Multinationals, Institutions and the Construction of Transnational Practices : Convergence and Diversity in the Global Economy

This volume looks at how multinational companies manage their workforces across borders. Its focus is on the shaping of multinationals' employment practices through the interplay of structural forces: divergent national business systems, evolving supranational institutions, and the dynamics of global competition. But it also scrutinises the multinational as an arena in which contending actors pursue their own active interests and strategies within the constraints of these broader forces. Its combination of innovative empirical and theoretical material will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of international business and comparative employment relations. This Volume Explores How Multinationals Transfer Structures, Policies And Practices Across National Borders. It Brings Together Contributions From Some Of The Foremost Experts In The Field Of Employment Relations. Strong Empirical Material Is Combined With An Innovative And Questioning Theoretical Approach. 1. Introduction : Multinationals And The Multilevel Politics Of Cross-national Diffusion / Anthony Ferner, Javier Quintanilla And Carlos Sanchez-runde -- 2. Towards A Political Economy Framework : Tncs As National And Global Players / Jacques Belanger And Paul Edwards -- 3. Theorizing The Role Of The International Subsidiary : Transplants, Hybrids And Branch-plants Revisited / Tony Elger And Chris Smith -- 4. Accommodating Global Capitalism? : State Policy And Industrial Relations In American Mncs In Ireland / Patrick Gunnigle, David G. Collings And Michael J. Morely -- 5. Emerging Motivations For Global Hrm Integration / Sully Taylor -- 6. Patterns Of Integration In American Multinational Subsidiaries In Europe / Valeria Pulignano. Edited By Anthony Ferner, Javier Quintanilla And Carlos Sánchez-runde. Papers Presented At A Conference Held At The Iese Business School In Barcelona In July 2004. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Résumé : This volume explores how multinational companies transfer policies, practices and organizational structures across national borders. It brings together contributions from some of the foremost experts in the field of employment relations. Strong empirical material on employment relations and the management of human resources is combined with an innovative and questioning theoretical approach. The essays cover topics as diverse as the transfer of employment practices within Europe, the relationship between multinationals and supranational regulation, and the impact of national business systems on the way in which firms internationalize their activity. Taken together, the essays advance comparative institutionalist theory as a way of understanding multinational behaviour, while incorporating a sensitivity to power and interests, both at the macro-level of the global economic system, and at the micro-level of the multinational itself. The volume provides an invaluable counterpoint to north American approaches to multinationals and employment relations predominant in the international business literature This text considers how multinationals transfer structures, policies and practices across national borders. It is contributed to by experts in the field of employment relations, and combines empirical material with a theoretical approach. The essays advance comparative institutionalist theory at both the macro-level and the micro-level.