The present article analyses why and how Ericsson Telecom assumed a greater responsibility than was legally required when it dismissed more than 23,000 employees in Sweden at the beginning of the 21st century. The analysis starts from neoinstitutional theory and is based on case studies of the company’s closures in Norrköping and Linköping. The article focuses, in particular, on the interaction between Ericsson, the trade unions, the County Administrative Board, the County Labour Board, the Public Employment Service, the Swedish Employment Security Council, the government and the respective municipalities. It is shown that the greater responsibility taken by Ericsson was based on its desire to maintain legitimacy by taking into consideration prevailing societal expectations regarding the company’s behaviour.

New paradigms of work organisation espousing a radical break in production systems assert a natural identity between advanced manufacturing and utilisation of skilled labour. Using findings from a comparative project on the commercial vehicle industry in Sweden, Austria and the UK, the paper aims to unpack the theory and practice of new forms of production. It does identify common tendencies within advanced manufacturing, notably a growth in cognitive and extra-functional abilities, normally within a team working context. But this remains distinct from any version of craft or professional labour and there are marked national differences in managerial preferences of the type of labour perceived to be necessary for more flexible work organisation. The emphasis is on varied routes to the creation of skilled labour, with an extended view of skill formation that focuses on what firms do in the labour process as well as what the state does in education and training.

The purpose of the article is to investigate how and why the truck manufacturer Scania adapted to the economic downturn between 2008 and 2010 in the manner it did: First, Scania signed a crisis agreement on fewer working hours and lower wages, and, later, it signed an agreement stipulating fewer working hours, but without wage reductions.Both of these agreements were combined with investments in competence development and education as well as with the decision not to give notice to the employees, which was uncommon among Swedish companies. It is claimed that the company wanted to strengthen the competitiveness by integrating the unions and the employees even more in the business. An important prerequisite was the company's Flexibility Agreement, which allowed the company not to give temporary employees new contracts and to let temporary employees leave the company as soon as their maximum employment period of six months expired.

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The capacity of trade unions to renew themselves clearly depends on a variety of political and organisational factors. British trade unionism has long been seen as defensive, sectional and reactive. If trade unions are to develop strategically, they will need their own positive agenda. This paper looks at the obstacles and potential for doing this, utilising comparative research in the UK and Sweden.