No / The fast-food industry is one of the few industries that can be described as truly global, not least in terms of employment, which is estimated at around ten million people worldwide. This edited volume is the first of its kind, providing an analysis of labour relations in this significant industry focusing on multinational corporations and large national companies in ten countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Russia. The extent to which multinational enterprises impose or adapt their employment practices in differing national industrial relations systems is analysed, Results reveal that the global fast-food industry is typified by trade union exclusion, high labour turnover, unskilled work, paternalistic management regimes and work organization that allows little scope for developing workers' participation in decision-making, let alone advocating widely accepted concepts of social justice and workers' rights.

No / This paper is based on a study of the employment practices of one Italian-owned multinational corporation (MNC) and one US-owned MNC in the Italian quick-food service sector and examines such issues as work organization, unionization, employee representation and pay and conditions. The paper focuses on the concept of ‘dominance’ and the related convergence and divergence theses. The findings suggest that dominance can not only be interpreted as a mode of employment or production emanating from one country, but could also be associated with one dominant MNC in one sector. Consequently, it is argued that while the effect of host and home country influences may be significant factors in cross-border employment relations practices, more attention needs to be paid to organizational contingencies and the sectoral characteristics within which firms operate.

No / This article reports on the union recognition dispute that took place at the MacDonald's food-processing plant in Moscow. It examines this dispute in the context of McDonald's employment practices worldwide, the interventions made by international and local unions, and Russian government bodies. Despite these interventions it became impossible to either organise the workforce or establish a collective agreement. The case illustrates the difficulties facing both local unions and global union federations when confronted by intransigent multinational companies, especially in low-skilled sectors in transitional economies.

No / This article examines the labour relations practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the German and Spanish quick-food service sectors. The demand for greater profitability and lower costs is leading to a greater standardization of work methods across a widening range of food service operators, resulting in the gradual elimination of more expensive, skilled and experienced workers, and an increasingly non-union approach in employee relations practices. The outcome involves increasing standardization, union exclusion, low trust, low skills, and low pay. These sectoral characteristics appear to outweigh both country-of-origin and host-country effects. The findings therefore confirm continuing variation within national industrial relations systems and the importance of sectoral characteristics and organizational contingencies in understanding MNC cross-border behaviour.

No / This article analyses the establishment and subsequent meetings of the McDonald's European Works Council and raises a number of questions. Who is an `employee representative' for the purposes of the EU Directive? How are such representatives elected in practice and what roles do existing national sub-structures play? Can employee representatives adequately coordinate their roles in the absence of significant unionisation? The experience of the McDonald's EWC suggests that where workforces have low levels of unionisation and employers are opposed in principle to the prescribed arrangements, a non-union firm can frustrate even the limited aims of the Directive. Furthermore, legally underpinned national-level sub-structures, which are often assumed to make such European-level bodies accountable, may fail to do so in practice.

No / This paper examines the problem of effectively regulating the labour relations practices of multinational corporations. It focuses on the activities of the McDonald's Corporation in a number of European countries. The findings suggest that public and private codes of conduct have a very limited effect and that determined and well-resourced corporations can not only undermine regional forms of regulation - such as that provided by the European Union - but also, and to a considerable extent, national-level regulation. This is particularly evident in the area of independent trade union representation. Although its aim of avoiding collective bargaining and union recognition wherever possible is only partially successful, McDonald's appears to have developed a number of highly effective strategies for limiting the presence of trade unions at restaurant level, particularly in avoiding or undermining statutory works councils and union representation rights.

Yes / Ireland’s selective system of collective agreed minimum wages has come under significant pressure in recent years. A new fast-food employer body took a constitutional challenge against the system of Joint Labour Committees (JLCs) and this was strengthened by the discourse on the negative effects of minimum wages as Ireland’s economic crisis worsened. Taking a historical institutional approach, the article examines the critical juncture for the JLC system and the factors which led to the subsequent government decision to retain but reform the system. The article argues that the improved enforcement of minimum wages was a key factor in the employers’ push for abolition of the system but that the legacy of a collapsed social partnership system prevented the system’s abolition.

Yes / In this article we examine the industrial relations practices of three large European food retailers when they transfer the hypermarket format to other countries. We ask, first, how industrial relations in hypermarkets differ from those in other food retailing outlets. Second, we examine how far the approach characteristic of each company’s country-of-origin (Germany, France and the UK) shapes the practices adopted elsewhere. Third, we ask how they respond to the specific industrial relations systems of each host country (Turkey, Poland, Ireland and Spain).

77 leaves single side printed, preliminary pages i-v and numbered pages 1-72. Includes bibliography. / Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores how to bring about change through innovation by using current power structures to move towards a more sustainable society. The type of change we are concerned with is the transformation from social structures, economic systems and institutions which diminish natural resources; to systems of production, institutions and social structures which affirm and interact productively with living systems, assuring their own sustainability. This change cannot be limited to address the social, environmental and economic consequences of the current system but should redefine the basic principles of society’s design and operation. One of the key actors in the current system are Multinational Corporations (MNCs) which have the capacity to mobilize natural resources, labour, and financial capital at a global scale. It is defined that to contribute proactively towards sustainability, the role of the corporation is to innovate in its core business, creating products and services that help to solve the current un-sustainability patterns of society. However, how effective are targeted innovation platforms within MNC’s in designing and implementing meaningful innovations for sustainability? How meaningful are these innovation efforts in terms of the broader CSR strategy of the company and its sustainability performance? What can we learn from business innovation platforms in terms of organization and entrepreneurship for sustainability? In order to answer these questions an action research method was used in which I reflect on my own experience of using the innovation platform from the Royal Dutch Shell Group (Shell) to develop sustainability innovations. Within this perspective, the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is re-visited to highlight its potential to hinder or facilitate this process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:Hierdie tesis ondersoek hoe verandering met innovasie te weeg gebring kan word deur gebruikmaking van huidige magstrukture om sodoende te beweeg na ’n meer volhoubare gemeenskap. Die verandering waarmee ons gemoeid is, is die transformasie van sosiale strukture, ekonomiese stelsels en instansies - wat natuurlike hulpbronne verminder - na stelsels van produksie, asook instellings en sosiale strukture wat regstel en produktief wisselwerk met lewenskragtige stelsels om sodoende hulle eie volhoubaarheid te verseker. Hierdie verandering kan geensins beperk word om die sosiale, omgewings en ekonomiese gevolge van die huidige stelsel aan te spreek nie, maar behoort die basiese beginsels van die gemeenskap se ontwerp en optrede te herdefinieer. Een van die sleutelspelers in die huidige stelsel is die Multinasionale Korporasies (‘MNCs’) wat oor die vermoë beskik om natuurlike hulpbronne, arbeid en geldelike kapitaal op globale skaal te mobiliseer. Om pro-aktief tot volhoubaarheid by te dra, moet die rol van die korporasie – volgens definisie – van so ’n aard wees dat hy in sy kern-sakebedrywighede innoverend optree om produkte en dienste te skep wat sal bydra om die huidige nie-volhoubare patrone binne die gemeenskap uit te skakel. Maar hoe doeltreffend is geteikende innovasie-platforms binne die Multinasionale Korporasies egter vir soverre dit die ontwerp en toepassing van betekenisvolle innovasies betref wat op volhoubaarheid gerig is? Hoe betekenisvol is dié pogings rondom innovasie gemeet teen die breër strategie van korporatiewe sosiale verantwoordelikheid van die maatskappy en sy volhoubaarheidsprestasie? Wat kan ons van innovasie-platforms van sakeondernemings met betrekking tot organisasie en entrepreneurskap - gerig op volhoubaarheid - wys word? Met die oog op die beantwoording van hierdie vrae, is ’n aksie-navorsingsmetode gebruilc, waarin ek besin oor my eie ondervinding met die gebruik van innovasieplatforms van die Royal Dutch Shell Group (Shell) om volhoubaarheidsinnovasies te ontwikkel. Binne hierdie perspektief word weer gekyk na die konsep van korporatiewe sosiale verantwoordelikheid om sodoende sy potensiaal om dié proses te kortwiek of te fasiliteer, uit te lig.

跨國公司台灣與巴拿馬員工文化差異對管理影響之研究─以巴拿馬台商為例 / Growth of international business has provoked the drain of companies venturing into cross borders. It is vitally decisive to consider facts before encountering any major problems. Corporations constructed by talented people dedicate the time to study economic factors such as taxation, government policies, and other investment dimensions. And nowadays, considered more important, the management of cross culture. This thesis measured the cultural similarities and differences between Panamanian and Taiwanese in a Taiwanese company established in Panama. The use of academic journals and surveys was important for collecting primary and secondary data. Local staff and Taiwanese managers transferred to Panama were interviewed; using a questionnaire structured using 5 (five) cultural dimensions discovered by Professor Geert Hofstede during his study in IBM, and studying the two constructs (communication and management style). Research Findings depicted that Taiwanese and Panamanians are more culturally similar than different; however, there are still challenges to face in this scenario. Some of these challenges for Taiwanese managers are to broaden their communication with staff, so local staff can fully enjoyed and receive a coaching style. Also, a challenge for local staff is their low uncertainty avoidance, which denotes a lack of communication in order to produce efficiently. Despite the challenges that have to be faced by the two parties, findings concluded that in this interaction, there is a positive relationship. Also, conclusion provided some recommendations for Taiwanese managers and other companies planning to establish in Panama. Those recommendations were as mentioned before, adapt their Taiwanese working style into the local staff considering some differences between; and use rewards for motivating staff. This study could also be used by Taiwanese Corporations planning to invest in Panama, and for any other country used as a reference to consider in advance. International community seeking to nurture knowledge regarding to culture and its consequences in organizations.