Brexit and the discursive construction of the corporation

Abstract

The UK decision to exit the EU in 2016 has led to economic uncertainty. Foreign corporations with UK subsidiaries have sought to mediate these uncertainties while a final agreement is negotiated. Critical to this is the relationship between headquarter-subsidiary relations (HQs) and these subsidiaries. Discourse analysis has increasingly been used to examine corporate relations, with the corporation viewed as socially constructed through discourses and perpetual deliberations. Deploying a discourse approach, and recognising the importance of topological spatial relations, this article examines the relationship between HQs and UK-based subsidiaries during the Brexit negotiation period. In conclusion, HQs have generally devolved responsibility to subsidiaries for responding to Brexit, involving 'consensual' relations with subsidiaries and less intrusive 'stretched' topological power relations.