Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
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KATHRIN REFERENCES LITERATUR LOER<br />
approach. Asked how wages and working<br />
conditions are established in these coordinated<br />
economies, the bargaining structures between<br />
the employers and the organized labour and a<br />
long tradition of unionism are the answer. This<br />
characteristic is important for the case studies,<br />
because wage structure and working conditions<br />
are presumably the most important aspects<br />
when it comes to decisions on new production<br />
sites abroad, vertical disintegration and foreign<br />
direct investments. From this theoretical<br />
classification, one could expect similar<br />
confrontations inside the enterprises in times<br />
of growing cost pressure, increasing difficulties<br />
to gain new contracts and orders. A second<br />
characteristic regards vocational training and<br />
education. The coordinated market economies,<br />
especially Germany and Austria, are famous for<br />
their publicly organized and subsidized training<br />
system (Culpepper 2001). Companies in the<br />
automotive sector take part in the vocational<br />
training system and can, therefore, secure a<br />
skilled labour force. Looking at inter-company<br />
relations, coordinated market economies dispose<br />
of appropriate and manifold institutions. By<br />
using institutionalist approaches, one attempts<br />
to respect the political embeddedness of actors.<br />
Path dependency provides an explanation<br />
for this as well as for why institutions do not<br />
change in a way that completely shifts the<br />
national economy. However, with regard to this<br />
theory, two important remarks must be taken<br />
into account. The VOC-paradigm is an ideal<br />
typology – even though Hall and Soskice bring<br />
forward their argument by using OECD-data,<br />
national figures and statistics and link their<br />
two capitalist models (coordinated and liberal)<br />
to “real” countries. At the latest in the course<br />
of the European Integration process, growing<br />
reform pressure with regard to welfare state<br />
institutions, and considering the Globalization<br />
processes, these countries “move” away from<br />
their ideal type. With the two case studies<br />
in mind, the significance of industrial<br />
relations, vocational training and inter-firm<br />
relation might be doubtful on two counts:<br />
the automotive industry was (and partly still<br />
is) very much affected by a strong influence<br />
of workers’ councils and trade unions. They<br />
might have changed their role and function<br />
but are still an important counterpart of the<br />
company’s management – in Germany as<br />
well as in Austria. Referring to this, but also<br />
with regard to the other two categories (VC and<br />
interfirm-relations), particularly traditional and<br />
regional (rooted) companies adhere to well known<br />
and long established routines and institutions.<br />
Also the cooperation-partners of those companies<br />
(employees, prospective apprentices, chambers<br />
and other organizations dealing with inter-firm<br />
relations) stick to familiar routines. The case<br />
studies can show whether these statements can<br />
be confirmed and, if so, provide an explanation<br />
– particularly as far as the decision about foreign<br />
investments (in CEE) is concerned.<br />
In addition to thoughts about national<br />
economies, some theoretical remarks about<br />
the constitution of the market should be<br />
introduced and linked with the case studies. It<br />
seems helpful to use Beckert’s categories for the<br />
constitution of markets: the “value problem”,<br />
the “problem of competition”, and the<br />
“cooperation problem” (Beckert 2009).<br />
The following paragraph includes all<br />
important aspects that can be used for<br />
the case studies:<br />
„I argue that three coordination problems<br />
in the sense of “mutual coordination” can be<br />
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