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Language(s):
eng - English
Dates:
2010
Publication Status:
Issued
Pages:
XIV, 263
Publishing info:
Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan
Table of Contents:
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction: Multinationals and Employment Practices across Europe
Multinationals' approaches to the construction of employment practices
The empirical case
The argument
Outline of chapters
1 Constructing Employment Practices in Multinationals: A Framework for Analysis
Understanding employment practices
Organizational approaches to company behaviour
Institutionalist approaches to company behaviour
Micro-foundations of constructing employment practices
Assumptions on behaviour and social interaction
Actors and their attributes
Social interaction
Forms of social interaction
Social interaction as means of constructing employment practices
Conclusions
2 One Multinational, Four Host Countries: On Diversity in Subsidiary Employment Practices
Electra as case study
Electra's subsidiaries
Hard employment practices
Wage policy and wages
Employment flexibility
Numerical flexibility
External flexibility
Internal flexibility
Functional flexibility
Summary
Soft employment practices
Work organization
Motivation, performance pay and employee participation
Social rewards and fringe benefits
Subsidiary employment practices and local standards
Conclusions
3 Channelling Corporate Values and Interests: Social Interaction within the Multinational
Electra's past legacy for current challenges
Administrative heritage - the formation of corporate values
The formation of corporate interests, organization and strategy
Internal and external forces shaping Electra's organization and behaviour
Interaction between headquarters and subsidiaries
Production issues
Employment issues
Interaction between Electra's sister subsidiaries
Analysis of social interaction within Electra
Conclusions
4 Building a Local Corporate Presence: Social Interaction between the Multinational and Local Societies
Beyond the subsidiaries' gates: Electra and the local industry structure
Electra's social interaction with the local society
Labour market actors
Municipalities and local governments
Citizens, media and other local actors
Committed to being local?
Conclusions
5 From Bargaining to Dancing: Social Interaction between the Multinational, Local Workers and Trade Unions
Management-worker interaction in Electra subsidiaries
Electra and national industrial relations in Western and Eastern Europe
Industrial relations in Electra's subsidiaries
Negotiating employment flexibility practices with subsidiary trade unions
Analysis of social interaction between Electra and subsidiary employee representatives
Conclusions
6 Social Foundations of Trade Union Influence: Cross-Border Interaction of Unions and Employee Representatives
Cooperation and competition in cross-border trade unionism
Cross-border trade union interaction: a national and sectoral perspective
Cross-border trade union interaction: a company-level perspective
Institutionalized cross-border interaction: the European Works Council
The EWC in Electra
Informal functioning of the Euroforum: between friendships and antagonism
Euroforum versus trade unions
Two faces of cross-border interaction
Conclusions
7 Accounting for Diversity: The Social Construction of Employment Practices
Uncovering diversity in employment practices
Accounting for diversity
Unfolding social interaction in Electra
Interaction channels and forms
Electra's corporate headquarters and subsidiary managements
Interaction among Electra's sister factories
Electra's interaction with local actors
Interaction between trade unions and the European Works Council
Complementarities in interaction forms
Sustainability of social interaction for diversity in employment practices
Conclusions
8 Multinationals, Employment Practices and Institutional Change from below
Implications of MNC behaviour and the social construction of employment practices
Preconditions for social interaction: compatibility of actors' interests with host-country institutions
Embedding as institution building from below
Reflections on the social construction of employment practices
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Rev. Type:
-
Identifiers:
eDoc: 498895
ISBN: 978-0-230-57977-4
ISBN: 978-1-349-36828-0
ISBN: 978-0-230-27731-1
DOI: 10.1057/9780230277311
Degree:
-
