Abstract
In management studies, the need is increasingly being felt for a model of culture in organizations that acknowledges the complexity of culture while still being usefully transferable from instance to instance. Using a case study of a British factory in an Anglo-German automobile manufacturing multinational corporation (MNC), and in particular an examination of the relationships that different subgroups in the organization cultivate with one another and with groups both in the surrounding area and at the national and global levels, I propose that firms are best conceived of not as bounded entities or fragmented cultures but as nexuses of internal subgroups with complex links to outside communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Andersson, U., Fosgren, M., & Holm, U. (2001) “Subsidiary Embeddedness and Competence Development in MNCs: A Multi-Level Analysis,” Organization Studies, 22 (6), 1013–34.
Araujo, L., Dubois, A. & Gadde, L. (2003) “The Multiple Boundaries of the Firm,” Journal of Management Studies, 40 (5), 1255–77.
Bardsley, G. & Laing, S. (1999) Making Cars at Cowley: from Morris to Rover. Stroud: British Motor Industry Heritage Trust.
Birkinshaw, J. & Hood, N. (1998) “Multinational Subsidiary Evolution: Capabilities And Charter Change In Foreign-Owned Companies,” Academy of Management Review, 23 (4), 773–95.
Chapman, M. (1997) “Preface: Social Anthropology, Business Studies And Cultural Issues,” International Studies of Management and Organization, 26 (4), 3–29.
Conley, J. M. & Williams, C. A. (2005) “Engage, Embed, and Embellish: Theory versus Practice in the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement,” Journal of Corporation Law, 31 (1), 1–38.
Doz, Y. L., Santos, J., & Williamson, P. (2001) From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Frederick, W. C. (1998) “Creatures, Corporations, Communities, Chaos, Complexity,” Business and Society, 37 (4), 358–89.
Ghoshal, S. & Nohria, N. (1989) “Internal Differentiation within Multinational Corporations,” Strategic Management Journal, 10, 323–32.
Greenhalgh, C. & Kilmister, A. (1993) “The British Economy, The State And The Motor Industry,” in T. Hayter and D. Harvey (eds) The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford. London: Mansell, 26–46.
Hayter, T. (1993) “Local Politics,” in T. Hayter and D. Harvey (eds.) The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford. London: Mansell, 161–85.
Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. London: Sage.
Holden, N. J. (2002) Cross-Cultural Management: A Knowledge Management Perspective. London: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.
Jefford, B. (2000) “In the Shadow of Longbridge,” BBCi, May 2, 2000, available from http://news.bbc.co.uk.
Keim, G. D. (1978) “Corporate Social Responsibility: An Assessment of the Enlightened Self-Interest Model,” Academy of Management Review, 3 (1), 32–40.
Kirkman, B. L. & Shapiro, D. L. (2005) “The Impact of Cultural Value Diversity on Multicultural Team Performance,” in D. L. Shapiro, M. Von Glinow, & J. Cheng (eds) Managing Multinational Teams: Global Perspectives. London, UK: Elsevier Ltd., 33–67.
Kirkman, B. L., Lowe, K. B., & Gibson, C. (2006) “A Quarter Century of Culture’s Consequences: A Review of Empirical Research Incorporating Hofstede’s Cultural Values Framework,” Journal of International Business Studies, 37 (3), 285–320.
Kristensen, P. H. & Zeitlin, J. (2004) Local Players in Global Games: The Strategic Constitution of a Multinational Corporation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Lowe, S., Moore, F., & Carr, A. N. (2007) “Paradigmapping Studies of Culture and Organization,” International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 7 (2), 237–51.
Martin, J. (1997) “Mercedes: Made in Alabama,” Fortune, July 7.
Martin, J. (2002) Organizational Culture: Mapping the Terrain. London, UK: Sage.
McCarthy, Lord of Headington (1990) The Future of Cowley: Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Rover Cowley Works Closure Proposals. Oxford, UK: Oxford City Council.
McKenna, S. (1998) “Cross-Cultural Attitudes towards Leadership Dimensions,” Leadership and Organizational Journal, 19 (2), 106–12.
McSweeney, B. (2002) “Hofstede’s Model of National Cultural Differences and Their Consequences: A Triumph of Faith—A Failure of Analysis,” Human Relations 55 (1), 89–119.
Morgan, G. & Smircich, L. (1980) “The Case for Qualitative Research,” Academy of Management Review, 5 (4), 491–501.
Newbigging, C., Shatford, S., & Williams, T. (1998) The Changing Faces of Cowley Works. Witney: Robert Boyd Publications.
Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H. (1995) The Knowledge-Creating Company. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Raz, A. & Fadlon, J. (2006) “Managerial Culture, Workplace Culture and Situated Curricula in Organizational Learning,” Organization Studies, 27 (2), 165–82.
Sackmann, S. A. & Phillips, M. E. (2004) “Contextual Influences on Culture Research: Shifting Assumptions for New Workplace Realities,” International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 4 (3), 370–90
Schofield, A. & Noble, M. (1993) “Communities and Corporations: Rethinking the Connections,” in T. Hayter & D. Harvey (eds) The Factory and the City: The Story Of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford. London: Mansell, 256–74.
Sharpe, D. R. (2004) “The Relevance of Ethnography to International Business Research,” in R. Marschan-Piekkari & C. Welch (eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business. London, UK: Edward Elgar, 305–23.
Sweeney, A. (1993) “Women Making Cars, Making Trouble, Making History,” in T. Hayter & D. Harvey (eds) The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford. London, UK: Mansell, 116–39.
Thornett, A. (1998) Inside Cowley: Trade Union Struggles in the 1970s: Who Really Opened the Door to the Tory Onslaught? London, UK: Porcupine Press.
Trompenaars, F. (1992) Riding the Waves of Culture. London: Nicholas Brealey.
Ward, S., Stuart, O., & Swingedouw, E. (1993) “Cowley in the Oxford Economy,” in T. Hayter & D. Harvey (eds) The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford. London, UK: Mansell, 67–92.
Whisler, T. R. (1999) The British Motor Industry, 1945–94: A Study in Industrial Decline. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Fiona Moore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moore, F. (2009). Shifting Perspectives: Multiple Cultures and Community Embeddedness in an Anglo-German MNC. In: Nakata, C. (eds) Beyond Hofstede. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230240834_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230240834_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30047-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-24083-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)