German Automotive Multinationals in Central Europe: Enterprise Coalitions for Production

Multinational companies (MNCs) are at the heart of the international political economy. Thus, understanding the patterns of their strategies and governance is a crucial task for those who want to understand the forces and counter-forces of increased international competition. For a long time the scholars who studied MNCs have operated with simplistic dichotomies underlying the firm strategies of internationalisation: market access vs. cost reduction or home country vs. host country traditions. Yet, the theorisation of upgrading outcomes according to the original motivation of investment - efficiency seeking vs. market seeking (Meardi, Marginson et al. 2006) - is at its limits when we realise that both motivations played a role in investment decisions. To explain the shift in industrial upgrading one needs a better conceptualisation of internationalisation strategies of manufacturing multinational companies. A more dynamic institutional analysis that takes into consideration the role of agency is needed.