Constructing Post-Socialism: Organisational Identity and the Experience of International Joint Ventures

Following the collapse of European state socialism, economists quickly identified a central role for foreign direct investment and Western multinational corporations in moving the region towards a market economy. Knowledge transfers and capital infusions would allow former state-owned enterprises to take on market-economic characteristics and therefore engage more fully in the global economy. This article examines the post-socialist management experience of international joint ventures (IJVs) through a study of the critical events in the life of a German-Czech IJV. The story is told from the local managers' perspective and, drawing on the vocabulary of organisational identity, sense-making and sense-giving actions, we show how the IJV process is constrained and enacted by the post-socialist context.