Why and how do national monopolies go global? International competition, supranational regionalism and the transnational reorganization of postal and logistics companies in Europe

Dieter Plehwe

No FS I 99-102, Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Organization and Employment from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: The paper documents and analyses the rise of a transnational transport and logistics' industry within the European Union. Neither a global commodity chain, nor a national business system approach is considered adequate to help comprehend trans border reorganization within the European Union signalling a need for an approach to organization research able to tackle transnational institutionalization processes. To illustrate the extent to which transformation and 'denationalization' of traditional transport industries has proceeded in the 1990s, the paper starts with an account of the very recent ascent of the largest European diversified logistics service company: the German Post office (now Deutsche Post AG). The rapid conversion of the public postal system (by way of aggressive M&A activity mainly) into a transmodal, transnational, and information technology intensive private organization able to supply a wide range of both uniform and highly specialized services across borders is used to introduce the argument on: a) the overall transformation of national European transport systems and on b) new structures of competition and cooperation with regard to an emerging transnational production related service branch.

Date: 1999
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