For Boundedness in the Study of Comparative and International Business: The Case of the Diversified Multidivisional Corporation

Abstract

The fate of national approaches to management in the global economy is contested (Whitley, 1999; Geppert et al. in this volume). As we shall see, the arguments are complex, the stakes high. Nevertheless, the key question may, initially at least, be put quite simply: arc previously diverse national forms of business organization and management practice converging on common patterns and processes? For a long line of commentators (Rostow, 1960; Ohmae, 1990, 1995; Yip, 1992; Reich, 1993) the answer is a clear yes. They believe that economic processes will ultimately lead to the erosion of any notable national distinctiveness, a ‘wilting away of the idea of a cohesive and sequestered national economy and society’ (Amin and Thrift, 1994: 1). For advocates of the convergence thesis there is, ultimately, one best way of organizing, one best way of managing, which firms must adopt if they wish to succeed In the global economy. Such views have been strongly opposed by those who suggest that national cultures and unique societal and institutional structures will continue to support different, yet sustainable, patterns of economic organization and management practice (Whitley, 1994; Zysman, 1994; Hollingsworth and Boyer, 1997; Thomas and Waring, 1999).