The determinants of strike activity in foreign-owned plants: Inter-industry evidence from British Manufacturing Industry 1971–1973

A simple exit(quit)–voice (bargaining) model of strike activity is applied to a sample of foreign-owned plants in British manufacturing industry. Strike activity is found to depend on both structural and cost factors. Intra-enterprise trade appears to be a significant cost consideration for integrated firms. These findings have important implications for labour responses to the multinational enterprise and challenge the alleged bargaining disadvantage of labour.