Symbols of Organization: Informal Ways of Negotiating the Global and the Local in MNCs Export

@article{citeulike:607431, abstract = {In this article I build on the growing number of anthropological studies of businesses and explore the role that symbols play in the development of globalizing business networks. Transnational business people employ symbols not only to define boundaries between groups and develop collective solidarity but also to construct continuously changing networks between different social spaces and even, in the final analysis, between the concepts of global and local. The case study presented here focuses on the use of the symbols defining 'German business style' by the employees of a branch of a German bank in London as they interact with colleagues in the office, staff at their Frankfurt head office, and their clients and competitors. I conclude that, first, the use of symbols in social interaction is key to the negotiation of global and local spaces, and second, that, as the concepts of 'global' and 'local' spaces are themselves symbolic constructs, the drawing of distinctions between the two may be misleading.}, author = {Moore, Fiona}, citeulike-article-id = {607431}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00086.x}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00086.x}, doi = {10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00086.x}, journal = {Global Networks}, keywords = {banking, germany, symbols}, number = {2}, pages = {181--198}, posted-at = {2006-04-30 10:34:57}, priority = {5}, title = {Symbols of Organization: Informal Ways of Negotiating the Global and the Local in MNCs}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00086.x}, volume = {4}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:607431 L3 - citeulike-article-id:607431 N2 - In this article I build on the growing number of anthropological studies of businesses and explore the role that symbols play in the development of globalizing business networks. Transnational business people employ symbols not only to define boundaries between groups and develop collective solidarity but also to construct continuously changing networks between different social spaces and even, in the final analysis, between the concepts of global and local. The case study presented here focuses on the use of the symbols defining 'German business style' by the employees of a branch of a German bank in London as they interact with colleagues in the office, staff at their Frankfurt head office, and their clients and competitors. I conclude that, first, the use of symbols in social interaction is key to the negotiation of global and local spaces, and second, that, as the concepts of 'global' and 'local' spaces are themselves symbolic constructs, the drawing of distinctions between the two may be misleading. IS - 2 JF - Global Networks EP - 198 TI - Symbols of Organization: Informal Ways of Negotiating the Global and the Local in MNCs VL - 4 SP - 181 KW - banking KW - germany KW - symbols AU - Moore, Fiona PY - 2004/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00086.x ER -