Human resource management in foreign-owned workplaces: evidence from Australia

Multinational companies have assumed a position of considerable prominence in the Australian economy. Drawing on the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, this paper examines the character of human resource management in multinational companies operating in Australia. The findings suggest that investments in the human resource function and the utilization of human resource practices were generally more widespread in foreign-owned than Australian establishments. This was especially the case for workplaces belonging to American and British-owned firms. It is concluded that the more strongly regulated industrial relations environment as well as the legacy of protected domestic markets have not made multinational companies reluctant innovators in human resource management in the Australian context.     

Multinational Companies and Human Resource Management: an Overview of Research Issues1

Anthony Ferner, who is Principal Research Fellow in the Industrial Relations Research Unit at the University of Warwick, uses a wide range of literature and recent empirical research to examine the consequences for HRM of central facets of multinational companies – corporate structure and strategy, country of operation and country of origin. How, for example, do they impact on the degree of cross-national coordination of human resource policies? Are there distinct ‘national’ cultures that infuse these policies? How does ‘corporate culture’ interact with national management cultures of ‘host’ countries? In considering the implications of the discussion for a future research agenda, he emphasises the need to redress the overwhelming concentration in the existing literature on US and Japanese companies.     

Strategy,Structure and Control In the Changing Corporation: A Survey-Based Investigation

Paul Marginson, Paul Edwards, Peter Armstrong and John Purcell draw on the findings of IRRU's Company Level Industrial Relations Survey to investigate the business structure, budgetary control systems and strategic orientations of large companies in the UK. Companies’ internal structure, and their systems of budgetary control, are shown to be associated with the kind of diversification strategy they are pursuing. Both external change, such as acquisition, and organic change are widespread across all types of firm as is the consequent internal reorganisation. They discuss the implications of the different strategic orientations and structural arrangements, and the rapidity of organisational change, for human resource policy. Paul Marginson and Paul Edwards are respectively Senior Lecturer and Professor of Industrial Relations at the Warwick Business School and Associate Fellow and Deputy Director of its Industrial Relations Research Unit; Peter Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in the Management School at the University of Sheffield; and John Purcell is University Lecturer in Management Studies and Fellow of Templeton College, Oxford.     

跨国企业采购中心业务研究——以A公司为例

跨国企业面对不断变化的经济环境,一直在探讨如何深入优化供应链以应对市场变化。研究的目的是希望通过调研的方法,对跨国企业的采购中心的产生历程和现状发展进行深入分析,识别出采购中心业务模型存在的问题,并给出如何实施相适应的战略采购策略来实现优化供应链的战略目标。通过A跨国企业采购中心的案例分析,得到结论:对于跨国企业实现优化供应链的目标,核心任务是采购部门一方面要投资正确的技术和资源来实现战略采购,另一方面需要从业务角度和商业模型角度寻求降低成本、提高企业价值的方法。     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: The Industrial Relations Practices of Foreign-Owned Firms in Britain Peter J Buckley and Peter Enderwick Japanese Participation in British Industry John H Dunning Employee Consultation and Information in Multinational Corporations edited by Jacques Vandamme The Transformation of American Industrial Relations Thomas A Kochan, Harry C Katz and Robert B McKersie The Making of Labour Law in Europe edited by Bob Hepple Mansell Management and Society in Sweden Peter Lawrence and Tony Spybey Routledge and Kegan Paul The Trade Union Situation and Industrial Relations in Hungary The Trade Union Situation and Industrial Relations in Norway The Trade Union Situation and Industrial Relations in Spain The Trade Union Situation and Industrial Relations in Yugoslavia Labor-Owned Firms and Workers' Cooperatives S Jansson and A B Hellmark (eds) Towards a Democratic Rationality The Cooperative Workplace—potentials and dilemmas of organizational democracy and participation J Rothschild and J Allen Whitt Power and Performance in Organisations: An Exploration of Executive Process I Mangham Warwick Papers in Industrial Relations—School of Industrial and Business Studies, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick     

Book Reviews

Inside Japan–Wealth Work and Power in the New Japanese Empire Peter Tasker Managing Owners: The National Freight Consortium in Perspective K. Bradley and A. Nejad Sharing the Success: the Story of NFC Sir Peter Thompson The Political Economy of Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in a Cold Climate Richard Hyman Beyond the Workplace: Managing Industrial Relations in the Multi-Establishment Enterprise . Paul Marginson, P. K. Edwards, Roderick Martin, John Purcell and Keith Sisson New Perspectives on Human Resource Management John Storey (ed.) Precarious Jobs in Labour Market Regulation G. and J. Rodgers (Eds.) A Secretary and a Cook, Challenging Women's Wages in the Courts of the United States and Great Britain Steven I. Willborn Change in Industrial Relations P. B. Beaumont Changing Patterns of Employee Relations Mick Marchington and Philip Parker Industrial Relations Strategies M. W. Nuttall     

浅议跨国公司境外资金管理

随着我国市场经济体制的不断改革以及与世界经济的逐步接轨,如何依据国家外汇管理法规有关规定,建立高度集中的境外资金管理体制和运行机制,实现"统筹运作、保证需要;集中监管、确保安全;统一调度、提高效率"的境外资金管理要求,取得最优的管理模式,成为跨国公司境外财务管理的重点。本文主要就石油企业跨国公司相关境外承包工程项目的资金管理模式和具体内容结合本人在国际项目的经验谈谈石油跨国公司如何对境外资金进行有效的管理。     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Global Japanisation?: The Transformation of the Labour Process Tony Elger & Chris Smith (Eds.) Organized Labor in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Comparative Study of Trade Unions in Nine Countries Stephen Frenkel (Ed.) Human Resource Management on the Pacific Rim: Institutions, Practices and Attitudes Larry F. Moore and P. Devereaux Jennings (Eds.) Management in China during the Age of Reform John Child Industrial Restructuring in Mexico: Corporate Adaptation, Technological Innovation, and Changing Patterns of Industrial Relations in Monterrey María de los Angeles Pozas. Translated by Aníbal Yáñez The Struggle for Australian Industrial Relations Braham Dabscheck Irish Industrial Relations in Practice Thomas V. Murphy and William K. Roche (Eds.)     

Book Reviews

Industrial Relations in the Future: Trends and Possibilities in Britain over the next Decade M. Poole, W. Brown, J. Rubery, K. Sisson, R. Tarling and F. Wilkinson Invitation to Industrial Relations T. Keenoy Years of Recovery: British Economic Policy 1945–1951 Alec Cairncross Britain's Economy: The Roots of Stagnation Aubrey Jones Challenges and Choices Facing American Labor Thomas A. Kochan (ed.) The Politics of Safety and Health G. K. Wilson Industrial Relations and New Technology Annette Davies Technological Change, Rationalisation and Industrial Relations O. Jacobi, B. Jessop, H. Kastendiek and M. Regini (eds.)     

Citizenship and industrial relations

Under the Victorian ideal of laissez-faire, industrial relations are conducted unilaterally by employers unimpeded by employees' rights of citizenship. The four facets of citizenship—civil, political, industrial, and social—impinge in a variety of ways on the employment relationship. Civil citizenship, by barring discrimination on account of race or sex, interferes with maintenance of segregated pools of cheap secondary labor. Political citizenship enfranchises propertyless workers and alters the enactments of legislatures. Industrial citizenship creates the institutional basis for collective bargaining. Social citizenship confers economic benefits and protective regulations not driven directly by market forces. Political ascendancy of laissez-faire advocates undermines rights of citizenship and has a retrograde effect on industrial relations.This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the First Industrial Relations Congress of the Americans in Quebec City to the Study Group on Industrial Relations as a Field and Industrial Relations Theory on August 27, 1988. I thank Jack Barbash for the opportunity to present it there.     

Restructuring the Personnel Function: the Case of Nhs Trusts1

Stephen Bach, who is Lecturer in Industrial Relations at the Warwick Business School and an Associate Fellow of its Industrial Relations Research Unit, examines the impact of the internal market in the NHS on the role, organisation and influence of the personnel function. He argues that personnel specialists have not been able to fulfil expectations of them and occupy a peripheral role within NHS trusts. This has occurred because of their limited involvement in corporate decision making, the difficulties of decentralising personnel practice and the absence of a strategic direction for the management of human resources at national level. In this context, he argues that the prospects for the personnel function and the potential for an integrated, long-term approach to the management of staff in the NHS remain at best uncertain.     

Book Reviews

Books review in this article: The Control of Industrial Relations In Large Companies: an Initial Analysis of the Second Company Level Industrial Relations Survey (Warwick Papers In Industrial Relations No.45) Paul Marginson, Peter Armstrong, Paul Edwards and John Purcell with Nancy Hubbard     

How the past of outsourcing and offshoring is the future of post-pandemic remote work: A typology,a model and a review

Information and communication technology (ICT) challenges traditional assumptions about the capacity to manage work beyond organizational and physical boundaries. A typology connects a variety of non-traditional work organizations made possible by ICT, including offshoring, outsourcing, remote work, virtual companies and platforms. A model illustrates how new technology serves as a proximate cause for a revision of social contracts between capital, labour and government reached through bargaining and how external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the institutional environment and limitations in practice influence how technology changes the organization of work. An historical case study of the New Deal Industrial Relations System illustrates the general features of the model for tackling major transformations in the organization of work. A review of the outsourcing and offshoring literature provides examples of how features of the model will potentially influence the future of post-pandemic remote work.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Call Centres and Human Resource Management
Stephen Deery and Nicholas Kinnie (eds) European Integration and Industrial Relations: Multi‐Level Governance in the Making
Paul Marginson and Keith Sisson (with the collaboration of James Arrowsmith) Understanding Work and Employment: Industrial Relations in Transition
Peter Ackers and Adrian Wilkinson (eds)     

Book reviews

Inside IBM: A European's Story Jacques Maisonrouge Collins The Road to Nissan: Flexibility, Quality, Teamwork Peter Wickens MacMillan Industrial Relations-theory and practice Michael Salamon Industrial Relations: Cost-effective strategies Chris Brewster and Stephen Connock, Hutchinson Profit Sharing and Profitability—How Profit Sharing Promotes Business Success D. Wallace Bell and Charles G. Hanson Collective Bargaining in American Industry—contemporary perspectives and future directions David B. Lipsky and Clifford B. Donn Choosing Sides: Unions and the Team Concept Mike Parker and Jane Slaughter The Politics of Industrial Closure Tony Dickson and David Judge Striking Out Strikes: Changing employment relations in the British Labour market C. G. Hanson and G. Mather     

Transnational Corporations and the Dynamics of Human Capital Formation: Evidence From West Yorkshire

John Knell, who is Lecturer in Industrial Relations in the School of Business and Economic Studies at the University of Leeds, draws on published material and the evidence of case studies in West Yorkshire to discuss the impact of foreign direct investment on human capital formation in Britain. He argues that the ‘transformative’ effects of such investment have been very limited and that the key to understanding this outcome lies in the position of the British economy within the evolving international division of labour.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Legal Intervention in Industrial Relations: Gains and Losses William McCarthy (ed) Workplace Industrial Relations–Australian Case Studies R. Lansbury and D. Macdonald (Eds.) Industrial Democracy as Process: Participatory Action Research in the Fagor Cooperative Group of Mondragón Davydd J. Greenwood, José Luis González Santos et al. Van Gorcum The National Health Service and the Labour Market R. A. Wilson and J. A. Stilwell (Eds.) Labour Governments and Private Industry: the Experience of 1945–1951 , H. Mercer, N. Rollings and J. Tomlinson, (Eds.) The Japanese Enterprise System: Competitive Strategies and Cooperative Structures W. Mark Fruin Prices, Quality and Trust: Interfirm Relations in Britain and Japan Mari Sako     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Labour Legislation and Public Policy: A Contemporary History Paul Davies and Mark Freedland The Nissan Enigma: Flexibility at Work in a Local Economy P. Garrahan and P. Stewart Mansell Negotiation: Strategies for Mutual Gain Lavinia Hall (Ed) British Industrial Relations Howard Gospel and Gill Palmer Routledge Attending to Work: The Management of Attendance and Shopfloor Order. Paul Edwards and Colin Whitston Industrial Relations and European State Traditions Colin Crouch Industrial Relations Theory: its nature, scope, and pedagogy Roy J. Adams and Noah M. Meltz (eds) Contested Domains Robin Cohen Towards Social Adjustment Guy Standing and Victor Tokman Industrial Training in a Cold Climate. An Assessment of Britain's Training Policies Peter Senker Trade Unions: The Thatcher years—Ten Years of The Jim Conway Foundation Annual Memorial Lecture 1981–1990 , Jim Conway     

National Ownership and Hr Practices In Uk Greenfield Sites

This article reports research on the influence of country of ownership on HR policy and practice in UK establishments. It is hypothesised that establishments will conform to national stereotypes in the practices they adopt and that establishments owned by firms from the USA, Japan and Germany, will, albeit in different ways, adopt more HR practices and report better outcomes than their UK counterparts. the research is based on the Third Workplace Industrial Relations Survey and on a sample of new establishments, opened in the 1980s. Analysis of the data from the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey finds no evidence that foreign-owned firms are more likely to adopt HR practices. the study of new workplaces finds that UK-owned establishments are as enthusiastic as the foreign-owned in their adoption of HR policy and practice. There is also evidence to support, at least partially, the stereotypes of the American and Japanese approaches. However German-owned establishments do not conform to the expected home country pattern. They are the least likely to adopt HR practices and also report poorer HR and employee relations outcomes. the study challenges the assumption that foreign-owned firms in the UK are more likely to adopt HR practices and indicates that we must be cautious in applying stereotypical national approaches to HRM both among foreign and UK establishments.     

BOOKS IN REVIEW

A Guide to the Industrial Relations Act by C. G. Heath Guide to the Industrial Relations Act by N. M. Selwyn Managing Shiftwork by Robert Sergean An Employer's Guide to the Industrial Relations Act by Peter Paterson Trade Unions and Technological Change by J. E. Mortimer Exploring the Industrial Subculture by Barry A. Turner The Sociology of Industry by S. R. Parker, R. K. Brown, J. Child and M. A. Smith Status, Productivity and Pay: a major experiment by Ronald S. Edwards and R. D. V. Roberts The Nylon Spinners: A Case Study in Productivity Bargaining and Job Enlargement by Stephen Cotgrove, Jack Dunham and Clive Vamplew The Techniques of Production Management by R. Wild SHORT REVIEWS: The New Anatomy of Britain by Anthony Sampson SHORT REVIEWS: Capital, Inflation and the Multi-Nationals by Charles Levinson SHORT REVIEWS: Flexible Working Hours by J. Harvey Bolton SHORT REVIEWS: Labour Market Issues of the 1970's edited by D. J. Robertson and L. C. Hunter