Micro-political game playing in Lidl: A comparison of store-level employment relations

European Journal of Industrial Relations

Volumn 21, Issue 3, 2015, Pages 241-257

  Geppert, Mike ^a   Williams, Karen ^b   Wortmann, Michael ^c  

^a FRIEDRICH SCHILLER UNIVERSITY JENA   (Germany)

^b SWANSEA UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^c BERLIN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND LAW   (Germany)

Author keywords

Business model; employment relations; hard discounter stores; host country institutions; Lidl; micro political game playing

Indexed keywords

EID: 84940938992     PISSN: 09596801     EISSN: 14617129     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0959680114544015     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. T.AnderssonA.KazemiS.TengbladM.Wickelgren (2011) Not the inevitable bleak house? The positive experience of workers and managers in retail employment in Sweden. In: I.GrugulisO.Bozkurt (Eds) Retail Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 253–276.
2. I.Artus (2008) Interessenhandeln jenseits der Norm. Mittelständische Betriebe und prekäre Dienstleistungsarbeit in Deutschland und Frankreich. Frankfurt a. M. and New York: Campus.
3. C.BaretS.LehndorffL.Sparks (2000) Flexible Working in Food Retailing. A Comparison between France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. London: Routledge.
4. C.A.BartlettS.Ghoshal (1989) Managing across Borders: The Transnational Solution. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
5. J.BélangerP.Edwards (2006) Towards a political economy framework: TNCs as national and global players. In: A.FernerJ.QuintanillaC.Sánchez-Runde (eds) Multinationals, Institutions and the Construction of Transnational Practices: Convergence and Diversity in the Global Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 24–52.
6. T.Bergholm (2012) Die finnischen Gewerkschaften 2012: Starke Gewerkschaftsbewegung auf langsamer Talfahrt. Report of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Department of Central and Eastern Europe, Berlin.
7. Ö.BozkurtI.Grugulis (2011) Why retail demands a closer look. In: I.GrugulisÖ.Bozkurt (eds) Retail Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 1–21.
8. F.CarréC.TillyM.van KlaverenD.Voss-Dahm (2010) Retail jobs in comparative perspective. In: J.GautiéJ.Schmitt (eds) Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 211–268.
9. J.Child (1984) Organization: A Guide to Problems and Practice. London: Harper & Row Ltd.
10. S.R.CleggD.CourpassonN.Phillips (2006) Power and Organizations. London: SAGE.
11. M.CrozierE.Friedberg (1980) Actors and Systems: The Politics of Collective Action. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
12. E.Fedtke (2012) Aldi Geschichten. Ein Gesellschafter erinnert sich. Herne: NWB Verlag.
13. J.GautiéJ.Schmidt (2010) Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
14. M.Geppert (forthcoming) Reflections on the methods of how we present and compare the political contents of our research: A prerequisite for critical institutional research. Journal of Management Inquiry.
15. M.GeppertK.WilliamsM.WortmannJ.CzarzastyD.KağnıcıoğluH.-D.KöhlerT.RoyleY.RückertB.Uçkan (2014) Industrial relations in European hypermarkets: Home and host country influences. European Journal of Industrial Relations20(3).
16. J.Godard (2002) Institutional environments, employer practices, and states in liberal market economies. Industrial Relations41(2): 249–284.
17. E.Goffman (1961) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
18. P.A.HallD.Soskice (2001) An introduction to varieties of capitalism. In: P.A.HallD.Soskice (eds) Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–71.
19. A.Hamann (2006) The Black Book on Lidl in Europe. Berlin: ver.di.
20. A.HamannG.Giese (2004) Billig auf Kosten der Beschäftigten: Schwarz-Buch Lidl. Berlin: ver.di.
21. N.K.HansenW.Küppers (2009) Power strategies and power sources of management: The micropolitics of strategizing. 25th EGOS Colloquium, Barcelona, 2July.
22. W.HirnC.RickensJ.Sucher (2007) Lidl. Chaos-Kommando. Manager Magazine online, 13March. Available at: http://www.managermagazin.de/magazin/artikel/0,2828,461855,00.html
23. J.KädtlerH.J.Sperling (2002) After globalization and financialisation: Logics of bargaining in the German automotive industry. Competition and Change6(2): 149–168.
24. P.H.KristensenJ.Zeitlin (2005) Local Players in Global Games. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25. M.Martínez LucioP.TurnbullP.BlytonJ.McGurk (2001) Using regulation: An international comparative study of the civil aviation in industry in Britain and Spain. European Journal of Industrial Relations7(1): 49–70.
26. G.OrtmannA.WindelerA.BeckerH.J.Schulz (1990) Computer und Macht in Organisationen: Mikropolitische Analysen. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
27. T.Royle (1998) Avoidance strategies and the German system of co-determination. International Journal of Human Resource Management9(6): 1026–1047.
28. T.Royle (1999) Recruiting the acquiescent worker: A comparative analysis of McDonalds in Germany and the UK. Employee Relations21(6): 540–555.
29. A.SorgeK.Rothe (2011) Resource dependence and construction, and macro- and micropolitics in transnational enterprises and alliances: The case of jet engine manufacturers in Germany. In: C.DörrenbächerM.Geppert (eds) Politics and Power in the Multinational Corporation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 41–71.
30. A.Straub (2012) Aldi. Einfach billig. Ein ehemaliger Manager packt aus. Reinbek: Rowohlt.
31. W.Streeck (2009) Re-Forming Capitalism: Institutional Change in the German Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
32. A.Swidler (1986) Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review51(2): 273–286.
33. C.TillyF.Carré (2011) Endnote: Retail work – perceptions and reality. In: I.GrugulisO.Bozkurt (eds) Retail Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 297–306.
34. K.WilliamsM.Geppert (2011) Bargained globalisation: Employment relations providing robust ‘tool kits’ for socio-political strategizing in MNCs in Germany. In: C.DörrenbächerM.Geppert (eds) Politics and Power in the Multinational Corporation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 72–100.
35. M.Wortmann (2004) Aldi and the German model: Structural change in German grocery retailing and the success of grocery discounters. Competition and Change8(4): 425–441.