Managing the Transnational Law Firm: A Relational Analysis of Professional Systems, Embedded Actors, and Time—Space‐Sensitive Governance
运用关系性方法，通过对伦敦和纽约律师事务所合伙人的访谈，分析跨国律师事务所如何应对不同国家的制度差异，揭示了专业人员和专业服务管理者在制度异质性管理中的关键作用。
Abstract This article argues that the relational approach can be particularly effective for addressing debates about the varieties of capitalism and the dynamics of institutional contexts. Using the case study of transnational law firms and data gathered through interviews with partners in London and New York, it makes two arguments. First, it suggests that the relational approach's focus on the behavior of key agents when new or different work practices are encountered helps explain the management of institutional heterogeneity by transnational corporations (TNCs). Such an approach reveals the peculiarities of professionals and professional service managers and how they affect the response of globalizing law firms when home‐ and host‐country business practices diverge. Second, the article shows how relational approaches can help disaggregate descriptions of national institutional systems to reveal the importance of studying their constitutive practices. Understanding these microlevel variations, which is missed by macrolevel categories like Anglo‐American, is essential for explaining how firms cope with institutional heterogeneity. The author therefore argues that a better understanding of the effects of TNCs on national business systems can be facilitated by further developing the actor‐ and practice‐focused analyses promoted by relational approaches.