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Abstract:
In the context of an emerging global economy, once successful strategic orientations of companies are considered as outdated by some observers. New and more ambitious global strategies necessitate a—possibly uniform—structural response. Can we thus expect convergence in the structure of enterprises? The analysis of strategic and structural changes of German companies since 1986 presented in this paper gives evidence against this assumption. Although it can be demonstrated that both purely nationally oriented and purely export-oriented strategies are no longer available options for most companies, a trend towards the convergence of organisational structures cannot be observed. The process of internationalisation has weakened the strategy-structure relation and therefore neither leads to particular formal structures nor fosters standardized de- or re-centralised forms of co-ordination.
