business activities from managers, shareholders and policy makers to workers, consumers and citizens, including future generations.

Findings

Taking stock of recent reflections on the future of the field of international business is useful in determining possible topics for future contributions to critical perspectives on international business.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to review reflections on the future of international business since the Global Financial crisis of 2008. As such it offers an assessment of the current thinking in the field and offers directions for the development of critical perspectives on international business.

Details

Critical perspectives on international business, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

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