German-Irish Corporate Relationships: The Cultural Dimension

The book addresses the question of whether, in an age of internationalisation and globalisation, cultural differences are still relevant to German-Irish corporate relationships? The first three chapters establish the theoretical framework for the analysis by exploring the notion of culture, profiling the business cultures of both countries, and examining existing approaches to the study of parent company-foreign subsidiary relationships. In the following three chapters, using interviews carried out with two sample groups (fifteen German parent companies and fourteen of their Irish operations; seven Irish parent companies and nine of their German operations), the parent companies in both groups are examined to see whether they demonstrate characteristics which are in keeping with their national business cultures. Their foreign operations are then analysed as is the parent company-foreign subsidiary relationship to determine whether any parent company influences are visible. The general approaches adopted by the two groups of parent companies to their foreign operations are compared and contrasted. Finally differences in national attitudes and values are identified and their impact assessed.