Mapping corporate Europe: business responses to institutional change, 1957 2007

Abstract

Bringing together research teams in up to 15 European countries, this project represents an ambitious attempt to analyse the impact of European integration on the corporate community. In particular, the research will investigate the Strategy-Structure-Ownership-Performance (SSOP) issues associated with the top 50 firms in each of those countries between 1957 and 2007, looking especially for any evidence of convergence towards a 'European' norm. A substantial database will be generated from this research, alongside a wide range of case studies that will enrich the quantitative evidence. This will provide the necessary information required for a reassessment of the views J.F. Wilson et al.of Rugman, of Whittington and Mayer, and of Whitley, on the nature of international business activity.

Strategic and structural responses to international dynamics in the open Dutch economy, 1963–2003

“…When we add partly internationally oriented companies to these percentages we see a rise from 40% in 1963 to 71% in 2003. This development of internationalisation corresponds to one of the conclusions of Binda and Iverson (2007), who state that internationalisation became an important growth strategy for large Spanish and Danish corporations after 1973. The largest corporations in the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark became more internationally oriented, with Spain showing the largest increase.…”

“…1 Our benchmark years start with 1963 and then we take each fifth year until 2003. This choice allows a comparison with the study of Whittington and Mayer (2002), who examined 1970 (by the Harvard group), 1983 and 1993, and with Binda and Iverson (2007), who studied 1973, 1983, 1993, and 2003. 2 In contrast to Whittington and 68 A. de Jong et al…”

“…In order to facilitate a comparison, we follow the definitions used in Whittington and Mayer's book The European corporation (2002) and in the project defined in Wilson et al (2007). We distinguish four categories of strategy: single business, dominant business, related business and unrelated business.…”

“…de Jong et al Binda and Iverson (2007) examined strategies and ownership of the 40 largest corporations in Denmark and Spain for the benchmark years 1973, 1983, 1993, and 2003. Both countries belong to the group of small and medium-sized Western European economies.…”

“…That raises the question whether the Dutch companies were unique in their preference for the functional holding. Binda and Iverson (2007) focused on strategy and ownership and did not include structure in their article on Spain and Denmark. Therefore we limit our comparison on the functional holding and multidivisional structure to France, Germany and the UK (see Figure 5a and 5b).…”