In light of current changes in the German industrial relations¿ landscape and the wider and deeper integration of German multinationals into the world economy, this study investigates the relative importance of the country-of-origin effect in employee relations of German affiliates in an Anglo-American setting. The paper addresses important issues that relate to the wider international business domain. The comparative analysis to US affiliates in the UK and British owned firms points to a distinctively German flavored hybrid approach that integrates the best practice elements of the US model with the collective orientation of the German model. This bears a resemblance to an emerging trend in the parent companies¿ home locations. The intra-German analysis revealed that affiliates of multinationals that face pressures for international integration are at the forefront of this development. The findings suggest that this might provide a suitable model of international operation for multinationals from strongly institutionalized countries.

No / Despite the purported advantages of electronic HRM (e-HRM) in assisting strategic decision making, few organisations appear to fully capitalise on e-HRM. This article explores the mediating role of power and politics on the levels of e-HRM utilisation in the German and Irish subsidiaries of a US multinational corporation (MNC). The research comprised 25 in-depth interviews with 15 key stakeholders in the case study firm. Key findings highlight that e-HRM adaptation in MNC subsidiaries is affected by the institutional contexts within which the organisation operates, as well as a set of micro-political and power relationships within the broader political structure of the MNC and as such are capable of curbing a multinational’s capacity to disseminate human resource including e-HRM practices from the country of origin to its subsidiaries. In particular, resource power derived from strategic capabilities may be employed by subsidiary actors to shape the manner in which e-HRM is utilised. / This article was supported by the Institute of Technology Carlow (Ireland) Research, Development and Innovation Support Fund.

No / As the interest in talent management (TM) gathers momentum, this paper aims to unravel how talent is managed in multinational corporations, what factors mediate the talent management process and what computerised systems may contribute to the management of talent. The study employs a single case study but multiple units of analysis approach to elucidate the factors pertaining to the transmission and use of talent management practices across the German and Irish subsidiaries of a US multinational corporation. Primary data for this study derive from a series of in-depth interviews with key decision makers, which include managers at various levels in Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands. The findings suggest that the diffusion of, and success of, talent management practices is contingent on a combination of factors, including stakeholder involvement and top level support, micro-political exchanges, and the integration of talent management with a global human resource information system. Furthermore, the discussion illuminates the utility and limitations of Cappelli's “talent on demand” framework. The main limitation of this research is the adoption of a single case study method. As a result, the findings may not be applicable to a wider population of organisations and subsidiaries. Additional research will be required to substantiate the relevance of these findings in the context of other subsidiaries of the same and other corporations. This paper accentuates a number of practical implications. Inter alia, it highlights the complex nature of institutional factors affecting the talent management process and the potential efficacy of a human resource information system in managing talent globally.The paper extends the body of knowledge on the transfer of talent management practices in the subsidiaries of multinational corporations. The discussion presented herein may engender further academic debate on the talent management process in the academic and practitioner communities. The link between talent management and the use of human resource information systems established by this research may be of particular interest to human resource practitioners.

No / The paper examines the existing quasi-legal means by which international labour standards may be protected. The paper considers the nature of the challenge that global capital creates for labour, the development of the ILO’s labour standards and the consequences of its shift towards promotional principles, the growth of corporate voluntary initiatives by multinational corporations and finally the associated debates around the inclusion of social clauses in trade agreements. The analysis suggests that the ILO’s shift to ‘promotional principles’ and the formal acceptance of voluntary self-regulation from the late-1990s has not significantly improved the situation for workers, but was a pragmatic response driven in part by US policy and the increasing marginalization of the ILO within the global system of economic governance. It is argued that even if the many political obstacles could be overcome, the result of including social clauses in WTO trade agreements may not be straightforward. In conclusion it is argued that in some respects the existing system has ‘privatised’ labour rights.

No / This article focuses on the workforce characteristics of the German and UK operations of McDonald’s Corporation. The UK workforce is characterised by predominantly young workers with very limited work experience, the German workforce is much older and mostly foreign workers. The analysis suggests that despite these differences and differences in labour market regulation, there is a key similarity between the workforces. The corporation is able to draw on similarly “weak” and marginalised segments of the labour market and these segments are likely to be particularly acquiescent to managerial prerogative. National institutional arrangements can still constrain the employment relations policies of multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, this analysis supports the notion that there is a growing diversity within national systems increasingly explained by MNE policies and practices. This does not necessarily mean that national systems are becoming redundant, but that there is a dynamic relationship between such systems and the needs of MNEs. / This paper was awarded the Literati Prize.

No / This paper focuses on the employment practices of both multinational corporations (MNCs) and large national competitors in the German fast‐food industry, such as Burger King, Pizza Hut, Nordsee, McDonald’s, Churrasco and Blockhaus. The paper poses a number of questions. Have the activities of MNCs affected the employment practices of national companies? Are companies adopting union exclusion policies and if so why and to what extent? Does the “country of origin effect” help explain the activities of MNCs? What changes are evident in workers’ terms and conditions and how effective are statutory systems of employee representation in practice? The findings suggest that Anglo‐Saxon‐based MNCs are more likely to adopt anti‐works council and non‐union policies in the sector, suggesting that MNCs may indeed be able to transfer their management practices across borders, imposing their employer‐based systems with little regard for German institutional arrangements.

No

No / There is growing evidence that multinational enterprises (MNEs) increasingly develop organisation-based employment strategies, which promote the transmission of employee relations practices across national borders. This article provides an analysis of one MNE’s employee relations practice and what appears to be its preference for operating, where possible, independently of national industrial relations systems. The findings, which draw on a UK/German comparison, raise a number of questions about the adequacy of even highly juridifed national systems to protect workers rights in practice.

No / This paper is based on a comparative study of the UK and German operations of the McDonald’s Corporation. The main focus of the paper is the interaction between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the German system of co-determination. Commentators have suggested that industrial relations practices in host countries are particularly difficult for MNE’s to avoid because they are so deeply embedded in societal frameworks. However, there are also opposing global pressures for MNEs to impose their industrial relations practices across national borders in order to transmit ‘best practice’ to their subsidiaries. Ferner and Edwards (1995) suggest that Germany is something of a ‘test case’ for MNEs because of the strength of its legislative underpinning and institutional arrangements. Most analysis on the German system of co-determination has suggested that it is only small and medium-sized firms which avoid or undermine the German system (Lane, 1989). However, evidence brought together in this study suggests that along with other large companies and MNEs of different origins and across different industries, McDonald’s have been able to take advantage of weaknesses in regulation in the German system of co-determination. The paper puts forward a typology of possible ‘avoidance strategies’ within the German system.

No / The anticapitalist protests at Seattle and Genoa are dramatic symbols of a growing collective anger about the of a few multinational corporations. But there is more to anticapitalism than demonstrations: concepts like participatory democracy and economic solidarity form the heart of alternative but equally compelling visions. Hilary Wainwright, writer and long-time political activist, set out on a quest to find out how people are putting such concepts into practice locally and taking control over public power. Her journey starts at home, in east Manchester, where local community groups are testing Tony Blair¿s commitment to ¿community-led¿ regeneration by getting involved in the way government money is spent. In Newcastle, she joins a meeting of homecare workers and their clients to challenge the threat of privatization of homecare services in that city. In Los Angeles she talks to the people behind the community-union coalitions that have had major successes in improving the impoverished bus system and in winning a living wage for employees of firms contracted by the city. And in Porto Alegre she discovers the wider democratic potential of the participatory budget, the basis of investment decisions in many Brazilian cities. Local democracy and ¿people power,¿ it turns out, provided the foundations for a global alternative, as her visit to the World Social Forum reveals.