From foreign outsidership to local insidership: Managing cultural differences in the Franco-German context

IF 7.5 2区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

European Management Journal Pub Date : 2025-04-01 DOI:10.1016/j.emj.2024.12.004

Nino Ruscigno, Ulrike Mayrhofer

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

How can companies deal with liabilities of foreignness and outsidership when expanding into international markets? In this paper, we investigate how mid-sized companies in the business-to-business sector can overcome these two liabilities and become “local insiders”. We built a single-case study of a German mid-sized company who entered the French market through a greenfield subsidiary. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with managers in the French subsidiary, with their French customers and with experts in Franco-German management. Our findings highlight that the company had to face multiple cultural barriers during the internationalization process, in particular language and communication, time management and relationship issues. We explain the solutions they adopted to manage cultural differences and to move from “foreign outsidership” to “local insidership”. We offer novel insights into the dynamic nature of foreignness and outsidership, and we provide practical solutions that can help companies to succeed their foreign market entries.

查看原文本刊更多论文

从外国局外人到当地内部人：管理法德背景下的文化差异

企业在开拓国际市场时，如何处理涉外责任和外部关系？在本文中，我们研究了企业对企业部门的中型公司如何克服这两个负担，成为“本地内部人士”。我们对一家德国中型公司进行了单一案例研究，该公司通过新建子公司进入法国市场。我们对法国子公司的经理、他们的法国客户以及法德管理专家进行了30次半结构化访谈。我们的研究结果强调了公司在国际化过程中必须面对多重文化障碍，特别是语言和沟通，时间管理和关系问题。我们解释了他们采用的解决方案来管理文化差异，并从“外国局外人”转向“当地内部人士”。我们对外国和外部关系的动态本质提供新颖的见解，并提供实用的解决方案，帮助企业成功进入国外市场。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

European Management Journal Multiple-

CiteScore

12.90

自引率

5.30%

发文量

113

审稿时长

74 days

期刊介绍： The European Management Journal (EMJ) stands as a premier scholarly publication, disseminating cutting-edge research spanning all realms of management. EMJ articles challenge conventional wisdom through rigorously informed empirical and theoretical inquiries, offering fresh insights and innovative perspectives on key management themes while remaining accessible and engaging for a wide readership. EMJ articles embody intellectual curiosity and embrace diverse methodological approaches, yielding contributions that significantly influence both management theory and practice. We actively seek interdisciplinary research that integrates distinct research traditions to illuminate contemporary challenges within the expansive domain of European business and management. We strongly encourage cross-cultural investigations addressing the unique challenges faced by European management scholarship and practice in navigating global issues and contexts.