Cooperation and asymmetry: the development profile of an east-west corporate project

In: Schriftenreihe / Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Technik - Arbeit - Umwelt, Abteilung Regulierung von Arbeit, Volume 02-201

Open Access

Abstract

"This paper deals with a case of transnational cooperation between companies. The profile
of cooperation between the two motor vehicle makers Skoda and the Volkswagen Group
is reconstructed, characterised by the interlocking transformation and globalisation.
Decisive for the success of the project was not only Volkswagen's substantial transfer of
know-how and management resources to the Czech manufacturer but also how it was
approached. The utilisation of existing Škoda competencies was crucial in providing the
stability needed for the learning process.
The study discusses findings at three levels of integration: corporate, regional, and
international. In contrast to the success achieved in international integration, the regional
integration of the company has been slow.
The authors conclude that this discrepancy was to be expected, given the unequal
resources available to international firms and to local industry, and is not primarily to be
explained by the tendency often attributed to so-called global strategy players of external
concentration on the group network. The case has rather shown that limited regional
integration has been largely due to the policy pursued by the Czech government in the
important early years of transformation, which failed to generate the necessary domestic
efforts in restructuring." (author's abstract)