15. Conflicts in Foreign Inter-organisational Relationships of Multinational Enterprises

Conflicts are incorporated in any company’s business activity. The development of company’s international operations entails higher probability of conflict situations with foreign partners. The aim of the paper is to analyse the sources of conflict in inter-organisational foreign relationships of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and to identify how these conflicts affect MNEs’ activities. The outcomes are analysed both for inter-organisational relationship and for MNE’s activities in general. Also, formal and informal actions undertaken by managers in order to resolve a conflict situation and to minimise potential negative consequences are investigated. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews conducted in five different units (headquarters and subsidiaries) of Polish-based MNEs. After internal and comparative analysis, obtained results are compared with the existing research. The results show that identified conflicts in foreign inter-organisational relationships of MNEs’ units were not severe. The conflicts had sources mainly in everyday problems or cultural differences. Regardless of the source, in the majority of analysed MNEs’ units, conflicts had a positive effect on the external relationships themselves and the MNE’s activities.