Production Network Knowledge as A Foundation for Resistance ‐ Workers Influence on A Chinese Acquisition in Germany

Abstract

This paper analyses how workers in Germany's automotive industry developed power in the process of a transnational carve out --namely the carve-out of the rubber and plastics department of the German automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG to the Chinese based Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., Ltd. in 2013. The worker's actions were successful because they used their production network knowledge and decided against a strategy of pure co-operative co-determination but implemented a strategy of resistance. They concentrated their resistance on the weak points within the value creation processes of the automotive production network. On the basis of this, the authors argue that production network knowledge can be used to develop collective power within organisations. The study is based on qualitative interviews with ZF observing participation of workers events and a press analyses on the particular acquisition.

Transnational labour migration and the offshoring of knowledge-intensive business services within global production networks: The case of a German automotive company in Turkey

“…Even though labour (e.g. Bollhorn and Franz, 2015; Coe and Hess, 2013; Raj-Reichert, 2013) and services (e.g. Coe, 2014; Kleibert, 2015) have gained more importance in recent GPN research, the focus on transnational labour and KIBS offshoring is new.…”

Revisiting risk in the Global Production Network approach 2.0 - Towards a performative risk narrative perspective

“…Due to the different levels of embeddedness, different perceptions of risk occur, even between managerial decision-makers within the same organization (cf. Bollhorn and Franz, 2015; Oinas, 1999; Schwabe, 2020). At the same time, the isomorphism of particular decision-making environments can produce similar expectations based on subjective risk perceptions that lead to PRNs legitimizing maintaining the status quo.…”