Micropolitics in the Multinational Corporation: Foundations, Applications and New Directions

Over the past decade, politics perspectives in international business have moved into the mainstream repertoire of research, theory development and teaching about the organisational behaviour of multinational corporations (MNCs). Politics perspectives contribute substantially to understanding the behaviour in and of MNCs in their different contexts and environments but so far these burgeoning perspectives have not been systematically and comprehensively reviewed. This book offers the first detailed overview of the theoretical foundations, methodologies and empirical applications of politics perspectives in MNCs. A group of international authors discuss twelve seminal contributions to the study of politics, power and conflict in MNCs, followed by a summary and synthesis of the literature into a comprehensive analytical framework. The book closes with a discussion of future directions in the field. This is a thorough introduction to political behaviour in MNCs written for scholars and graduate students in the fields of organisation studies and international business.

Florian A. A. Becker-Ritterspach is Professor of Economic and Organisational Sociology at HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences. Next to knowledge transfer and learning, his research focuses on issues of power, politics and conflict in multinationals. His main theoretical interest centres on combining international management approaches with organisational theory.

Susanne Blazejewski is Professor of Management and Organisation at Alanus University of Arts and Social Science, Bonn. Her research interests focus on micropolitics and conflict in multinational organisations, identity, aesthetics and work design, and sustainable organisational development.

Christoph Dörrenbächer is a Professor of Organisational Design and Behaviour in International Business at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. His current research focus is on management, subsidiary role development, headquarters-subsidiary relationships and careers in multinational corporations. He is the founding director of the Berlin Institute for International Business Studies.

Mike Geppert is Professor of Strategic and International Management at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, and Visiting Professor at the Turku School of Economics. His current research focus is on socio-political issues and sensemaking within multinational companies, and on cross-national comparisons of management and organisation in various industrial sectors, including beer brewing, food retailing and the airline industry.