Multinational Companies in Cross-National Context: Integration, Differentiation, and the Interactions between MNCS and Nation States

Abstract

In the introductory article to a special issue on multinational corporations (MNCs) and employment practices, the authors highlight the key features of an international survey research project. Research teams carried out parallel surveys in four countries: Canada, Ireland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. These surveys are the most comprehensive investigations of the employment practices in MNCs in their respective countries. In framing the comparative analysis of these data, the teams had four objectives: (1) to explore the processes of integration and differentiation in MNCs, including the interactions among MNCs and nation states and their impact on employment practices; (2) to chart the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) and systems of industrial relations; (3) to outline the key elements of the research design and chart the process of collecting data; and (4) to provide a summary of the patterns of integration and differentiation found among MNCs.

Brickbats and bouquets for marketing

“…This is countermanded however in many cases, as often a large proportion (in some cases all) of their production capacity is generated in third world countries, at low cost, where workers are paid miniscule wages while having no access to social security support systems or access to worker organisations such as trade unions. Often this keeps workers in a never-ending and vicious cycle of poverty (see Edwards and Marginson, 2016) Further, in some sectors where business goes to great lengths to laboriously dictat social 'responsibility', social irresponsibility may be more of a norm. Corporate examples since 2008 of failed or failing banks and financial institutions, together with the government monitoring bodies who also failed in their fiduciary duties, while both went unpunished, is a remarkable and -so far -almost invisible chapter in economic history.…”

Modes of integration of human resource management practices in multinationals

“…However, theirinvestigation did not explore information-based mechanisms and was conducted among a small sample size comprising 76 subsidiaries of European MNCs located in China. In seeking to build on this work, our main contribution is to offer a more comprehensive and holistic analysis of the preferred modes of integration of HRM practices in multinationals by (i) testing the four way taxonomy proposed by Kim et al (2003) and (ii) broadening the scope of analysis using a highly representative sample of over 450 foreign-owned subsidiaries operating in two different institutional locations (Edwards et al, 2013). We do so on the basis that the application of Kim et al's taxonomy of integration modes to the HR arena allows scholars to evaluate and compare their use within a single business function (Smale et al, 2013).…”

Containing, embracing and hyper-activating Britishness: British-based foreign-owned firms

“…A third reason to distinguish between Britishness and BBFOFs is that contemporary reshaping within British capitalism builds on established approaches where global dynamics result in dominance effects flowing from practices developed in leading economies such as the USA and Japan, leading firms such as Toyota or dominant sectors -today for example, finance (Smith and Meiksins,1995).Contemporary approaches echo this and seek to identify the impact of external influences on work organization at firm level to suggest that pressures for convergence centre on the presence of dominant practices which change periodically (Edwards et. al.…”