Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

KATHRIN REFERENCES LITERATUR LOER
approach. Asked how wages and working
conditions are established in these coordinated
economies, the bargaining structures between
the employers and the organized labour and a
long tradition of unionism are the answer. This
characteristic is important for the case studies,
because wage structure and working conditions
are presumably the most important aspects
when it comes to decisions on new production
sites abroad, vertical disintegration and foreign
direct investments. From this theoretical
classification, one could expect similar
confrontations inside the enterprises in times
of growing cost pressure, increasing difficulties
to gain new contracts and orders. A second
characteristic regards vocational training and
education. The coordinated market economies,
especially Germany and Austria, are famous for
their publicly organized and subsidized training
system (Culpepper 2001). Companies in the
automotive sector take part in the vocational
training system and can, therefore, secure a
skilled labour force. Looking at inter-company
relations, coordinated market economies dispose
of appropriate and manifold institutions. By
using institutionalist approaches, one attempts
to respect the political embeddedness of actors.
Path dependency provides an explanation
for this as well as for why institutions do not
change in a way that completely shifts the
national economy. However, with regard to this
theory, two important remarks must be taken
into account. The VOC-paradigm is an ideal
typology – even though Hall and Soskice bring
forward their argument by using OECD-data,
national figures and statistics and link their
two capitalist models (coordinated and liberal)
to “real” countries. At the latest in the course
of the European Integration process, growing
reform pressure with regard to welfare state
institutions, and considering the Globalization
processes, these countries “move” away from
their ideal type. With the two case studies
in mind, the significance of industrial
relations, vocational training and inter-firm
relation might be doubtful on two counts:
the automotive industry was (and partly still
is) very much affected by a strong influence
of workers’ councils and trade unions. They
might have changed their role and function
but are still an important counterpart of the
company’s management – in Germany as
well as in Austria. Referring to this, but also
with regard to the other two categories (VC and
interfirm-relations), particularly traditional and
regional (rooted) companies adhere to well known
and long established routines and institutions.
Also the cooperation-partners of those companies
(employees, prospective apprentices, chambers
and other organizations dealing with inter-firm
relations) stick to familiar routines. The case
studies can show whether these statements can
be confirmed and, if so, provide an explanation
– particularly as far as the decision about foreign
investments (in CEE) is concerned.
In addition to thoughts about national
economies, some theoretical remarks about
the constitution of the market should be
introduced and linked with the case studies. It
seems helpful to use Beckert’s categories for the
constitution of markets: the “value problem”,
the “problem of competition”, and the
“cooperation problem” (Beckert 2009).
The following paragraph includes all
important aspects that can be used for
the case studies:
„I argue that three coordination problems
in the sense of “mutual coordination” can be
Seite page 69