Institutional Contradiction and Actor-Induced Institutional Change: German Dual Vocational Training in Brazil (and Mexico): A Qualitative Approach

Abstract

This chapter investigates qualitatively the conduct of dual vocational training (DVT) of German-owned foreign subsidiaries in Brazil and the impact on the Brazilian institutional setting compared with the case of Mexico, using primary data gained through semi-structured interviews with relevant local decision-makers. Evidence is found that strongly supports the notion of actor-induced institutional change through both reversed isomorphism and institutional entrepreneurship, although effect sizes depend on local receptiveness in a complex multilevel context. Notions of alien-to-the-system behavioral complementarity are triangulated, finding that the foreign subsidiaries themselves compensate for most of the absent supportive institutions. Furthermore, this chapter carves out remarkably the potential institutionalization of coordinated practices in unsupportive environments and, thereby, adds depth to the developmental debate, particularly, in hierarchical market economies. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Keywords

Author Keywords

institutional change qualitative analysis Multinational corporations dual vocational training Institutional entrepreneurship Institutional isomorphism

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Deutsche Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften, Speyer, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP

Generally, the cooperation of mostly the SEP and the COPARMEX with Germany is close and mainly expressed by the involvement of the CAMEXA—which controls education and takes exams—and the GIZ (Cooperación Alemana para el Desarrollo Sustentable)—as the operative arm of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development—which mainly supports both the private and public sector in their efforts to improve performance and coverage of the Mexican DVT program (funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development). Today, 24 of 32 Mexican states are part of the MMFD (BiBB, 2018) offering courses in, among others, electro mechanics, mechatronics, IT, and administration.

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, BMZ

Generally, the cooperation of mostly the SEP and the COPARMEX with Germany is close and mainly expressed by the involvement of the CAMEXA—which controls education and takes exams—and the GIZ (Cooperación Alemana para el Desarrollo Sustentable)—as the operative arm of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development—which mainly supports both the private and public sector in their efforts to improve performance and coverage of the Mexican DVT program (funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development). Today, 24 of 32 Mexican states are part of the MMFD (BiBB, 2018) offering courses in, among others, electro mechanics, mechatronics, IT, and administration.

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Institutional Contradiction and Actor-Induced Institutional Change: German Dual Vocational Training in Brazil (and Mexico): A Qualitative Approach

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