European Business: Corporate and Social Values

This book investigates the adaptation of companies to the trend towards Europeanisation, through the renewal of their business values, their corporate culture, their portfolio of skills and their transnationalisation. It also considers the spillover effects in terms of knowledge management, accountability and commercial opportunities. The examination of case studies involving several different European countries and corporations leads to stimulating arguments about the steady building of a European culture of management, fuelled by local experiences and cross-over corporate cultures. The writers in the volume consider how individual managers contribute to the outline of a European business culture, taking advantage of new methods of management and the converging mobilisation of human resources. Another important issue examined in the book is that of brands, which have to be managed according to their perceptions in different European countries.

Hubert Bonin is Professor of Modern Economic History at Sciences Po Bordeaux and a member of the GRETHA research centre at Bordeaux University. His research focuses on the history of services companies, French and overseas banking history and European business history. Luciano Segreto is Professor of International Economic History and the History of Finance in the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Florence. His main research interests are the history of Italian industry, the Italian banking system and European business history.

Contents: Hubert Bonin: General Introduction. Regional and National Corporate Cultures Confronted with the Challenges of the Europeanisation of Business – Christine Pochet: From Harmonisation to Regulatory Competition in European Corporate Law. Towards a Europeanisation of Corporate Governance? – Giandomenico Piluso: Corporate Governance in Italy. Groups, Families and Financial Institutions in a European Mirror (1896-2000) – Thomas Fetzer: European Business Integration and Labour Relations. The Case of Fordwerke AG Germany – Martin Jes Iversen: Corporate Responses to European Integration in Denmark after 1982 – Dieter Stiefel: Rhine and Danube Models of Capitalism. The Business Culture of Schenker Forwarding Corporation – Pierre Lamard: Embedded European Business in East-Central France. Corporate Identity, Companies’ Culture and Heritage of Governance Confronted with European Integration – Wojciech W. Gasparski: European Integration and its Effect on the Ethical Dimension of Polish Business – Alexandre Fernandez: The Spanish Cooperative Group Mondragon. Social and Cultural Values Alongside European Developments – Hubert Bonin: French Utilities and European Integration. The Challenge of Questioning Managerial and Social Habits and Corporate Culture (from the 1900s) – Luciano Segreto: General Conclusion. The European Mindset at Stake. Inhaltsverzeichnis