Managing Deep Restructuring: Danish Experiences in Eastern Germany

This paper discusses the post-acquisition restructuring in post-socialist economies. As case evidence from East Germany illustrates, foreign investors not only have to provide crucial resources and integrate firms into global production networks. They also have to become involved in the process of organizational change in the enterprise itself. This change is often inhibited by compatibility problems and discrepancies between the new strategic management and the local organizational culture which evolved under socialism. To facilitate an evolutionary process of organizational integration, management may emphasize the transfer of specific skills which requires the communication of tacit managerial and organizational knowledge. The paper brings together the perspectives of a business economist and a sociologist.