Being Local Worldwide: ABB and the Challenge of Global Management (ILR Press books) [Paperback]

Christian Berggren (Editor), Jacques Bélanger (Editor), Torsten Björkman (Editor), Christoph Kähler (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2001 | Series: ILR Press books

Fortune called Asea Brown Boveri, the giant multinational corporation created in 1987, "the most successful cross-border merger since Royal Dutch linked up with Britain's Shell in 1907." The coming together of two longtime national champions in the electrotechnical industry, Sweden's ASEA and Switzerland's Brown Boveri, marked the birth of a company with truly global aspirations, one whose apparent genius for combining strong central planning with local autonomy for its plants has made it a trendsetter.An international team of researchers assesses the dynamic interplay of the forces of convergence and diversity present in ABB. Together they examine the actual workings of this multinational-in order to learn to what degree the corporate strategies are achieved in its plants. Based on a multilevel organizational study, their book compares seven plants in six countries on three continents.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Being Local Worldwide is a timely volume, to be applauded for its critical and empirally-grounded analysis of an intriguing and prominent corporation. In the main, the comparative, qualitative nature of the study succeeds admirably, and does much to lay bare the complex and subtle issues of control and autonomy between the subsidiaries and the centre. In short, industrial relations needs more studies like this one."-Martyn Wright, University of Warwick. The Journal of Industrial Relations. September, 2000.

"This rich and fascinating study . . . . 'highlights the actual workings of the geocentric and multidomestic principles' enshrined in the slogan of 'being local worldwide' ".-Anthony Ferner, DeMontfort University, Leicester, UK. Industrial Relations. 2000, Vol. 55, No. 3.

"Overall, this is an admirable book. . . The inter-disciplinary nature of the book will make it of interest to a wide audience and it should certainly be read by those with an interest in international management and comparative industrial relations."-Tony Edwards, Kingston University. Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1, March 2001

"This is an important work for scholars of industrial organisation, sociology and management. It adds a great deal. . . From my reading of the book and experience working with (but not for) ABB in a number of countries, the authors have presented a more realistic image of the contours and contradictions of this company than much of the media would have us believe."-Lee Pegler,Cardiff University. Work, Employment, and Society, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2001

"A cleverly designed study generating important new insights on multinationals."-Robert Cole, University of California, Berkeley

"This uniquely rich and detailed study goes beyond the rhetoric about ABB to reveal the true character of being local worldwide including the internal politics of change, the tensions of convergence and divergence, and the uncertain dynamics of globalization."-Paul Edwards, Warwick Business School

"Being Local Worldwide is the most detailed empirical study yet of the interplay between local and global forces, and between divergence and convergence, in a large multinational company."-Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne

"Being Local Worldwide is a clear-eyed look inside ABB, one of the world's truly global corporations. Performance data and informative case studies of ABB companies around the world are juxtaposed with careful examination of what corporate headquarters executives really do. The result is a revealing, and sometimes surprising, analysis of the complexities of managing a global enterprise that produces and competes in national markets."-Eileen Appelbaum, Research Director, Economic Policy Institute

"This book is a 'must read' for anyone interested in how the most sophisticated of the world's multinationals work. ABB has been the object of much adulation in the business press for its advanced management structure and process-with this book, we finally have a thorough and critical evaluation." -Paul S. Adler, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: ILR Press (January 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080148717X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801487170
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,360,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)