The Ascendancy of Employment Arbitrators in US Employment Relations: A New Actor in the American System?

In this paper, we survey the underpinnings of the trend towards employment arbitration in the United States, and its implications for the broader industrial relations system. Specifically, we address the question of whether or not employment arbitrators have been substituted for collective bargaining by the government to an extent that warrants their inclusion as an actor in the industrial relations system. We review developments in workplace dispute resolution in the United States, the literature that attempts to explain these developments and posit an assessment of the stability of employment arbitration, and employment arbitrators, as a central feature of the US industrial relations system.     

Industrial Relations Systems and US Foreign Direct Investment Abroad

Five readily distinguishable industrial relations systems are identified based on differences in education levels, hourly compensation costs and various government and collective bargaining constraints placed on management's freedom to set the terms and conditions of employment. A model of foreign direct investment (FDI) that incorporates these key industrial relations variables is then specified and tested against US FDI across a sample of nine industries and 33 industrialized and developing countries. The industrial relations system variables significantly influence US FDI abroad. In particular, education is negatively related to FDI across low skill–low wage countries but is positively related to FDI across high skill–high wage countries. Higher hourly compensation costs (apparently capturing higher productivity) are associated with greater FDI. Whereas government restrictions on layoffs, union penetration and centralized negotiation structures are negatively related to US FDI, the ratification of ILO standards and works council policies are positively related to US FDI. Based on these findings, the FDI attractiveness of industrial relations systems are compared and policy implications discussed.     

Globalization and Industrial Relations in East Asia: A Three-Country Comparison

Globalization enhances competitiveness, both at the level of the firm and at the level of the nation. As observed in China, Malaysia, and Korea, this leads management and the state to adopt strategies designed to increase labor effectiveness to the benefit of capital. However, the effect of globalization on industrial relations procedures and substantive outcomes is contingent. Pressure for greater flexibility in the use of labor is ubiquitous, but the outcome is constrained by cultural norms valuing hierarchy and security. State strategies vary by historical circumstance, resource endowments, and internal political dynamics, including the influence of trade unions. While Malaysian industrial relations is heavily constrained by the discipline of high exposure to international capital, in China and Korea, major struggles are shaping the future of workplace and national labor market governance. Thus the extent and impact of globalization vary between countries, resulting in similar preoccupations by policymakers yet leading to variable responses and industrial relations outcomes.     

中国制造业的国际竞争力——基于网络型产业组织的分析

最近十多年来,外商直接投资(FDI)极大地促进了中国制造业的发展,制造业的快速扩张对行业国际竞争力的影响受到了越来越多的关注。本文运用网络型产业组织理论和实证方法,研究了中国大陆28个制造业行业国际竞争力及其决定因素。在2001—2007年间,网络型产业组织能够通过外资企业技术外溢效应和产业集聚提升中国大陆制造业行业国际竞争力。外商直接投资具有明显的外溢效应,产业集聚对国际竞争力也存在积极影响,但是人民币汇率、企业平均规模、经济开放度和研发支出未能增强国际竞争力,劳动力成本的上升没有削弱制造业行业国际竞争力。     

Annual Review Article 1994

This review examines trends in the economy and industrial relations in 1994 and goes on to consider the implications for unions of the continuing restructuring of organizations in the public and private sectors. The background is one of cyclical improvement in economic performance, with low inflation and strong growth feeding through to higher profit margins. Firms are shown to have enjoyed the benefits of the upturn with little pressure from labour for a greater share of the surplus. Unsurprisingly, employers have not generated much demand for further reform of the industrial relations system. Unions, on the other hand, have remained largely on the defensive, from a combination of job insecurity among their members, organizational constraints and political marginalization. Initiatives from the TUC show evidence of the union movement trying to develop a new set of strategies to break out of the spiral of decline.     

中国地区工业竞争力评价

工业竞争力是近年来学术界研究的一个重要领域。本文在对现有研究成果进行间要回顾的基础上，提出了一个衡量地区工业竞争力的基本理论框架，即地区工业竞争力是由市场影响力、工业增长力、资源配置力、结构转换力和工业创新力有机构成的综合体。根据这一基本理论框架，我们设计了一个简便的测度地区工业竞争力的综合评价指标体系，并据此对当前我国各地区的工业竞争力状况进行了初步评价，提出了增强地区工业竞争力的政策建议。     

The Rise of Experimentalism in German Collective Bargaining

This paper addresses the debate on union strategies by analysing industrial relations change in three of Germany's most internationalized sectors: chemicals, metalworking and construction. It characterizes two logics of change in German industrial relations: a battlefield logic and an experimentalist logic. It demonstrates historical trends towards centralization of wage bargaining in each sector before looking at recent pressures for decentralization and flexibility. In chemi‐cals, the social partners control decentralization. In metalworking increasing flexibility is characterized by a mismatch between the national‐level union and the district‐level employers. Finally, the construction union seeks to replace the centralized bargaining system with a state minimum wage.     

浙江产业集群创新网络跨区域重构研究

浙江产业集群近年来呈现出跨区域扩张的趋势,与此相适应,产业集群创新网络也面临着跨区域重构,进而实现创新资源的跨区域整合.基于产业集群的企业竞争,已不仅是集群产品(服务)层面的竞争,而是进入到了依托“产业集群创新网络”的全新产业链的竞争.本文首先剖析了产业集群创新网络的内涵及其特点,接着阐述了浙江产业集群跨区域创新网络的构建的动因以及途径,最后提出了具体的对策建议,以提升浙江产业集群的国际竞争力.     

Counterpoising Collectivism: Performance-related Pay and Industrial Relations in Greenfield Sites

This paper addresses some of the industrial relations ramifications of performance-related pay (PRP) using empirical data from both new and longer established firms in the Republic of Ireland. Particular emphasis is placed on the adoption of PRP systems based on performance appraisal and the implications of such systems for collectivism in industrial relations. The paper concludes that the diffusion of such systems is indicative of increasing employer attempts to individualize the employment relationship and exclude union penetration. It is further argued that such PRP systems, irrespective of the motivation for their establishment, undermine the essence of collectivism and solidarity in industrial relations.     

Industrial Relations Climate,Employee Voice and Managerial Attitudes to Unions: An Australian Study

This article examines how employee voice arrangements and managerial attitudes to unions shape employees' perceptions of the industrial relations climate, using data from the 2007 Australian Worker Representation and Participation Survey (AWRPS) of 1,022 employees. Controlling for a range of personal, job and workplace characteristics, regression analyses demonstrate that employees' perceptions of the industrial relations climate are more likely to be favourable if they have access to direct‐only voice arrangements. Where management is perceived by employees to oppose unions (in unionized workplaces), the industrial relations climate is more likely to be reported as poor. These findings have theoretical implications, and significant practical implications for employers, employees, unions and the government.     

Global marketing of industrial products: Are interpersonal relationships always critical?

The present paper examines the issue of whether interpersonal relationships are critical for global marketing of industrial products. The fields of relationship marketing, IMP group research, sales research, and network theory have stressed the importance of interpersonal relationships in the business-to-business or industrial marketing context. In contrast to this emphasis on interpersonal relationships, we argue that industrial firms can both conceive and enhance marketing strategies based on developing high quality and consistent processes, products, services or outcomes (consistent processes and outcomes). Such strategies are especially important given the fact that developing interpersonal relationships is expensive due to their reliance on frequent and/or face-to-face communications. In this paper, we examine industry and country contexts that lead to the choice of alternative industrial product marketing strategies and highlight some future research directions and managerial implications.     

The Union Response to International Corporations

The purpose of this paper has been to examine, on a pre-liminary basis, some of the implications of the international corporationunion interface for individual countries. It has been suggested that the impact of this interface will depend on the production strategy of the international corporation, the solidarity of the coalition of the unions in different countries, and the economic and political conditions prevailing in the individual countries. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the bargaining relationship between unions and international corporations, it is suggested that research will have to be conducted on the following topics: the industrial relations decision-making process of international firms, in particular the ways in which these firms react to international collective bargaining; the alternative strategies open to unions in international collective bargaining; the impact of international unionism and international firms on the industrial relations system of individual countries; the problems associated with international collective bargaining involving unions with different political ideologies; and the impact of international unionism on economic and political integration and the perception of national governments.     

论模块化生产网络的二重性——兼论其对中国企业的影响

理论界对模块化的研究百家争鸣,表明模块化及模块化生产网络存在丰富的二重属性。本文归纳了模块化生产网络的二重性,梳理了这种二重性对中国企业的影响,指出模块化既给中国企业带来了机遇,也构成了挑战。根据模块化生产网络内在的二重性因势利导,通过基于本土需求的产品建构创新来重塑生产网络,是提升中国企业的竞争力、实现产业链工序升级的重要途径。     

From Core to Periphery? Recent Developments in Employment Relations in the Philippines

We seek to describe recent developments in employment relations in the Philippines, placing these developments in the contexts of the distinctive elements of the Philippine social/political/industrial relations systems as well as the ongoing trade-based and functional integration of international markets and the recent regional economic crisis. We find that while some firms are pursuing functional flexibility and more cooperative employment relations, the logic of competition primarily has induced firms to adopt practices that promote numerical flexibility such that a core-periphery workforce is created. We argue that the labor movement in the Philippines has been hampered in its efforts to effectively counter employer strategies by its low density and fragmentation and an unfavorable public-policy environment; Philippine labor unions have, however, made some recent gains in organizing and interunion coordination. We also argue that the government has not done enough to counteract the negative effects of market integration on workers nor to evolve th e Philippines into a higher-value-added exporter.     

比较优势、FDI和民族产业国际竞争力——“中国制造”国际竞争力的脆弱性分析

在全球价值链背景下,吸收大量FDI虽然快速提升中国制造的国家产业国际竞争力,但民族产业国际竞争力的表现不尽如人意。因此,在欣喜中国制造出口取得骄人业绩的同时,我们更应清醒地认识到其国际竞争优势的脆弱性;在进一步扩大对外开放的同时,中国工业化仍将继续进行,积极做大做强民族制造企业才是根本之道。     

New technology and industrial relations

This article reviews recent studies of new technology and industrial relations and indicates four main areas for future research. The author concludes that more attention should be devoted to the technology itself, and that industrial relations research could usefully incorporate many recent insights and developments in industrial sociology .     

论提高我国国际市场竞争力的策略

文章分析了关于国际市场竞争的比较优势理论和竞争优势理论,结合中国现阶段各产业部门的实际情况,通过所获数据统计分析,指出中国应该实行以“竞争优势论”为指导的贸易战略,保护发展高新产业,选择性发展具有规模效应和比较优势的传统产业。在保持一般竞争力提高的同时,努力提高产品的市场垄断竞争力。     

Relationships of channel power, noncoercive influence strategies, climate, and solidarity: A real case study of the Taiwanese PDA industry

The management of channel relations has a significant impact on a firm's operational competitiveness; however, there is a lack of published research to better understand the linkages between channel relationships and channel power, noncoercive influence strategies, as well as channel climate and channel solidarity. This paper develops a model showing the linkages among these dimensions of channel relationships. Using linear structural relations (LISREL), a model of the Taiwanese personal digital assistant industry is developed to illustrate these interactions. The corresponding empirical test results indicate that channel climate has a significant impact on channel solidarity; however, this impact may be mitigated by both channel power and the use of noncoercive influence strategies. In addition, both mutual trust among channel members and continuity of the relationship have a positive influence on channel solidarity. Channel members with relatively more power appear able to determine the degree of channel solidarity through the use of effective noncoercive influence strategies.     

Rhetoric and Employment Relations

The term 'rhetoric' is widely utilized within writings on employment relations, typically to signify emptiness, manipulation or as a contrast with reality. This paper critiques such usage and argues for employment relations to engage with the discipline of rhetoric. In outlining the parameters of rhetorical analysis in relation to the indeterminacy of the employment relationship and significance of persuasion, it describes how rhetorical studies have featured within the field of industrial relations. The paper ends with a consideration of the social constructionist implications of focusing on discourse and on how rhetorical studies could be further developed.     

中国、美国在巴西市场的竞争性与互补性分析

近年来,巴西市场摆脱对发达国家市场的高度依赖,实施出口多元化战略具有越来越重要的意义。本文分析中、美对巴出口商品结构,利用显示性比较优势（RCA）、区域显示性比较优势（RRCA）和出口产品相似度等指数,实证研究中美在巴西市场的竞争性与互补性。结果表明,中美两国的比较优势具有一定相似性,在巴西出口产品的相似度也较高,在巴西市场中处于竞争关系。最后,从各类商品层面提出具体策略建议。