Foreign direct investment and the undertow of history: Nationhood and the influence of history on the Czech-German relationship

Abstract

Since the fall of Communism in 1989, the Czechs have received considerable foreign direct investment from Germany. But the historical relationship between the Czechs and Germans has long been a difficult one. The legacy of the past still overshadows the relationship between the Czech Republic and Germany even after the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. The article examines how Czech managers in a joint venture with a German organization drew upon narratives and metaphors of the history of their relationship and historical stereotypes of German behaviour rather than economic explanations to understand and explain their experience of a failed joint venture.As we are coming to the middle of the century it seems as though the spectre of nationalism is once again falling across Europe. The purpose of this study is to explore how the legacy of history and national identity in a transforming post-communist society (the Czech Republic) still affects attitudes towards a historically more powerful neighbouring European country. The analysis is carried out from a business history perspective by looking at narratives of company managers in the Czech Republic who took part in a failed joint venture with a German multinational company.As Berger (2009, p. 492) notes, individual memory is different from history because it necessitates presence in and the experience of an event. However, collective memory includes elements or events that individuals did not directly experience. But individuals can internalise this collective memory which is presented to them through a mixture of public and private narratives. Therefore collective memory is always contested and the result of attempts to give meaning to the past. The empirical basis of the article is an account of a Czech-German joint venture. The study will explore how the Czech managers drew upon national historical perceptions and stereotypes of the Czech-German relationship in order to make sense of their experience of participation in a failed joint venture. The managers developed a consistent internal narrative account of the experience to explain their strategic decisions and responses (Kroeze & Keulen, 2013, p. 1266 and p. 1281Ooi, 2002). The role of narratives in developing shared understanding and collective sense-making is an important element in developing legitimacy and acceptance (Boyce, 1995). Their interpretation of the