PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

So-called Transnational Enterprises are considered to be most important actors for economic globalization. The present article analyses problems of integration and control that enterprises are confronted with in the process of transnationalization. Especially, problems resulting from the embeddedness in different cultural contexts of corporate headquarters and the different subsidiaries worldwide are considered. A comparative analysis of the transnational integration processes of two foreign subsidiaries of the Volkswagen Group shows, on the one hand, the considerable organizational challenges of a transnational strategy, on the other hand, points to newly emerging forms of integration and control. While in the first case study the focus mainly is on the problematic aspects of a transnationalization strategy, the second case study with 'appreciation' (Anerkennung) identifies a resource for control that has rarely been considered in studies on transnationalization up to now.