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Foreign-owned firms help to disseminate management practices across UK companies; this includes the ability of indigenous firms to learn improved human resource management (HRM) practices from leading foreign companies. Analysing the transfer of HRM policies forms an important strand of the international HRM and comparative capitalisms literatures; however, large-scale, comparative studies of voice patterns in German, US and, in particular, French subsidiaries in the UK are limited. This paper draws on a major survey that includes the, to date, largest sample of French MNC subsidiaries. It does not simply identify the existence of different kinds of voice mechanisms, but examines how these different practices come together in the implementation of subsidiaries' voice policies. This enables the detection of subtle, but important, differences in the subsidiaries' voice practices. French subsidiaries are significantly less likely to pursue a partnership approach to voice than their German and US counterparts. French and US establishments are significantly more likely to adopt a ‘bleak house’ approach than German ones. Importantly, these key differences only emerge at a fine-grained level of analysis that examines how subsidiaries implement voice practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the strategic development of subsidiaries and the likelihood of subsidiaries exporting on an intra-regional basis to European markets. Design/methodology/approach – The paper defines the strategic development of subsidiaries as increases in autonomy, embeddedness in host locations and use of networks and host country sourcing. The location of subsidiaries in industrial clusters is also considered. Use is made of multinomial probit analysis of a survey of 391 UK-based subsidiaries to identify the relationships between the strategic development of subsidiaries and supplying European markets. Findings – The study finds some evidence that there are links between increasing networks and supplying European markets, but there is no evidence that developing host country sourcing is associated with European supply. Location in an industrial cluster is consistently associated with supplying European markets, and autonomy also appears to be closely associated with supplying European markets. Research limitations/implications – Extension of the research is required to other regional trade blocs such as Mercosur and North American Free Trade Agreement. The role of networks and the links to location in industrial clusters require further exploration, and future research needs to include the services and knowledge-intensive sectors. Originality/value – The paper adds to the understanding of subsidiary development in the context of intra-regional trading and thereby expands the literature on the regional strategy of multinationals. It highlights the importance of different types of autonomy for encouraging intra-regional trade by foreign-owned subsidiaries, and the central role of location in industrial clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to set out and justify a broader, systemic typology that encompasses, and is built around, the notion of voice. This leads to the development of a number of insights that can result in the generation and testing of more accurate hypotheses on the links between voice mechanisms and workplace outcomes. Design/methodology/approach -- Drawing on different aspects of the concept of "power" and arguing that these are central to the notion of "voice", the paper illustrates how "exit", "loyalty" and "neglect" are also underpinned by power. A corollary of this is that these other concepts should routinely be included in studies of the links among voice and workplace outcomes. Findings -- The paper develops hypotheses that can enhance the understanding of the likely impact of voice policies on employees' attitudes and behaviour as well as on firm performance. Practical implications -- The hypotheses suggest that, if employees perceive voice mechanisms in a negative way, they may respond in a variety of ways that can have a detrimental effect on firm performance. Understanding these different responses and the likely reasons for them can lead to more appropriate policy responses by managers. Originality/value -- The paper specifies the conditions under which relationships between voice, exit, loyalty and neglect will affect workplace outcomes in greater detail. This leads to a re-examination of factors that should be included in empirical assessments. Research findings may need to be re-evaluated as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the relative importance and variability of the country-of-origin effect in employee relations approaches of US subsidiaries within the context of diversity of employee relations patterns in home- and host-country business systems and the influence of important industry forces. It is based on a representative survey of US subsidiaries and indigenous firms in the UK. The cross-sectional comparison with indigenous UK firms confirmed a distinct US country-of-origin imprint in employee relations patterns in US subsidiaries. However, the magnitude of such an effect cautions against assumptions of popular stereotypes and reflects, inter alia, the diversity of employee relations approaches among US parent companies as well as developments in the UK industrial relations landscape over the last decades. The intra-US analysis revealed the importance of both the level and type of industry internationalisation in shaping the strength and nature of the country-of-origin influence. On the basis of the findings, the article highlights lessons to be learned for the study of cross-border policy-transfer issues in MNCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to map some of the diversity in employee relations in Germany that is overlooked, first, within assessments of the German labour market that focus on the national level and second, within separate studies in this ares that emphasize attempts by employers to circumvent important institutions. Design/methodology/approach - The research adopts a quantitative approach to examine data for German manufacturing and service sectors on both the spread of industry-wide collective agreements and the extent to which workers are paid wage rates that are higher than those set out in those agreements. It also assesses the prevalence of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes. Findings - Industry-wide collective agreements are not the burden that they are often portrayed. Actual wage rates and the prevalence of profit sharing and ESOSs make German workplaces more heterogeneous than critics and advocates of the German economic model posit. Research limitations/implications - The data are limited to Germany; however, Germany occupies a prominent position, not just within much of the employment relations literature, but also in terms of economic output. The research is also limited by an inability to provide evidence on workplaces that undercut sectoral collective agreements and to disaggregate the data further by sector and firm size/location. Originality/value - The paper provides a counterpoint to the portrayals of employee relations in Germany that often present a homogeneous picture of those relations. For the first time, data on the spread of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes in German workplaces at the sectoral level are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the international entrepreneurial behaviour of Mittelstand firms (German small and medium sized enterprises). Analysis of a survey of the international marketing strategies of Mittelstand firms revealed three clusters of firms, two that had below and one above average international activities. None of the clusters displayed `born global' type of internationalisation processes. However, this does not mean that they adopt passive approaches to internationalisation. The results suggest that Mittelstand firms engage in entrepreneurial behaviour that is proactive and innovative but which is cautious, sequential, and risk adverse. The implications of this analysis for future research in the area of international entrepreneurship are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether German multinationals operating in an Anglo-Saxon setting design their employee relations primarily on the German or the Anglo-Saxon model. The authors' cross-sectional comparison with UK-owned firms provides no evidence of a transfer of the current German approach but does point to a distinctive Germanic version of the 'high-road' variant of the Anglo-Saxon approach. Intra-German analysis shows that this is most pronounced among the types of subsidiaries that are particularly significant for disseminating employment relations innovations across the multinational, but that these also have the highest incidence of collective arrangements and the lowest incidence of the 'low-road' variant of the Anglo-Saxon approach. In the light of recent reforms in the German industrial relations system, the findings point to an emerging new flexible collective approach with a comprehensive direct employee involvement dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses the issue of whether the 2001 German model of employee relations will resemble a more flexible version of the current one or whether it will emerge as an Anglo-Saxonized German model. Main characteristics and track record of the model of labor relations; Economic effects of a strong employment protection legislation; Assessment of the series of reforms throughout the 1990s.

The article discusses several types of labor flexibility and their enforcement in German companies. German companies make an effort to seek several types of labor flexibility which includes functional flexibility, numerical flexibility, temporal flexibility and financial flexibility. Functional flexibility describes the firm's ability to adopt and deploy labor skills across a wide range of task while numerical flexibility is the management's ability to vary amount of labor employed. Temporal flexibility concerns the changes in the number and worked hours while financial flexibility can be achieved by variation and differentiation of pay. Flexibility indicators revealed that German companies used the enhanced framework into a limited extent.