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.     

Do Industrial Relations Institutions Influence Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence from OECD Nations

The potential impact of industrial relations institutions on economic outcomes has been a key element in analyzing the governing of the global workplace. We present case information and analysis that show that there are trade‐offs between higher levels of economic outcomes and greater equity and employee voice associated with more and deeper labor market institutions. The estimates from the model show the impact of industrial relations system policies within a nation on a country's foreign direct investment (FDI) from other nations for the period 1985 through 2000 using data from nations that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD). Examples of the impact of major transformations in national industrial relations systems on FDI for UK and New Zealand also are presented. Our results show that higher levels of industrial relations institutions from the firms’ perspective are usually associated with lower levels of FDI.     

Institutions Are What Actors Make of Them — The Changing Construction of Firm‐Level Employment Relations in Spain

This article analyses the variation and change in firm‐level employment relations in Spain between the transition to democracy and the global financial crisis. Using three auto companies as case studies, I address a crucial puzzle in the institutional literature on comparative employment relations: How do employment relations change and vary, even when national employment relations institutions do not? This article argues that differences in actor ideologies shape the construction of national institutions at the firm level, which explains change and variation of employment relations over time and across cases. The study identifies four drivers of ideological change — generational change, leadership change, identity work and diffusion — that impact the variation and change in employment relations at the firm level.     

Workplace Industrial Relations 25 Years after Donovan: An Employer View

Some common management themes of the 1980s can be traced to Donovan and are revealed in practice by the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The paper considers the relevance of factors not endorsed by Donovan and concludes that, while in terms of industrial action in manufacturing — the focus of concern in the mid-1960s — there is evidence that more order and responsibility has been injected into industrial relations at plant level, we cannot yet maintain that inflationary dangers have been overcome. Collective bargaining is, however, now revealed as affecting only a minority in the private sector, and public services behaviour looks increasingly out of step. The paper suggests that future surveys may therefore need to be recast to capture changing patterns of employer – employee relationships and their links to economic success.     

International Political Economy and Industrial Relations

The field of international political economy offers valuable insights into global economic integration, trade liberalization, global governance and the nature and activities of international organizations and regimes. Despite their impact on industrial relations, industrial relations theory has not wholeheartedly engaged with these phenomena or this sister field. This paper argues that the field of international political economy offers much to industrial relations, particularly in terms of understanding the nature and impact of internationalization and emerging global governance. The potential in a closer relationship between the two fields is illustrated by the example of the international labour standards regime and its principal organization, the International Labour Organisation.     

工业发展阶段性变化的国际经验及规律研究

纵观各工业化国家的发展历程,虽然由于本国国情和外部环境的不同导致其工业化道路千差万别,但在工业发展过程中存在着一定的共同特征.通过对具有先行优势的老牌工业国家和充分挖掘后发优势、成功实现工业化的赶超型国家工业发展的规律分析可知,一国工业发展到一定程度会出现明显的现阶段性变化.从工业总量的阶段性变化看,工业占比会经历由低到高再降低的倒“U”型转变;从工业结构的阶段性变化看,工业发展会经历由轻工业向重化工业再向高加工度工业的转变;从能源消耗的阶段性变化看,工业能耗会经历由低到高再逐渐降低的转变.通过对相关国际经验和规律的把握和深化认识,对于我国未来工业发展和经济结构转型具有重要的启示和借鉴作用.     

Workplace Industrial Relations under Different Regulatory Systems: A Survey-Based Comparison of Australia and Britain

The focus of the paper is upon the extent to which different national regulatory systems give rise to different institutions and outcomes at the workplace. It uses data from the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey and the third British Workplace Industrial Relations Survey to examine a number of hypotheses which suggest that the different regulatory systems of these countries have produced distinct patterns of industrial relations at the workplace. It is concluded that, while there is substantial evidence that the countries' different regulatory systems have had distinct effect on industrial relations institutions and outcomes, these are not as straight forward as earlier work has suggested.     

International research teams as analysts of industrial business networks

This paper analyzes case studies in the context of industrial business networks, and in particular from the IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group) perspective. Two features have been prominent in this research tradition: collaboration in international research teams and interest in business between international customers and their suppliers. Still, researchers seldom discuss the challenges with the international aspects of the research team (as the subject of study) or of the business relations (as the object of study). This paper shows the complications of analyzing international business relations, namely, relations that cross national boundaries, and investigates how an international research team can tackle the challenges of international business network studies. The key contributions are, firstly, to indicate the lack of attention on the methodological requirements and opportunities that the international features create for the analysis of business networks and, secondly, to investigate how collaboration in an international research team may advance the analysis of both international industrial marketing relations and broader business networks.     

'Them and Us': Social Psychology and 'The New Industrial Relations'

This article sets out to examine the impact of 'new industrial relations' techniques on worker attitudes to management and to worker-management relations. We found 17 case studies of share schemes, profit-sharing, quality circles and autonomous work-groups which reported relevant evidence on worker attitudes. Although workers often welcome new industrial relations techniques, there is very little evidence of any impact on 'them and us' attitudes. Drawing on social-psychological theories of attitude change, the persistence of 'them and us' attitudes can be explained by the ways in which new industrial relations techniques have been implemented and managed in organisations. Workers have often lacked choice over participation in new schemes; there has been a lack of trust between the parties involved, together with inequality in status and benefits and a lack of institutional support for the schemes among senior management. It is argued that these conditions explain the failure of new organisational initiatives to bring about changes in 'them and us' attitudes.     

我国产业发展相对困境与对策分析——以制造业和生产性服务业为例

我国粗放型的经济增长方式,迫切需要通过转型升级来提升竞争力。通过国际比较可知,我国经济自改革开放以来发展较快．但近年来存在较为明显的相对困境。文章从制造业与生产性服务业两方面分析了我国的产业发展现状,指出了我国经济和产业在发展中存在的难题．进而从挖掘政策红利、改变发展方式、加快制造业转型、提速服务业升级、促进产业融合等方面提出了破除我国产业发展困境的措施安排。     

市场获得、边界效应与经济集聚——基于“中心—外围”城市经济活动的考察

本研究利用我国54个城市1990—2010年的经济活动数据重点考察了市场获得对区域经济集聚发展的影响。结论发现随着市场获得的边界效应下降,要素(中间)品和最终消费品两个市场获得均具有促进区域集聚发展的作用,国内市场获得对中心城市集聚发展的贡献力在样本期具有下降趋势,而外围城市则反之。与其呼应的则是当前刘易斯拐点期和国际经济衰弱(波动)期外需市场获得空间增长乏力,这意味着工业生产性资源在空间上集聚配置的"地理界线"必然会由沿海边界线向内陆圈后移,"主外需,轻内需"局面向"内外需并重"转变将成为趋势。未来外向型的东部沿海(中心地区)集聚力相对下降,而内陆外围地区可吸收其扩散力;随着国内市场获得重要性的提升,内陆(或外围)地区将充分接受沿海地区"回波效应"带来的新增长力量,我国区域"中心—外围"发展格局有望走向渐进均衡化。     

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.     

Rethinking Institutions and Institutional Change in European Industrial Relations

This article traces the process of institutional change in industrial relations in Britain, France and Sweden over the last quarter‐century in order to identify the mechanisms and forms of institutional change. These three cases demonstrate a high degree of institutional plasticity, and a greater convergence in industrial relations than comparisons of national institutions have tended to suggest. These findings in turn suggest the need to rethink both the role of institutions and the nature of institutional change in comparative political economy.     

国际贸易、国内居民消费与产业结构——基于SVAR模型的实证分析

本文基于中国1995～2014年的数据构建SVAR模型,实证检验了国际贸易、产业结构与国内居民消费间的影响关系。结果表明：当期国际贸易对产业结构、当期产业结构对国内居民消费分别具有显著的正向影响。从跨期来看,在滞后1～6期,产业结构、国内消费水平与国际贸易的相互冲击都呈现正向效应,但波动较大,而在第6期以后基本呈稳定状态;产业结构的影响随时间增强,是自身、国际贸易和国内居民消费波动的贡献率的主要来源。国际贸易对产业结构变动的贡献率为40.01%,国内居民消费水平对国际贸易变动的贡献率为18%。     

The Impact of European Integration and German Unification on Industrial Relations in Germany

Can the present turmoil in German industrial relations be attributed to the effects of the Single Market, or to unification, or to other factors? European regulation or legislation may intervene in the German industrial relations system, may remove responsibilities from national actors, or may, by deregulation, induce stronger interdependence between national regimes. Various instances are considered to evaluate the actual and potential EU impact on German industrial relations. The evidence suggests that fears of ‘social dumping’ in the richer member-states are largely unfounded, and that the effects of unification and the recession on German industrial relations are currently more significant than the impact of European integration.     

Comparative Industrial Relations Research: Towards Reversing the Gender Bias

This paper seeks to begin the reversal of the gender bias in comparative industrial relations research which is still focused on comparing and contrasting the regimes that cover mainly male manual workers. There is little systematic evidence on industrial relations practices in private or even public services, for non-manual workers or for atypical workers. These employment areas are central for women's employment and are of increasing importance in the labour market, but few attempts have been made to compare industrial relations regimes by reference to the protection they afford to women. Taking into account industrial relations practice in these areas can change significantly the classification and estimated coverage of collective bargaining systems. By 'mainstrearning' gender issues it also becomes clear that current macroeconomic policy proposals have major gender implications that are ignored in current debates     

Richard Hyman: Marxism,Trade Unionism and Comparative Employment Relations

Richard Hyman has been a hugely influential figure in the field of industrial relations for the best part of four decades. At a time when the future of the very subject has been questioned, we highlight three areas of Hyman's work that we believe provide fertile territory for future research. The first concerns the importance of theory and the continuing need to broaden the subject of industrial relations so that it is treated as an area in which we can examine wider questions about ‘the political economy of waged labour’. The second area is the changing nature of employee representation which, for much of Hyman's career, was synonymous with the analysis of trade unions under capitalism. The third area is one of the more striking recent successes within the subject, namely the study of comparative industrial relations. Each of these areas reveals Hyman's talent for identifying and clarifying a set of issues around the politics of work that will endure regardless of whether the subject is known as industrial relations, employment relations or human resource management.     

How Does Market Making Affect Industrial Relations? Evidence from Eight German Hospitals

The introduction of market mechanisms matters for industrial relations. In the German hospital sector, national liberalization policies have put immense pressure on local management and worker representatives and led to the growth of a low‐wage sector. In case studies of eight hospitals, we find some locales where market making has led to union revitalization and mobilization, but this effect varies. Using an eight‐way comparison, we infer a configuration of three aspects of the local political economy — labour markets, politics and co‐determination rules — that together provide a well‐fitting explanation for both variation and change.     

Integration and Dealignment in Public Enterprise Industrial Relations: A Study of British Rail

This paper considers whether a process of dealignment of workplace organizations from the national union and industrial relations system has occurred in British Rail. As a starting point, it is noted that workplace representatives have traditionally been closely integrated with other actors in the system. Integration has been based on the supply of bargaining resources by the national union and other bargaining institutions. If new management industrial relations policies have cut back the supply of these, it is possible that workplace organizations will dealign themselves from the national union. This hypothesis is considered using data obtained from a survey of train drivers' representatives. It is found that there is no evidence for dealignment and that in a significant minority of cases closer rather than weaker links are being forged.     

Pay Determination in the Republic of Ireland: Towards Social Corporatism?

In Ireland there is a widespread belief that the country is moving towards a 'European model' of industrial relations. One claim is that the industrial relations system can be now described as social corporatist. Advocates of this view invariably point to the substance and the durability of the latest round of centralized wage agreements in support of this claim. This paper assesses the validity of the argument. Because discussions about social corporatism are so diffuse, the first part of the paper develops a framework that sheds light on what the concept means in economic and institutional terms. In the second part of the paper this framework is used to assess the functioning of the recent national pay deals. The conclusion is that these agreements should not be regarded as social corporatist.