This paper discusses the introduction and implementation of ISO 9000 qualitystandards in the German and French car industry. Rather than a transfer of a set ofconcrete, well-understood rules, which are ready to be implemented, the paperargues, the quality standards have to be reconstructed and...

How are new forms of industrial organization accommodated into a country'slegal frameworks, and what effect does this have on the ability of firms toinnovate. Variations in the broad institutional organization of the German andUS political economies result in different processes of contract...

Can German national institutional frameworks be reconfigured to allow radical innovation in science-based industries? This paper examines the development of commercial technologies for entrepreneurial biotechnology start-up firms in Germany. During the 1980s and early 1990s an inadequate...

The German economy has widely been seen as failing to develop commercial innovation competencies necessary to compete in biotechnology, information technology, and other emerging new industries. Starting in the mid-1990s the German government has instituted a series of new technology policies...

The paper examines the relationship between supplier network organization and regional economic development. A distinctive feature of the German economy is theexistence of a large and productive base of small and medium companies,commonly called the Mittelstand. Chambers of Commerce, trade...

Using the case of the pharmaceutical industry, this paper assesses how the leading German and UK firms are adapting to changes in their competitive environment, at both the national and international level. We attempt to link how firms create governance structures (management decision-making,...

Recent changes in the funding and governance of research universities have attempted to make them more strategically active in contributing to national goals. However, the ability of universities to develop strategic capabilities as cohesive organisations is limited by the inherent uncertainty...

Different ways of competing in markets came to dominate particular sectors, regions and national market economies in the postwar period as a result of variations in market conditions, technological regimes and institutional contexts. These varied in terms of production volumes, basis of...

The nature and economic role of legally constituted firms varies between market economies and changes over time. In particular, the governance of leading firms and how they develop distinctive organisational capabilities vary between institutional regimes and their supporting political-economic...