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The research seeks to establish whether there exists a distinctive French management style abroad. Given our research objectives and theoretical approach outlined in the previous chapter and recapitulated in Figure 3 - 1, we opted for qualitative research, through the means of a multiple case-study method, examined in a historical perspective. This choice was made necessary first by the nature of our research. In the absence of any comprehensive study of the internationalisation process of French companies, our research was basically starting from scratch, and not being able to refer to prior theoretical or empirical work in the literature, we were forced to build up interpretative theories of French companies’ behaviour abroad.

Research metlusdology

The additional factor was that our conceptual approach to examining the nationality effect aims to draw out French managements’ mode of thinking, or behaviour abroad, and therefore we are concerned with exploring an intangible phenomenon. Indeed, we are seeking, not to characterise practices observed within the operating company abroad, but derive a set of behavioural characteristics specific to French managements that have influenced their strategies abroad, and to this end practices are only a means to uncover French managements’ behaviour.

Thirdly, in order to examine how French companies’ national features evolve as they leave their domestic borders, we have to take into account a large number of variables with which companies will be confronted in the international arena, or filters, which are both time- (period of internationalisation, international experience) and space-related (host environment, industry).

Filters

Figure 3 - 1 : Theoretical framework

In light of those conditions, only a qualitative approach could enable us to explore the complexity of French companies’ internationalisation strategies. According to Yin (1994), this approach is particularly appropriate to study the kind of phenomenon where ‘the boundaries between phenomenon and context are blurred’, and is capable of dealing with the ‘entangled situation between phenomenon and

context’. A qualitative approach could enable us to examine the nature of the interactions of companies’ strategies and the multiplicity of factors they encounter abroad, in order to draw out the complexity of French managements’ behaviour abroad independently from those filters.

In order to characterise French managements’ behaviour abroad, we rely on a multiple case-study method comprising eleven companies. As Eisenhardt (1989) argues, the strength of a multiple-case study method of research comprising over five cases is the potential higher level of applicability of findings generated, as it enables one to test explanations and models through a ‘replication logic’ across cases.

In our case, the choice of relying on a large sample of companies was made necessary, so that French managements’ features drawn from our case studies could be tested against a large number of companies and thus were not restricted by either spatial or temporal contingencies. Given the large number of international filters that entered the equation, there was a risk that on the basis of a small number of cases, our findings of French managements’ behaviour abroad would have been biased because of specific antecedent conditions which would be exceptional. Thus, for our study to be pertinent, it was very important to be able to examine a large panel of companies so as to be able to draw national features which go beyond the set of filters identified,

and in turn can be generalised to all firms of a nation. By examining

comprehensively the interactions between international filters and French companies’ behaviour, in each case, we could weigh the influence of each of those filters upon French features which had led to specific outcomes within the operating company.

Being interested in understanding the evolution of French companies’ features as they leave their domestic borders, it was necessary to examine their process of internationalisation over time in order to appreciate the direction and patterns of

change. Pettigrew (1990) advocates a historical approach when it comes to

developing a more ‘holistic’, ‘dynamic’ approach towards understanding a phenomenon. How French companies respond to the international environment they

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are confronted with is not an instant phenomenon but evolves over time, and thus a snapshot approach, by separating events under study from their temporal contexts, cannot reveal the processes at work. The period under investigation covered the decade beginning from the late 1980s to the end of the 1990s, because this decade represented a significant period of internationalisation for many French multinationals. French firms caught the train of globalisation only ten years ago. The added advantage of observing them from the very beginning of their internationalisation was to be able to follow through the evolution of their features from a state where companies’ national features were very French, that is non- contaminated so to speak by any other international influences. Thus, the behaviour of today’s French multinationals that we attempt to unfold in this study, has built up during this ten year period.

Although dealing with a large number of case-study firms, we were able to acquire the kind of information required to address our research question, both because of the nature of the research problem itself, as well as specific conditions related to fieldwork which have been favourable. Our research objective is to draw out characteristic features of French managements abroad, that is of those who manage multinational companies. Therefore our data collection focused on the management population of French firms, rather than being concerned with studying in great detail established practices within operating companies.

In conducting our study, we have also benefited from several advantages. Firstly, given the high concentration of power within French firms, it was possible, by accessing top management levels, to obtain the information required in a relatively short space of time. In addition to being close to the centres of power, given French organisations’ employment patterns, French managers interviewed had for the most part spent their entire career within their companies, and therefore had followed through their firms’ international strategies over long periods of time, and were thus knowledgeable about past and current choices, as well as the difficulties they faced abroad.

Research me (Ik »clology

In addition, the acquisition of information was facilitated by the timing of the research as it took place at a turning point for French firms as they were internationalising on a large scale, and were questioning their existing strategies on many fronts, as evidenced by their progression forward in the UK observed throughout the study. Our study was thus addressing a real need for companies, and thus managements talked openly about the issues they were faced with, which allowed us through the interviews conducted to go to the heart of the matter. Finally, being a French national myself and having spent ten years in the UK, this helped to develop an appreciation of the behaviours of French managements in the UK, going beyond the stage of cultural stereotypes whilst not de-contextualising each country s distinctive cultures.