Glocal Dilemmas: Multi-National Corporations in the Chemical Complex of Tarragona (Spain)

This explorative article looks at the complex relationships between multinational firms and production subsidiaries in Tarragona. Both the organizational and the institutional dimensions are considered in relation to the two most relevant systems: the business and the labor systems. From a non-teleological and naturalistic perspective the analysis is organized around a series of dilemmas and tension on logics surrounding the two dimensions and the two systems. The conclusion reached is that for the time being the dilemmas have been resolved towards the logics and narrow interests of global multinational firms, despite an emerging potential counter-balance, especially at the European level, towards more collaborative relations between the global and local actors in the sector.