The study of multinational companies (MNCs) has been split for many decades into two camps which hardly 'talked' to each other: a) predominantly economic and functionalist oriented International Business Researchers, and b) largely social constructivist and critical management oriented Organization Theorists. This volume intends to build bridges by bringing together leading international scholars from both camps, who provide new insights in the study of MNCs. In addition to the bridge-building exercise, the book aims to develop a more comprehensive organizational theoretical understanding as well as methodological plurality in the study of how MNCs function in the post-millennium era, both internally and externally, and also how they control their international operations across economic, institutional, cultural, linguistic, political and social divides. Key topics addressed in our volume include: historical perspectives on the study of MNCs, the role of increased financialization and marketization on MNCs, the new role of the HQ within contemporary MNC, the role of language in MNCs, discursive studies of MNCs, labour representation in MNCs as well as social movements and corporate social responsibility and MNCs.
Christoph Dörrenbächer is Professor of Organizational Design and Behaviour in International Business at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (Department of Business and Economics), Berlin, Germany. Previously he worked as a consultant and research fellow at various organizations in Germany and abroad, including the Social Science Research Centre, Berlin and the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Visiting appointments were with the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (New York), Central European University (Budapest) and Manchester Metropolitan University. He holds a PhD from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Free University, Berlin. His current research focus is on management, labour relations and headquarters - subsidiary relationships in multinational corporations. He has published widely in renowned international academic journals including British Journal of Management, International Business Review, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of World Business, Management International Review, Organization Studies and Journal of International Management. He currently serves as a co-editor-in-chief of Critical Perspectives on International Business and he is the founding director of the Berlin Institute for International Business Studies (BIIBS). Mike Geppert is Professor of Strategic and International Management at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, and Visiting Professor at the Turku School of Economics. Other recent visiting appointments were with the University of Technology, Sydney, Stanford University and the University of Regensburg. Mike holds a PhD from the Humboldt University in Berlin. His current research focus is on socio-political issues and sensemaking within multinational companies, and on cross-national comparisons of management and employment relations in various industrial sectors. He has published in highly recognized academic journals including British Journal of Management, European Journal of Industrial Relations, Human Relations, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of International Management, Journal of Management Studies, Management International Review and Organization Studies. Mike served as Vice-chair of EGOS until 2016 and is co-organizer of the EGOS Standing Working Group on "Multinational corporations: social agency and institutional change."
