DIVISIONS OF LABOR, INSTITUTIONAL DISTANC E AND PLACE DEPENDENCE - THE RESTRUCTURING OF INDUSTRIAL MITTELSTAND FIRMS IN THE RUHR AREA

During the last few years representatives of both large corporations a nd Mittelstand firms have begun to question the sustainability of the German Model in the wake of increasing international economic integrat ion. The paper seeks to examine this,globalisation rhetoric' by analys ing restructuring strategies of Mittelstand firms in the Ruhr Area. In the first section a different view on the geography of business restr ucturing and the role of place therein is developed, integrating polit ical-economic and socio-organisational approaches to spatial change. I t is argued that analysis should start from the space relevant for the business enterprise and the conflicts arising as firms move up and do wn the spatial scale hierarchy. The second section seeks to illustrate this framework by presenting empirical case-studies. There is a consi derable contrast between the strategies followed and the rhetoric empl oyed by Mittelstand representatives. Sample firms had problems in expa nding organisational control to the supra-national level and in adapti ng to a changing and expanding division of labour. Institutional dista nce, place dependence and the lack of organisational capacity play a m ajor role in explaining these difficulties. All in all, the business s trategies display a complex and conflictual juxtaposition of co-operat ive and competitive elements, and are far more complex than they seem to be in a neoliberal discourse of globalisation.