Policies on Union Representation in US Multinationals in the UK: Between Micro-Politics and Macro-Institutions

Abstract

This paper examines the policies towards unions and collective representation in US multinationals in the UK. It uses detailed case-study data to argue that the dominant 'ideological norms' of anti-unionism in the US business system shape, but do not determine, the behaviour of US multinational subsidiaries in the UK. Within the structural constraints determined by such factors as sector, subsidiary policy and behaviour towards unions are the outcome of the complex interaction of the contrasting 'macro-institutional' forces of home and host business systems, and how these are filtered through the perceptions and interests of actors at different levels of the multinational. The resulting 'micro-politics' generates a complex and evolving pattern of union relations and non-unionism in US subsidiaries. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005.

Chinese multinational corporations’ responses to host country trade unions: An eclectic approach

“…This point has been inadequately recognized in the existing literature, which is too wedded to the view that the home country's influence occurs primarily because of the legitimacy pressures from headquarters, or the MNCs' desire to transfer organizational competencies developed in their home country business system (Ferner et al, 2005).…”

“…For example, Edwards and Ferner (2002) and Ferner et al (2005) posit that institutional approach should be supplemented with a power and interests perspective. Both papers acknowledge that MNCs' policies and behavior toward unions are the result of the complex interaction of the macro-institutional forces of home and host environments.…”

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