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The formation of global norms that affect work is a crucial element to how multinational companies (MNCs) achieve a degree of HR integration internationally. We establish a ‘strategic action fields’ framework to guide research into global norm-making in MNCs in general and for analysing the work of those that we term ‘globalising actors’—those who are active in globalising a firm's management of its human resources—in particular. We position our framework with relation to existing research in international human resource management, and show how the field can benefit from achieving an approach to global norm-making that is contextualised, personalised and contested.

The notion that multinational companies (MNCs) are comprised of multiple subsidiaries in different countries is one that underpins voluminous research in international management. This body of research was recently the subject of an authoritative and comprehensive review in this journal (Meyer et al. in J Int Bus Stud 51(4):538–576, 2020). However, we share the concerns about the prevalence of the term ‘subsidiary’ within academic writing expressed by some others (Mees-Buss et al. in J Int Bus Stud 50(9):1513–1543, 2019) and take this further by questioning the assumptions of authority and control on which it is based. We argue that the role of national subsidiaries in how MNCs are organized has been eroded by developments ‘from above’ and ‘from below’ the national level such that it cannot be assumed that national subsidiaries are important influences on how MNCs govern and coordinate their production and service provision and how work is organized. We set out the implications for theory and methods in international management (IM).

This paper contextualises and analyses global norm-making concerning the nature of work within multinational companies. We develop a framework for analysing the relations between formal and informal elements of global norm-making, stressing dynamic interdependencies between formality and informality on four dimensions: the codification of norms; enforcement mechanisms; the use of “platforms”; and aggregation with wider contexts. We investigate four cases of transnational norm-making spaces across two multinationals, and analyse how these interdependencies work, both for norms and practices that emanate from the upper levels of corporate hierarchies, and those developed at lower levels among global operational teams.

The human resource (HR) function plays a critical role in how multinational companies (MNCs) centralise decision-making or coordinate and exploit expertise internationally. However, there has been limited attention on the extent to which the HR function in MNCs is integrated internationally and the influencing factors behind this. Using nationally representative, cross-country comparative data, this paper identifies the degree to which internationally integrated HR functions exist and test the extent to which this is shaped by the strategy, structure and nationality of the MNC. We demonstrate the multidimensionality of an internationally integrated HR function; with the structural configuration, level of inter-dependencies between MNC operations and country of origin each partially impacting its nature. A key implication concerns the need to move beyond solely focusing on either nationality as per institutionalist theory, or corporate strategy and structure as characterised in the strategic international HRM literature, towards an integrated explanation that incorporates both sets of factors.

Despite existing research examining snapshots of employee reactions to organizational mergers and acquisitions (M&A), there is a complete absence of work theorizing or exploring rates of change in employees’ organizational identification with the merged entity. We address this gap using two three-wave longitudinal panel samples from different M&A settings, tracking change in identification through a two-year period. Theorizing trajectories of change in identification across the organizations in both settings, we make predictions linked to expected antecedents of change in identification. Our research context (M&A-1) involves a merger of three Finish universities tracking 938 employees from each organization in three waves (nine months pre-merger to 24 months post-merger). Our second context (M&A-2) involves a multinational acquisition tracking 346 employees from both the acquired and acquiring organization in three waves (from two to 26 months post-acquisition). Using Latent Growth Modelling, we confirm predicted trajectories of change in identification. Across both samples, a linear increase (across Time 1, Time 2 and Time 3) in justice and linear decrease in threat perceptions were found to significantly predict a linear increase in identification across the post-M&A period. We discuss organizational identification development trajectories and how changes in these two antecedents account for changes in identification across M&A contexts.

There is anecdotal evidence that athletes use the banned substance Synacthen because of its perceived benefit with its associated rise in cortisol. To test the performance-enhancing effects of Synacthen, eight trained cyclists completed two, 2-day exercise sessions separated by 7-10 days. On the first day of each 2-day exercise session, subjects received either Synacthen (0.25 mg, TX) or placebo (PLA) injection. Performance was assessed by a 20-km time trial (TT) after a 90-min fatigue period on day 1 and without the fatiguing protocol on day 2. Plasma androgens and ACTH concentrations were measured during the exercise bouts as well as the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Spot urines were analyzed for androgens and glucocorticoids quantification. Basal plasma hormones did not differ significantly between PLA and TX groups before and 24 h after the IM injection (P > 0.05). After TX injection, ACTH peaked at 30 min and hormone profiles were significantly different compared to the PLA trial (P < 0.001). RPE increased significantly in both groups as the exercise sessions progressed (P < 0.001) but was not influenced by treatment. The time to completion of the TT was not affected on both days by Synacthen treatment. In the present study, a single IM injection of synthetic ACTH did not improve either acute or subsequent cycling performance and did not influence perceived exertion. The investigated urinary hormones did not vary after treatment, reinforcing the difficulty for ACTH abuse detection.

The preceding article by Arndt Sorge and Wolfgang Streeck entitled ‘Diversified quality production re-visited: Its contribution to German socioeconomic performance over time’ examines the historical dynamics of diversified quality production (DQP). Socio-Economic Review invited a group of leading scholars from different subfields to discuss the paper. Lucio Baccaro opens with a comprehensive reconstruction of the DQP concept within the field of comparative political economy and the history of the German model of capitalism. The next contribution by Virginia Doellgast investigates on how and why Sorge and Streeck’s arguments have been influential in employment relations research. Tony Edwards focusses on internationalization, particularly the way in which German multinationals have expanded into other countries and what this means for the viability and prevalence of DQP, both in Germany and elsewhere. Finally, Josh Whitford explores the attempts to export of the concept of DQP to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, about 25 years ago. Lucio Baccaro: What Happened to Diversified Quality Production? Virginia Doellgast: How and Why Did DQP Influence Employment Relations Research? Tony Edwards: Internationalizing Diversified Quality Production? Josh Whitford: Exporting Germans, Then and Now

The article considers two related institutional domains, industrial relations and industrial training, in the UK. It analyses the trajectory and magnitude of change, seen in terms of a) forms of coordination/governance and b) the saliency of these domains. The article covers a long time period, pivoting on the years of Conservative government between 1979 and 1997. It argues that trajectories of change in these two domains began earlier than these years and are still not fully unfolded in the industrial training area. Throughout, change involved combinations of both strategic transformation and muddling through by key actors. There are some complementarities between these two domains and with other domains, but there are also significant disjunctures. In explaining change, some emphasis is placed on politics, but also on the 'voluntaristic' nature of labout market institutions in Britain and on employer preferences in labour, product and financial markets and in political contexts.

© Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association (ALERA), SAGE Publications Ltd, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. This paper has three principal aims. It firstly provides some theoretical background on the key current research issues and challenges in regard to industrial relations in multinational companies. It then presents a concise review of scholarship to date on industrial relations in multinational companies using INTREPID (Investigation of Transnationals’ Employment Practices: an International Database) data. Finally, the paper identifies some of the main industrial relations issues that remain to be addressed, in effect charting a form of research agenda for future work using the INTREPID data, with particular focus on the potential contribution from ‘late joiners’ to the INTREPID project. ispartof: Journal of Industrial Relations vol:57 issue:2 pages:146-165 status: published

Aunque la sociología de las organizaciones y del trabajo se ocupa cada vez más de estudiar las empresas multinacionales, todavía se conoce poco el impacto que la internacionalización de la producción tiene en la tendencia al isomorfismo que se observa en las plantas operadas por multinacionales. Con los resultados del estudio de tres multinacionales, los autores señalan que las redes trasnacionales de directivos y el sistema de competición cooperativa entre plantas contribuyen a difundir prácticas de trabajo y de organización de la producción que hacen a las subsidiarias de la multinacional cada vez más similares. El isomorfismo organizacional, concluyen, es el resultado de la estructura, de la política interna de la multinacional, y del entorno en el que desarrollas sus actividades.

This article argues for the systematic incorporation of power and interests into analysis of the cross-border transfer of practices within multinational companies (MNCs). Using a broadly Lukesian perspective on power it is argued that the transfer of practices involves different kinds of power capabilities through which MNC actors influence their institutional environment both at the ‘macro-level’ of host institutions and the ‘micro-level’ of the MNC itself. The incorporation of an explicit account of the way power interacts with institutions at different levels, it is suggested, underpins a more convincing account of transfer than is provided by the dominant neoinstitutionalist perspective in international business, and leads to a heuristic model capable of generating proposed patterns of transfer outcomes that may be tested empirically in future research.

This paper questions the extent to which a regional logic is adopted by multinationals in how they organise their operations overseas, and seeks to examine the variation within and across regions in this regard. Data are drawn from two of the parallel surveys of employment practice undertaken by the INTREPID (is a research network of academics across 10 countries engaged in comparative research on multinationals) network, namely Canada and the UK. The analysis tests four hypotheses regarding the similarity and differences in the adoption of a regional logic using the data as illustrative of firms in the regions of North American and European. Our analysis demonstrates how divergent structures and dynamics of regional integration in different continents have led to different strategies and processes in multinational companies. In doing so the paper provides insights into the nature of variation within the multinational community and across regional contexts.

The contribution considers two related institutional domains, industrial relations and industrial training, in the United Kingdom. It analyses the trajectory and magnitude of change, seen in terms of (a) forms of co-ordination/governance and (b) the saliency of these domains. The contribution covers a long time period, pivoting on the years of Conservative government between 1979 and 1997. It argues that trajectories of change in these two domains began earlier than these years and are still not fully unfolded in the industrial training area. Throughout, change involved combinations of both strategic transformation and muddling through by key actors. There are some complementarities between these two domains and with other domains, but there are also significant disjunctures. In explaining change, some emphasis is placed on politics, but also on the ‘voluntaristic’ nature of labour market institutions in Britain and on employer preferences in labour, product and financial market and in political contexts.

This article uses a large-scale representative survey to examine a key aspect of control in multinational companies (MNCs): the extent of central influence over human resource (HR) policy formation in subsidiaries. This is a crucial aspect of behaviour, relevant for example for the cross-border diffusion of policies and practices and for the institutional distinctiveness of practice within a given host environment. The article assesses how far policy is determined by corporate headquarters or some other higher-level organizational structure. Its novelty lies primarily in its exploration of the influence of the structure of the HR management (HRM) function on subsidiary discretion. It finds, first, that the degree of central control is influenced for different HR issues by nationality of ownership and by international product/service standardization. Second, there is some variability in the antecedents associated with discretion on different HR issues. Finally, aspects of the structure of the HRM function ...

The role of national institutional context is often overlooked in analyses of learning behaviour in multinational organizations. Drawing on arguments from institutional theory and learning theory we consider the organizational contingencies, and the institutional context in which these are embedded, in explaining the use of structures to support learning across national borders. It is hypothesized that country of origin effects on subsidiary learning structures are mediated by two organizational contingencies, namely transnational human resource management governance structures and subsidiary global research and development expertise. To test this, structural equation modelling is used on a dataset of 292 foreign (including Japanese, US, French, German, Nordic) and home-owned subsidiaries operating in the UK. The results confirmed the hypothesized institutional effects. The evidence suggests that understanding the interaction between institutional and firm-level context is important in providing a fuller explanation of the types of learning structures subsidiaries are likely to engage with.

Multinational companies (MNCs) from different countries of origin are widely held to have distinct preferences regarding the presence of employee representative structures and the form that employee 'voice' over management decisions takes. Such preferences are said to derive from the national models that prevail in the different countries of origin in which MNCs are based. Findings from a large-scale survey of the UK operations of MNCs indicate that country-of-origin influences on patterns of employee representation and emphasis on direct or indirect channels of employee 'voice' are attenuated by other factors, notably sector and method of growth. They also reveal significant recent innovation in representation and voice arrangements by this key group of employers.

This paper analyses the issue of variation between multinational companies in the extent to which they use their foreign operating units as the origin of employment practices that are subsequently transferred across the firm.\ud \ud It uses data from a nationally representative survey of MNCs in the UK and contrasts the relative influences of three sets of factors on diffusion.\ud \ud The results demonstrate that while the nationality of the parent firm and the way in which the multinational is configured have only modest effects on diffusion, the organisational conduits through which the diffusion of practices can occur are central to explaining variation between firms.

This article examines the restructuring process following a cross-border merger in the pharmaceuticals sector. We show how national industrial relations systems account for some aspects of cross-national differences in the process and outcomes of restructuring. However, we also argue that institutionalist approaches to comparative analysis must be complemented by a focus on the material interests of organizational actors and the resources that they can deploy.

This concluding chapter reviews the evidence gathered in the case studies, and contemplates their contribution to the understanding of country of origin, host country, sectoral, and global dominance effects in the management of human resources within US multinationals. It also suggests directions for future research in the area.

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.