Abstract
This paper examines the complex interaction between globalisation practices of multinational corporations and the governing potential of response by local systems of employment regulation in light of rationalisation processes linked to financial market driven strategies. It investigates this issue by looking at optimisation programmes conceived and developed at the central headquarters of two German multinational companies and then traces their implementation at local sites in three different international settings: Germany, the USA and France. A central focus was the role that industrial relations systems play in the transformation process and whether (or how) the response varies according to the strength and coordination of the institutionalised system of industrial relations. The study shows that differences still remain in the form and strength of the industrial relations systems in these three countries. However, in all three cases, a new development in industrial relations is taking place in which areas potentially relevant for bargaining are left ‘unoccupied’. That is, they are missed completely in the traditional negotiating agendas of industrial relations actors.
Highlights
This paper examines the complex interaction between the globalisation practices of multinational corporations and the governing potential of local responses in light of rationalisation processes linked to financial market driven strategies
It investigates this issue by looking at optimisation programmes conceived and developed at the central headquarters of two German multinational companies and traces their implementation at local sites in three different international settings: Germany, the US and France
Market based regimes and local response Our study revealed that the programmes being implemented by the companies we investigated are geared very much toward principles compatible with the financial orientations of what has been called the ‘era of investor capitalism’ in Germany
Summary
This paper examines the complex interaction between the globalisation practices of multinational corporations and the governing potential of local responses in light of rationalisation processes linked to financial market driven strategies. It investigates this issue by looking at optimisation programmes conceived and developed at the central headquarters of two German multinational companies and traces their implementation at local sites in three different international settings: Germany, the US and France. A variety of findings have pointed to convergence (Berger and Dore,1996; Reich, 1993), regional differentiation or local determination (Storper 1997; Dörre, 1996, Flecker, 2000), corporate isomorphism (Ferner,1997), regime types (Boyer,1992; Hollingsworth,1998, Hall and Soskice 2001), institutional governance ( Marginson et al.,1995), institutional decline (Beck,1998; 2002; Schmierl,1998), and host country effects (Kotthof 2001; Ferner 2004) as drivers or explanations of the effects of globalisation
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