Exploration of Organizing in Chinese High-Tech Companies Located in Denmark

Ann Westenholz

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Purpose: Very little research has been done to find out what happens to organizing in Chinese companies that are located in countries characterized by cooperative capitalism. I focus on this phenomenon and explore what happens to organizing in two Chinese high-tech companies located in Denmark.
Design/methodology/approach: Case studies, interviewing, and three questions inspired by the work of Boltanski & Thévenot: 1) What type of test scenarios are the Chinese and Danes becoming engaged in? 2) Which worlds are called upon as justification of actions by the Chinese and Danes in the test scenarios? 3) How do they discover their relative worth in different worlds enacted in the test scenarios?
Findings: The analysis shows that controversies have emerged in test scenarios where Chinese managers and engineers have enacted a market world and a domestic world, while Danish managers and engineers have enacted an industrial world and a civic world. Furthermore, it is suggested that controversies also occur when Chinese managers enact a fuzzy world. Different worlds collide in these types of test scenarios, creating ambiguity about the worth of the persons involved and the organizing principles in their practices. The Chinese and the Danes deal with the ambiguity in many different ways.
Research limitation: Few cases exist and the data is limited.
Practical implications: The analysis creates learning opportunities for Chinese and Danish managers and highly qualified employees.
Keywords: Chinese high-tech companies located in Denmark; Boltanski & Thévenot; test scenarios; controversies between worlds and in one single world; domination, compromises, private arrangements, and decoupling.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2013
Number of pages17
Publication statusPublished - 2013
EventThe 2013 China Goes Global Conference - Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Duration: 25 Sept 201325 Sept 2013
http://www.chinagoesglobal.org/

Conference

ConferenceThe 2013 China Goes Global Conference
LocationJacobs University Bremen
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityBremen
Period25/09/201325/09/2013
SponsorThe Chinese Globalization Association
Internet address

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