Control dynamics in a Chinese-German joint venture.

Dai, Narisa Tianjing (2010) Control dynamics in a Chinese-German joint venture. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

This study is concerned with the dynamic control changes within a joint venture company between First Automobile Work (FAW) and Volkswagen (VW) over a period of 17 years. Concepts from New Institutionalism and the governmentality literature are used to shed light on how the controls were designed, shaped, and transformed at FAW-VW and how the tensions and conflicts between the two partners evolved and developed. Since 1991 when the joint venture was created, a significant transition in the control focus from cost to quality took place. I examine this transition in the context of wider social and institutional changes. Concepts from the governmentality framework are drawn upon to investigate the linkages and relays among rationales, discourses, national programmes, diverse bodies of expertise, and the transition in the control focus within the joint venture under study, and the calculative and non-calculative technologies through which the various interpretations tied to the local programme were rendered operable. Various attempts by the FAW partner to transform employees and workers who came from a socialist legacy into responsible/governable individuals in a neoliberal sense through several modern and scientific management techniques are examined in conjunction with changes in ideological values permeating Chinese society. The effects of control techniques reflective of different forces and roots at FAW-VW are analysed. Concepts from the new institutionalism framework are drawn upon to investigate the interactions and conflicts between managers and employees from each partner at the firm level. In this process, the political usage of particular rationalities by various parties within and without the firm is examined and the institutional pressures faced by each partner are explored. Attention is directed on the manner in which political rationalities are used strategically by both partners in their attempt to effect control.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Commerce-Business
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > Accounting
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2399

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