The impact of culture on HRM styles and firm performance: evidence from Japanese parents,Japanese subsidiaries/joint ventures and South Asian local companies

This paper investigates national and organizational cultural influences among managers in three types of companies: Japanese companies in Japan, South Asian domestic companies and Japanese subsidiaries/joint ventures in South Asia. The findings suggest that a Japanese parent company's culture tends to have a much stronger influence with Japanese companies operating in Japan. Japanese parent company culture tends to have less influence than the South Asian national culture in shaping the HRM styles and practices in Japanese subsidiaries/joint ventures operating in South Asia. While some South Asian firms are in the initial stages of learning about participative HRM from foreign companies, most still tend to maintain their national culture and traditional ways in the operating systems of their organizations.     

The ‘country-of-origin effect’ in employee turnover intention: evidence from China

The increasing presence of foreign direct investment in China has boosted the competition for talent among different multinational corporations (MNCs) from diverse national backgrounds. This article investigates the differences in the human resource management (HRM) approaches adopted by the US, European, and Japanese MNC subsidiaries operating in China and explores the relationships between employees' perceptions toward the HRM approaches and turnover intention. Significant differences in the HRM approaches and employees' level of turnover intention were found, indicating a ‘country-of-origin effect’ in HRM approaches that subsequently influences employees' attitudes. In addition, this article produces evidence suggesting that the perception of HRM characteristics predicts employees' intentions to quit. Implications for HRM convergence or divergence debate are discussed.     

Engaging employees in company success: The UPS approach to a winning team

UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and a leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services. One of the company's missions is to maintain a financially sound company, with broad employee ownership, that offers a long‐term competitive return to shareowners. This ownership culture is demonstrated through ownership guidelines for managers and supervisors as well as several employee stock programs. The ownership culture is vigorously promoted throughout UPS by a variety of communication channels. Employee ownership is core to the UPS culture, and it translates into a strong work ethic, with employees engaged in growing the business and committed to the company's success. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Modeling the performance of US direct investment in Japan: Some empirical estimates

Foreign firms' direct investments in Japan increased from about $930 million in 1984 to $2.2 billion in 1987, and are still increasing at a rapid rate. Most of these investments come from the United States and Europe. In this paper a short-run model for the performance of a foreign parent firm's subsidiary in Japan is presented. The model is based on theories presented by Hymer, Caves, Buckley and Casson, among others, and consists of two equations: one for profitability and the other for growth. Duality is used to relate a parent firm's activities to its subsidiary firm's profitability. The model is estimated using data for US firms' subsidiaries in the Japanese chemical industry. We find that for jointly owned subsidiaries (joint ventures), imports from US parent firms and the R&D spending by both US and Japanese parent firms are major determinants of profitability and growth. US firms' fully owned subsidiaries, however, exhibit considerably different profit and growth behavior than their jointly owned counterparts. Because of the small sample sizes used, it is not possible to ascertain the sources of the observed differences.     

Management and employee involvement in achieving an environmental action-based competitive advantage: an empirical study

The objective of this work is to conduct an empirical study that shows whether certain management and human resource factors influence the achievement of an environmental action-based competitive advantage in a company. To this end, we have taken a sample of 110 factories. Management's deep involvement and its strategic integration, as well as employee motivation and participation, have a positive impact on the achievement of an environmental action-based competitive advantage in a company.     

The influence of individual characteristics,plan characteristics and work-related factors on salaried employees' attitudes towards profit sharing: a Canadian case

We examined the influence of individual and plan characteristics and work-related factors on salaried employees' attitudes towards profit sharing. Employees who were committed to their company, had a high work ethic, did not feel there should be a guaranteed minimum pay-out and who believed that there was a connection between exerting effort and their job performance as well as between their own performance and profit-sharing pay-outs had a more favourable attitude towards profit sharing in general. Employees who were committed to their company, had greater knowledge of their company's profit-sharing plan, preferred the cash bonus distribution scheme and believed there was a connection between their own performance and profit-sharing pay-outs had a more favourable attitude towards their company's profit-sharing plan. The results suggest that individual characteristics and work-related factors are as important to the successful implementation of a profit-sharing plan as the features of the plan itself.     

Operations change interactions in a service environment: Attitudes,behaviors, and profitability

An attitudinal and behavioral change program was developed and implemented in a service operations function. Changes were (1) stabilizing operations management (reducing turnover) and (2) improving attitudes and behaviors of employees with strong union affiliations in a common carrier trucking terminal when compared to similar employees in a control terminal undergoing no planned change. Management turnover was reduced. Other results from the eighteen-month longitudinal study indicated that employee attitudes in both groups remained negative toward work, management, and the company throughout the study period. Behaviors relating to attitudes — particularly turnover, absenteeism, and accident rates—improved at the experimental terminal, even though expressed attitudes remained negative. Operating efficiencies and profitability improved at the experimental terminal. It was found that these employees, pick-up and delivery drivers, retain positive attitudes toward customers and customers the same toward them, in spite of the drivers' negative attitudes toward the company. The operative service employee appeared to discriminate between attitudes toward the company and the customer; the drivers' negative attiudes toward most everything (except the customer) not affecting the customer's perceptions of the driver or the company.     

Societal institutions and HRM practices: an analysis of four European multinational subsidiaries in Bangladesh

Using the ‘societal-effect’ approach, a variant of the institutional theory developed and tested in Europe, this study investigates the impact of societal institutions on human resource management (HRM) practices of European multinational subsidiaries in Bangladesh, which is now on the list of the Next-11 economies of the world. In-depth case studies of four European multinational subsidiaries revealed the presence of different degrees of influence – partly attributable to societal effect – on the human resource practices of these subsidiaries. Our study added a new dimension to the interface between the strong and weak institutions and how such interfacing accords both legitimacy and reverse legitimacy to MNC subsidiaries and their societal institutions respectively. Another interesting finding of the study is the emergence of political system as a societal institution and, hence, a determinant of HRM practices in these subsidiaries. The study's implications are given.     

Promotion systems and career development in Thailand: a case study of Siam Cement

This paper examines the promotion systems and career development of managers of Siam Cement Public Company Limited, the largest manufacturing conglomerate in Thailand. Since the 1980s, the company has grown into a full-blown conglomerate and is widely considered to be Thailand's most modernized corporation. In the aftermath of the 1997–8 Asian crisis, the meltdown forced the company and other debt-addicted business groups to streamline their debts and organization structures drastically. However, just five years later, the company had bounced back into profitability and first-class corporate governance, and stands firmly in the front rank. Undoubtedly, the company's successful recovery and its current strengths have been driven by the capability and dedication of its managers. This paper focuses on interviews with the company's personnel managers during 1999–2001, and on the personnel profiles of 128 managers (general manager level), in order to examine Siam Cement's human resource management policies and practices, and to draw from this its overall strategies for the development of managerial careers. The main finding was that well-planned recruitment, competitive promotion, concrete performance appraisal and wide-ranging training and development programmes, including job rotation and sending managers to study abroad, are all essential career development strategies.     

The effects of network groups on minority employee turnover intentions

Companies in the United States are concerned with retaining minority employees to maintain or increase the diversity of their workforce. Here we assess the value of one approach companies have used to retain minority employees: “network” groups. Based on data obtained from a large company with extensive network groups, this study compares the turnover intentions of minority employees who have joined one of the company's network groups to those who have not joined one of the company's network groups. The data show that employee network groups can be useful in helping companies retain managerial‐level minority employees. Extensive recommendations are provided to help organizations maximize the effectiveness of network groups. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effect of corporate-level organizational factors on the transfer of human resource management practices: European and US MNCs and their Greek subsidiaries

One of the central questions in the literature on MNCs is the extent to which their subsidiaries act and behave as local firms (local isomorphism) versus the extent to which their practices resemble those of the parent company or some other global standard (internal consistency). Drawing on the resource-based view and resource-dependency theory, this paper aims to provide an insight into the interplay of several corporate-level organizational factors that affect the transfer of HRM practices across borders. Data collected from 80 European and US multinationals with subsidiaries in Greece are used to test specific hypotheses. Our results indicate that the level of importance attached to HRM by the MNC's top management and international experience have the highest explanatory power for the transfer of HRM practices, while international competitive strategy, informal control and the presence of expatriates also have a marginally significant influence.     

BRITISH EMPLOYEES: RESPONDING TO JAPANESE MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES

Japan's industrial success has opened new opportunities in the area of business research and has generated particular interest in 'the Japanese way of doing things'. One specific area of concern has been that of job satisfaction and its relation to productive achievement. The study carried out in the United Kingdom involving one American, two ideally-matched Japanese subsidiaries and one British company, all involved in television manufacturing, refutes certain stereotypes about Japanese management. First, the study revealed that the two Japanese companies employed distinct personnel policies which were reflected in the differences in job satisfaction registered by their employees. Second, it showed that the paternalistic personnel policies instituted by one Japanese company were not preconditions for its high productive achievement but, selectively applied, generated appreciative feelings among its British work-force.     

Varieties and variability of employee relations approaches in US subsidiaries: country-of-origin effects and the level and type of industry internationalisation

This article investigates the relative importance and variability of the country-of-origin effect in employee relations approaches of US subsidiaries within the context of diversity of employee relations patterns in home- and host-country business systems and the influence of important industry forces. It is based on a representative survey of US subsidiaries and indigenous firms in the UK. The cross-sectional comparison with indigenous UK firms confirmed a distinct US country-of-origin imprint in employee relations patterns in US subsidiaries. However, the magnitude of such an effect cautions against assumptions of popular stereotypes and reflects, inter alia, the diversity of employee relations approaches among US parent companies as well as developments in the UK industrial relations landscape over the last decades. The intra-US analysis revealed the importance of both the level and type of industry internationalisation in shaping the strength and nature of the country-of-origin influence. On the basis of the findings, the article highlights lessons to be learned for the study of cross-border policy-transfer issues in MNCs.     

公司管理层权力与银行信贷融资决策

运用中国上市公司2010—2013年相关数据,考察公司管理层权力与公司融资结构及银行信贷资源配置,结果显示：公司的管理层结构及高管层权力是公司融资政策选择和银行信贷资源配置的重要动因,公司管理层权力越大,管理层向银行借入短期借款越多,公司管理层权力与短期借款结构正相关。在债务约束效应下,管理层可能会出于个人任期和控制权私利的原因做出影响公司融资决策的行为,在公司银行信贷融资中表现为银行信贷融资规模与公司管理层权力呈现负相关关系,即管理层权力越大,公司配置的银行信贷资源越少;同时,公司管理层权力中结构权力与所有者权力对公司信贷决策有重要影响。     

Advancing environmental productivity: Organizational mindfulness and strategies

This study investigates the importance of mindfulness‐based organization systems and policies on the organization's continuous efforts to become a greener company. The study is devised as a pooled cross‐sectional time series analysis of productivity in energy consumption, water utilization, and waste generation and recycling of U.S. companies. The data set taken from U.S. Newsweek 500 recorded 600 companies dispersed into 63 industries during the period of 2012–2014 and provided 1,498 company–industry–year observations. The study found that systems and policies (e.g., deployment of third‐party auditors for its environmental metrics report; linkage of the remuneration of company's senior executive team with the achievement of environmental performance targets; and establishment of a committee at the Board of Directors' level whose mandate includes sustainability of the company in environment‐ and resource‐related matters) connect the company's mindfulness to its effort in improving the environmental quality through the company's productivity in energy consumption, water utilization, and waste generation and recycling. The relationships are positive and significant. Also, systems and policies serve as a motivator for the firm to continue to improve upon the current achievements. The study emphasizes the importance of translating organizational and individual mindfulness into organization policies and systems in order to motivate the organization to continuously improve its productivity in energy consumption, water utilization, and waste generation and recycling leading to improvements in environmental quality.     

Employee retention: The secrets behind Wal‐Mart's successful hiring policies

One of the major concerns of any corporation, particularly a high‐growth business, is employee retention. Without minimizing the importance of roles such as compliance, diversity, compensation, and benefits, if the basic exercise of getting, keeping, and growing a company's talent is done well, the other HR functions will reflect this excellence. This article demonstrates Wal‐Mart's exceptional program for obtaining and retaining its employees and helping them grow within the company. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A comparative study of human resource management practices in international joint ventures: the impact of national origin

This paper presents a comparative study of the effects of national origin, a company's strategic orientation and its investment profile on preference for the application of human resource management (HRM) practices as conducted in international joint ventures (IJVs). The approach extends understanding by offering a broader exploration of how national differences generate additional barriers that impact on specific HRM practices. The evidence from the study presented suggests that there is little support for national origin being a major independent influence. National distinctiveness does define the types of integration between parent companies and IJVs, but these collaborations do not necessarily reflect any specific national institutional bias. Examination of eighty-seven IJVs suggests that IJV management has a high degree of organizational autonomy in the implementation of a company's task-related inputs regardless of the national background of the foreign partner. The presence of a company's task-related effects on HRM practices plays a significant contextual role where the major attributes are the technology, management development and the compatible use of an IJV's resources. The results confirm that there is little evidence to suggest that partner-related influences derived from the partners' complementary resources and competences in the field of HRM development that are national origin specific have had significant influence over HRM development in the IJVs studied.     

Antecedents of commitment to a parent company and to a local operation: empirical evidence from western employees working for multinational companies in Vietnam

Rising business of multinational companies in Asia has been paralleled with an increase in the number of western expatriates sent overseas. This has created challenges for the multinational companies as how to develop dual commitment of these expatriates to the parent companies and to the local operations during international assignments. In this study, we simultaneously examined the nature of dual organizational commitment among 254 western expatriates currently working for the subsidiaries of the multinational companies in Vietnam, and investigated specific antecedents of the dual commitment by using multi-dimensional approach. The results confirmed the existence of two distinct commitment foci and proved that the commitment to a parent company was stronger than that to a local operation. Tenure in a parent company, clarity of repatriation process, promotion and compensation were responsible for the differences in level of commitments with regard to two foci. While promotion, compensation and clarity of repatriation process more significantly predicted components of parent company commitment, pre-departure training was more associated with components of local operation commitment. Pre-departure training, promotion, compensation and transformational leadership were primarily indicated to predict dual commitment in terms of high levels to both foci. The results were discussed in the light of dual commitment and international human resource management.     

Multinational Management Strategy and Human Resource Decision Making In the Single European Market*

There has been considerable academic interest in the consequences of European integration for multinational companies and their subsidiaries, and the co-ordination and control of human resource decision making. Against the backdrop of this debate, this paper examines the impact of European integration on management organization and human resource decision making in 13 British multinational companies. Although there were partial moves towards the development of European managers, a European-wide approach to human resource matters was not yet a conspicuous feature of this sample of multinationals. the global preoccupations of the companies, as well as the persistence of national variations in consumer markets and modes of product regulation, were clearly major constraints on the emergence of European forms of corporate organization and underpinned the lack of enthusiasm for distinctively European approaches to employee management.     

Positive effects of ageing and age diversity in innovative companies – large‐scale empirical evidence on company productivity

This article investigates how age diversity within a company's workforce affects company productivity. It introduces a theoretical framework that helps integrate results from a broad disciplinary spectrum of ageing and diversity research to derive empirically testable hypotheses on the effects of age diversity on company productivity. It argues that first the balance between costs and benefits of diversity determines the effect of age diversity on company productivity, and that second the type of task performed acts as a moderator. To test these hypotheses, it uses a large‐scale employer–employee panel data set. Results show that increasing age diversity has a positive effect on company productivity if and only if a company engages in creative rather than routine tasks.