Corporate Germany Between Globalization and Regional Place Dependence: Business Restructuring in the Ruhr Area

by C. Berndt

Overview

Christian Berndt investigates how selected corporate actors in German small and medium-sized enterprises and in large companies respond to globalisation and the apparent crisis of the German model. By exploring the role of economic and non-economic factors in shaping business strategies he argues that, rather than simply being formal opposites, forces of dynamic change and irrational persistence are intertwined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333912812
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	03/29/2001
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	257
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

CHRISTIAN BERNDT is Wissenschaftlicker Assistant at Katholische Universität Eichstäett, Germany. He undertook his PhD in Cambridge and has contributed a number of articles to economic and geographical journals.

Table of Contents

List of Tables List of Figures List of Maps Preface List of Abbreviations Putting Business Restructuring in Context: Globalization, the Crisis of the German Model and Rhineland Capitalism Situating Business Strategies: Institutions, Regulation and Geography Scaling Business Strategies: Globalization, Place Dependence and Institutional Distance Globalization, 'Americanization' and the Changing Corporate Power Geometry The Territorialization of Ruhr Conglomerates: Regional Engagement and Place Dependence The Ruhr Mittelstand: The Institutional Limits to Restructuring In-Space The Regional Responses by Mittelstand Firms: Falling Back on 'Tested and Tried Relations', Transmission of Pressure and Systemic Change Making the (Re)connections: Governance Dilemmas, Discursive Regulation and the Scaling of Organizational Space Appendices Notes Bibliography Glossary Index

Editorial Reviews

Berndt (cultural geography, Katholische U. Eichs<:a>tt, Germany investigates what he sees as a tightrope walk capital owners, managers, and labor representative had to perform during the recession of 1992-93, which burst the post-unification, demand-led economic boom. He uses a geographic perspective to examine the role of non- economic factors in shaping adjustment strategies as actors struggled between the need for change and the persistence of traditional ways of solving problems. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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