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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.

This paper compares Japanese and US multinational corporations (MNCs) on their deployment of human resource management (HRM) and employment relations (ER) practices within four countries. Debate about convergence is used to reconcile findings. The context is the shift from the dominance of the Japanese economy in the 1980s and early 1990s towards the renewed dominance of the US economy in more recent decades. We draw on data from representative, parallel surveys of MNCs operating in Canada, the UK, Spain and Australia to test a set of hypotheses examining similarities and differences between subsidiaries of Japanese and US MNCs in relation to management control across borders, remuneration, representation and worker involvement.The findings demonstrate that, despite the pressures of globalization, and the partial movement away from traditional Japanese management practices in Japan, there are clear country of origin effects for Japanese and American MNCs. Results indicate that Japanese and US MNCs behave differently in terms of the control that they exercise, with Japanese firms exhibiting a greater tendency to use personal forms of control in their foreign subsidiaries and a lower tendency to use procedural forms of control. In terms of HRM practices, Japanese MNCs are distinctive in relation to pay systems. For example, they are less likely than their US counterparts to use performance-related pay and, more likely, to adopt non-union representative structures in subsidiaries.In line with Kaufman (2016), we argue that the study’s findings provide evidence for the ‘converging divergence phenomenon’ in that both Japanese and US MNCs are adopting the most universal aspects of each other’s management practices and integrating them into their own unique systems of management in response to global market forces. We discuss the theoretical implications for the convergence and divergence of HRM and ER systems, and the development of such systems in Japanese and US MNC subsidiaries., Cet article compare le déploiement de pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines (GRH) et de relations de travail (RT) dans des multinationales japonaises et américaines présentes dans quatre pays. Le débat sur la convergence est utilisé afin d’analyser les résultats. Le contexte de cette étude est celui du passage de la domination de l’économie japonaise dans les années 1980 et au début des années 1990 à la domination accrue de l’économie américaine au cours des dernières décennies. Nous nous appuyons sur des données d’enquêtes représentatives menées parallèlement auprès de multinationales opérant au Canada, au Royaume-Uni, en Espagne et en Australie. Nous testons un ensemble d’hypothèses examinant les similarités et les différences entre les filiales de multinationales japonaises et américaines en matière de contrôle de gestion transfrontalier, de rémunération, de représentation et de participation des travailleurs.Les résultats démontrent que, malgré les pressions de la mondialisation et l’abandon partiel au Japon des pratiques de gestion traditionnelles japonaises, le pays d’origine a des effets manifestes dans le cas des multinationales japonaises et américaines. En effet, nos résultats montrent que les multinationales japonaises et américaines se comportent différemment en ce qui a trait au contrôle qu’elles exercent, les entreprises japonaises ayant une plus grande tendance à utiliser des formes de contrôle « en personne » dans leurs filiales étrangères et étant moins enclines à utiliser des formes de contrôle bureaucratique. En matière de pratiques de GRH, les multinationales japonaises se distinguent par leurs systèmes de rémunération. Ainsi, elles s’avèrent moins susceptibles que leurs homologues américains d’utiliser un système de rémunération lié à la performance et elles sont davantage enclines à adopter des structures sans représentation syndicale dans leurs filiales.À l’instar de Kaufman (2016), les résultats de notre étude apportent la preuve du phénomène de « divergence convergente », en ce sens que les multinationales japonaises et américaines adoptent les aspects les plus universels des pratiques de gestion des unes et des autres et les intègrent dans leurs propres systèmes de gestion en réponse aux forces du marché mondial. Nous discutons des implications théoriques de la convergence et de la divergence des systèmes de GRH et de RT, ainsi que du développement de ces systèmes dans les filiales japonaises et américaines des multinationales étudiées., Este documento compara las corporaciones multinacionales (MNC) japonesas y estadounidenses en su despliegue de prácticas de gestión de recursos humanos (HRM) y de relaciones laborales (RL) en cuatro países. Se utiliza el debate sobre la convergencia para conciliar las constataciones. El contexto es el cambio del dominio de la economía japonesa en la década de 1980 y principios de la década de 1990 hacia el dominio renovado de la economía estadounidense en las décadas más recientes. Recurrimos a datos de encuestas paralelas representativas de las multinacionales que operan en Canadá, el Reino Unido, España y Australia para corroborar un conjunto de hipótesis que examinan las similitudes y las diferencias entre las filiales de las multinacionales japonesas y estadounidenses en relación con el control de gestión transfronterizo, la remuneración, la representación y la participación de los trabajadores.Los resultados demuestran que, a pesar de las presiones de la globalización y el alejamiento parcial de las prácticas tradicionales de gestión japonesas en Japón, existen claros efectos del país de origen para las multinacionales japonesas y estadounidenses. Nuestras resultados demuestran que las empresas multinacionales japonesas y estadounidenses se comportan de manera diferente en términos del control que ejercen, y las empresas japonesas muestran una mayor tendencia a utilizar formas de control personal en sus filiales extranjeras y una menor tendencia a utilizar formas de control procesales. En términos de prácticas de gestión de recursos humanos, las multinacionales japonesas son distintivas en relación con los sistemas de pago. Por ejemplo, son menos propensos que sus contrapartes estadounidenses a utilizar la remuneración vinculada con el desempeño y, más predispuestas, a adoptar estructuras representativas no sindicales en las filiales.En concordancia con Kaufman (2016), argumentamos que los resultados del estudio proporcionan evidencia del fenómeno de divergencia convergente en el sentido de que tanto las multinacionales japonesas como las estadounidenses están adoptando los aspectos más universales de las prácticas de gestión de los demás e integrándolos en sus propios sistemas únicos de gestión en respuesta a las fuerzas del mercado global. Discutimos las implicaciones teóricas para la convergencia y divergencia de los sistemas de gestión de recursos humanos y RL, y el desarrollo de dichos sistemas en filiales delas multinacionales japonesas y estadounidenses.

Social innovation initiatives in multinational companies (MNCs) respond to societal issues and can contribute to sustainable development. They are often brought about by ‘social activists’ from within or connected to the firm. Drawing on in-depth research in MNCs, we identify two key practices and three types of skills used by social activists to drive these initiatives, enabling them to build stakeholder relationships and generate organizational buy-in. We offer a series of actionable insights that allow MNCs to better support social activists within and beyond the organization, thus enhancing social innovation activity.

While there is a growing literature concerned with multinational companies from emerging markets (EMNCs), it does not contain a robust conception of how institutions shape human resource (HR) practices in such firms. We contribute to filling this gap through developing a framework of how institutions create a range of constraints and opportunities for EMNCs. Specifically, our framework contains three key elements of how MNCs from emerging markets interact with institutions: EMNCs develop approaches that to some extent reflect the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the institutions in the home country (institutional conditioning); the strategies of actors in EMNCs can overcome the weaknesses of the home country by drawing on institutions in other countries (institutional arbitrage); and the actions of EMNCs can reinforce, or create pressures for change in, the institutional context in the countries in which they operate (institutional change / consolidation). By mapping this set of strategies of EMNCs, we contribute to a fuller understanding of the relationship between institutions and HR practices, and we outline how the rise of EMNCs reshapes the global landscape by adding new kinds of firm behavior to capitalist diversity.

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.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are important players in the diffusion of management ideas, knowledge, and norms across borders because of pressures to standardize practices as much as possible, while adapting to local differences as much as necessary. The international management literature increasingly highlights the important role of individuals within those MNCs in cross-border norm diffusion, but we still lack an integrated approach to these ‘globalizing actors’ and their activities. This chapter discusses international management research related to knowledge transfer in MNCs, international assignments, and global elites and considers its contributions and limitations in terms of aiding our understanding of globalizing actors in relation to management ideas. Arguing that this work holds important insights, but says little about how actors mobilize their skills and resources to navigate complex environments, the authors draw on a more diverse range of research to bring context and person back into focus.

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

It has frequently been argued that multinational companies are moving towards network forms whereby subsidiaries share different practices with the rest of the company. This paper presents large-scale empirical evidence concerning the extent to which subsidiaries input novel practices into the rest of the multinational. We investigate this in the field of human resources through analysis of a unique international data set in four host countries – Canada, Ireland, Spain and the UK – and address the question of how we can explain variation between subsidiaries in terms of whether they initiate the diffusion of practices to other subsidiaries. The data support the argument that multiple, rather than single, factor explanations are required to more effectively understand the factors promoting or retarding the diffusion of human resource practices within multinational companies. It emerges that national, corporate and functional contexts all matter. More specifically, actors at subsidiary level who seek to initiate diffusion appear to be differentially placed according to their national context, their place within corporate structures and the extent to which the human resource function is internationally networked.

This introductory article to the special issue insists on the need to examine the specific processes and means by which transnational corporations are currently establishing and increasing their power in society. Understanding power and politics in and around multinational corporations requires conceptual and empirical approaches able to address their transnational character, with their action embedded in multiple institutional environments, with hierarchies linking distant headquarters and subsidiaries and involving numerous actors with diverse interests, and with differing industrial relations contexts. Articles in this issue address three key questions: how do transnational corporations leverage their characteristics and organization in support of their own power? How do they interact with the different institutional environments in which they operate, and what power relations do these interactions imply? To what extent do they have the capacity to determine and apply their own rules, independently of established institutional regulations?

Despite the disappointing performance of international mergers and acquisitions and the widespread recognition that their success depends at least partly on how employees are managed during and after an acquisition, very few studies draw on employee accounts of how they are affected by ongoing restructuring and how much influence employees themselves have over this process. The omission is especially important because of the likely role that national institutions play in conditioning the way employees are affected by organizational change in the post-acquisition period. This article investigates employees’ perceptions of whether they experience voice and representation opportunities following an acquisition through analysis of a unique longitudinal and cross-national dataset that demonstrates national differences in this respect. Moreover, there are also national differences in how these perceptions change over time. We highlight the utility of drawing on employee accounts in longitudinal and comparative perspective, suggesting that this represents a fruitful way of breathing fresh life into the debate about convergence and divergence in HRM and employment relations.

Recent decades have seen a sustained interest among international business and management scholars in multinational corporations’ (MNCs) responses to institutional environments in host countries. T...

This paper addresses processes of global norm-making concerning the nature of work within multinational companies. We develop a framework for analysing the relations between formal and informal ele...

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.

This study examines changing employment brands in the context of a multinational acquisition, specifically the implications for current employees. Using a sample (N = 251) from both the acquired and acquiring workforces, employees are tracked across 12 months following acquisition. The study explores predictors of identification with the acquiring organization, intent to quit, and discretionary effort. We focus on employment brandrelated predictors, specifically perceptions linked to the provision of unique employment experiences, organizational identity strength, perceived prestige, and judgments of whether the acquiring organization acts in accordance with its corporate identity claims. The study showed that perceptions of prestige immediately after acquisition predict identification 12 months hence, as do judgments of whether the organization acts in accordance with its corporate social responsibilitybased corporate identity claims. These judgments also predict subsequent levels of discretionary effort and long-term intent to leave, as do perceptions linked to the provision of unique employment experiences. Perceived change in these unique employment experiences is also related to change in identification and intent to leave across time. Importantly, these elements have a varied effect on the adjustment outcomes when comparing the two workforces.

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.

Drawing on a dataset constructed from a parallel series of nationally representative surveys of multinational companies (MNCs), we compare the performance management (PM) practices of MNCs in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Spain, Denmark and Norway. In each country we analyze data relating to MNCs from that country and of the foreign affiliates of US MNCs. We argue that there is evidence of standardization in the nature of practices across countries, particularly evident in the analysis of US MNCs. Standardization of practices among MNCs is also evident in the rather limited variation in practices between US and indigenous MNCs within each country. Moreover, even where there is evidence of variation across and within countries, this cannot be fully explained by adaptation to local institutional constraints but rather can be seen as the product of how distinct national contexts can promote the take-up of practices. The project was supported by a number of funding bodies and research centres: Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (the SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiatives, Initiatives on the New Economy and International Opportunities Fund), the Fonds québécois de recherché sur la société et la culture (Équipes and Regroupements stratégiques), the Canada Research Chair on Globalization and Work, the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT); Ireland’s Labour Relations Commission, the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Limerick Research Office; Spain’s Ministries of Education and Science (Ref. SEJ2007-03096, Award 01/0010/2006) and Science and Innovation (Ref: ECO2009-10287), the Directorate-General for Scientific Investigation of the Madrid region (Award 06/0009/2000), the BBVA Foundation (Ref. 216/06), the Autonomous University of Madrid/Banco Santander (Ref: CEAL-AL/2011-28), IESE Business School; the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (Awards RES-000-23-0305 and RES-062-23-2080); Danish Research Council for Independent Research (FSE) (Ref. 275-09-0146); and the European Commission’s International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (FP7 IRSES-GA-2008-230854 – INTREPID)

A particular approach to epistemological action as ‘critical praxis’ is proposed where we bring together the ideas of ideology critique, self-reflective consciousness and emancipatory action. Critical praxis for educators seeks to move beyond the constraints of formal teaching, knowledge and curriculum and instead encourages communities, teachers and students to work together in producing new understandings and practices for the public good. As teacher educators, we are attempting to design a research methodology that will enable our field of practice to be theorised and to encourage a movement towards new critical understandings of teaching and learning for our students and for ourselves. This is a process of reflexive practice that endeavours to constantly and systematically interrogate our own views and to move beyond the status quo of conservative educational systems, procedures and rigidities so that knowledge is a legitimate investigation of possibility and transformation. In this article, we report...

Teacher education is in a state of uncertainty around the world including the more wealthy and less wealthy countries. If it is generally accepted that teacher education can make a difference in the educational lives of all students regardless of cultural and educational background, then how exactly to arrange the detail of schooling is not. Under particular circumstances, schooling that is primarily concerned with reproducing the values and practices of the market economy and privileged minority, suggests that most likely teacher education will submit to economic power and not make a difference. Schooling of this type participates in the rearticulation and sometimes further penetration of social hegemonic practice. On the other hand, if schooling within the dominate economy and values sets about establishing the conditions whereby the majority of students are encouraged to investigate significant knowledge, social constructs and cultural scaffolds critically, imaginatively and independently then teacher education structured in the same way can make a difference, contributing to authentic community building and social change. Drawing inspiration from the work of Paulo Freire, this paper describes the efforts of teacher education in Australia grappling with these tensions and contradictions within the constraints of university and school requirements, as well as a strongly neoliberal economy. It briefly outlines a history of partnership-based and practice-based pre-service teacher education that has generated support for on-site approaches of various types. Moving beyond Pedagogical Content Knowledge, the paper explores the conditions for a new concept of philosophical project knowledge that theorises teacher education as learning through social action and partnerships between communities, schools and universities. In this way, education is seen as a democratic right and a process of liberation for all citizens especially those marginalised and excluded within a market economy.

Working within the general framework of Habermas and Shulman, the research reported here probes new directions of teacher education and school–university partnerships. The paper presents preliminary evidence of the theorising of teaching practice by pre-service teachers and university staff as they work together with the praxis inquiry protocol and preliminary data regarding the generation of Philosophical Project Knowledge. The project attempts to open up the question of epistemological equity for lower socio-economic children in particular by describing and theorising practice involving pre-service teachers so that communities of practice are established in all classrooms. The research stance is one of democratic practitioner research so that generalised ideas emerge from professional practice and are embedded in the reality of classroom problems and experience. In adopting a general research methodology of autoethnography, the authors critically reflect on, analyse and change their own practice without...

This study examined factors influencing whether acquired employees identify with their acquirer and the complex role that the different types of continuity play in moderating relationships between procedural justice and post-acquisition identification. Data were obtained (n = 156) from a three-country sample of employees working for a recently acquired multinational. Multiple regressions showed that expected job continuity moderated the relationship between acquirer procedural justice and post-acquisition identification. Analysis examined combinations of two organisational identity-related continuity forms (organisational similarity and acquirer organisational identity); results showed complex interactional effects of organisational similarity and acquirer organisational identity on the relationship between justice and identification with the acquirer.

In this article we demonstrate that the literature concerning multinational companies (MNCs) and employment relations has failed to develop a convincing explanation of variation in the extent to which MNCs develop a global element to the management of their international workforces. We argue that whether MNCs have an incentive to develop international human resource policies is shaped by the extent and nature of international integration, which we define as the commonalities and inter-dependencies in the production process across borders. In particular, we identify three aspects of the integration of MNCs that are crucial in this respect: whether the firm pursues financial economies or synergistic linkages from its international operations; whether it segments or replicates its operations across countries; and whether it standardises or differentiates its product internationally. Copyright The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

It is now nearly thirty years since Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative administration introduced the Assisted Places Scheme (their first education policy) and over ten years since New Labour abolished it. The Scheme, which was designed to provide a ladder of opportunity for academically able students from poor backgrounds to attend private schools, is of more than historical interest. It can be used to illuminate enduring sociological concerns about the relationship between home and school. This paper draws on retrospective interview data to reveal how the Scheme was experienced by its more disadvantaged beneficiaries. Revisiting classic sociological analyses from the 1960s and 1970s, it unravels the complex interactions between home background, friendship networks and school cultures and shows how these contributed to contrasting experiences of commitment, detachment, estrangement and alienation. These differing modes of engagement with schooling appear to have had lasting effects on our respondents and influenced their subsequent careers and orientations.

This paper examines the phenomenon of ‘reverse diffusion’ of HR practices in multinational companies, defined as the diffusion of practices from the foreign operations of MNCs to the home country. Drawing on research incorporating fieldwork in the British and German subsidiaries of US-based multinationals, we identify sources of variation in the incidence of reverse diffusion both between firms and between subsidiaries of the same firm.

Lessons and solutions learned from the forensic investigation of corrosion failures need to be applied throughout the lifecycle of structures. Avoiding misplaced solutions during both design and operating phases relies upon a disciplined and professional forensic approach for all corrosion failure investigations. This paper sets out the elements of the approach and explains how lessons can be learned to prevent future corrosion failures. In particular it describes the macroscopic and microscopic methods required for accurate identification of corrosion failure mechanisms and successful root-cause analysis.

The article combines consideration of the range of contextual factors that impact on management strategy and HR in the post-merger period (such as corporate structures and cultures, pressures from shareholders and regulatory and legal environments at national and international level) with an examination of the interests and power of various groups of actors within the firm. Specifically, we apply a framework which integrates the insights of market-based, institutionalist and micro-political approaches. We locate our analysis within the relevant international HRM literature, most notably recent debates concerning multinational corporation (MNC) merger dynamics. International mergers and acquisitions provide particularly useful scenarios through which to explore the interdependence between choice and constraint, illustrated here by processes of negotiation, compromise and balance across a range of issues in several case study organisations. The key areas highlighted concern: (1) the integration of HR strategies, and (2) processes of post-merger rationalisation.

Olive Banks’ study of the sharp contrasts of ‘parity and prestige’ in English secondary education was published when sociological study of education was only beginning in Britain. It fitted neatly into that study’s preoccupation with the interactions of social class, educational opportunity and social mobility. This paper is not an updating of her analysis, but an application of her perspective to some later manifestations of those interactions. It considers in particular the continuing market value of traditional academic schooling, the continued segregation of educational routes, and the ‘waste’ of ability through ‘modernised’ forms of social selection.

Manuscript Type: Conceptual Research Question/Issue: In this paper we address two research questions. First, to what extent has Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) developed unevenly across countries with different corporate governance systems and how might we explain this? Second, what consequences does its uneven development have for human resource management (HRM)? Research Findings/Insights: We map the nature and extent of SRI equities across five industrialized countries – Germany, Japan, the UK, the US and Australia. We find that differences between the institutional, corporate governance and cultural characteristics of national business systems explain variations in the size and significance of SRI across countries. We also find that SRI has an impact on HRM in institutional contexts such as where its influence is complemented by strong employee voice institutions. Theoretical/Academic Implications: The notion of “institutional complementarities,” within and across spheres of a corporate governance system is a useful theoretical lens for understanding the varied impact of SRI across different corporate governance systems. Further, future studies of HRM will need to consider the heterodox pressures produced by SRI that may influence its conduct. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Implications for SRI fund managers are considered, especially how they might use the notion of institutional complementarities to help in their investment decisions and in the impact they can exert. Specifically SRI funds are likely to be more effective where they can form alliances with other existing bodies or where they spur the development of such bodies. The implications for other actors in HRM and corporate governance are also considered.

This article examines the transfer of employment practices across borders within multinational companies. We contrast market-based, cross-national comparative and micro-political perspectives on this issue and argue for an integrated approach that focuses on interrelationships between markets and institutions on the one hand and the material interests of actors on the other. We develop this argument using data from a multi-level case study of a multinational in the US and Britain.

© 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