An Attitudinal Revolution in Irish Industrial Relations: The End of ‘Them and Us’?

Intensified international competition and high unemployment have characterized many Western economies since 1980. A firm's survival in such an environment demands a flexible and co-operative work-force, a requirement incompatible with traditional adversarial industrial relations. Drawing on a survey of employees in nine unionized companies in the Irish manufacturing sector, this paper examines the effect of these changes in the economy and workplace in facilitating a significant reduction in 'them and us' attitudes and an associated weakening of union structure and influence in the workplace. We found no evidence of a reduction in 'them and us' attitudes, but a cohesive and influential union was associated with less intense 'them and us'.     

‘Trojan horse’ or ‘Workhorse’? the evolution of U.S.–Japanese joint ventures in the United States

Foreign investors and their domestic joint venture partners must find ways to share the benefits of the venture if both sides are to be satisfied. Some work in the literature on joint ventures has asserted that there is a danger in all joint ventures, and especially joint ventures with Japanese, that one side will exploit the venture for its own gain, using it as a Trojan Horse. To test this assertion, we build a full data set of Japanese firms with joint ventures in the United States and track the ventures over time. Our data show that the Japanese partners do not take actions consistent with the Trojan Horse hypothesis. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘From boom to where?’: the impact of crisis on work and employment in Indian BPO

This article locates Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) within the global supply chains of business services delivery and an international division of service labour. It acknowledges the BPO market's essential dependence on demand from lead firms in the United States and United Kingdom. Drawing on a conceptual synthesis of the Global Commodity Chain, Global Value Chain and Global Production Network frameworks, the article examines the impact of 2008's financial crisis on employment, work organisation and the experience of work in Indian BPO. Employer/industry sources and employee interviews reveal reconfigured local labour market dynamics, tightened work discipline, an extensification of working time, work intensification and unprecedented growth in job insecurity. Such changed characteristics suggest a watershed that raises questions concerning the sustainability of models of BPO work constructed in pre‐crisis years.     

A ‘Copernican Revolution’ in French Industrial Relations: Are the Times a’ Changing?

In 1998 and 1999 France passed the sixth and seventh laws in seventeen years affecting working time. They offered financial incentives to firms signing collective agreements that created or protected jobs and cut the legal working week from 39 to 35 hours from 1 January 2000. Early evidence suggests that while their direct job creation effect is limited they are moderating wage settlements and leading to more flexible working patterns. In this paper I situate the new hour laws within the long historical tradition of state political intervention over working time and argue that this remains a key element in reforming French industrial relations.     

‘Meet the New Boss … Same as the Old boss?’ Technology,toil and tension in the agrofuel frontier

Agrofuels are increasingly sourced and sold as a socially and environmentally beneficial solution to oil dependence. The promotion of sugar‐derived ethanol as a substitute for petroleum has thus been key to state development and international trade policies by Brazil and the European Union, respectively, and subsequent investment by leading energy and food transnational corporations has transformed socio‐spatial relations in the new sites of production. Brazilian rural worker testimonies, however, point to large‐scale labour exclusion rather than reform and a deepening, rather than disruption, of historic power inequalities in the sector. Labour contestation challenges a converging institutional discourse of responsible technological innovation and social upgrading associated with emerging commodity chains and the ‘green’ economy. Although corporate and statutory response has been market‐orientated certification and ‘more technology’ the idea of the ‘techno‐institutional fix’ provides a power relation‐attentive analysis that invites the further exploration of socially committed alternatives to food and energy production.     

Entrapped by the ‘electronic panopticon’? Worker resistance in the call centre

This article presents a thoroughgoing critique of Fernie and Metcalf's perspective, that the call centre is characterised by the operation of an 'electronic panopticon' in which supervisory power has been 'rendered perfect'. Drawing on evidence from a telecommunications call centre the authors analyse the significance of emerging forms of employee resistance.     

Mapping moral philosophies: strategic implications for multinational firms

Strategic managers appear increasingly under pressure from stakeholder concerns regarding social and ethical issues. Partially in response, the supply of ethical decision‐making models has grown rapidly. Business ethics scholars have broadened their scope to incorporate moral philosophies into their research endeavors. Despite these positive trends, the international focus of business ethics research has been slow to evolve. Yet, diverse moral philosophies, often most apparent across international borders, have important strategic implications for multinational firms. The ethical norms pursued by cross‐cultural alliance partners, distributors, suppliers, customers, financiers, and foreign government agencies can create public relations disasters, foster shareholder unrest, lead to consumer boycotts, and impact organizational outcomes. We seek to rectify the deficiency in international business ethics scholarship with two distinct contributions. First, we develop a new cross‐cultural, macro‐level model of societal ethics. Second, we map moral philosophies onto an established framework for assessing socioeconomic environments. These theoretical tools should assist managers of multinational organizations, international policy‐makers, and researchers to recognize and prepare for the ethical consequences of international strategic decisions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.