Race to the East, race to the bottom? Multi-nationals and industrial relations in two sectors in the Czech Republic

The article addresses the issue of multi-national employers' effects on employment practices and industrial relations through the findings of 12 case studies of multi-nationals in the Czech Republic, in the automotive and finance sectors. It is found that in the automotive sector, where product...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Work, employment and society employment and society, 2013-02, Vol.27 (1), p.39-55
Main Authors: Meardi, Guglielmo, Strohmer, Sonja, Traxler, Franz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automobile industry
Business structures
Corporate headquarters
Czech Republic
Economic competition
Economic sectors
Employee relations
Employment
Employment practices
Europe
European Union
Finance
Finance companies
Financial services
Impact analysis
International systems, multi-national companies
Labor Relations
Labour relations
Manufacturing industries
Market economies
Market Economy
Markets
Multinational corporations
Multinational enterprises
Organizational analysis
Products
Race
Studies
Subsidiary companies
Worker Participation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The article addresses the issue of multi-national employers' effects on employment practices and industrial relations through the findings of 12 case studies of multi-nationals in the Czech Republic, in the automotive and finance sectors. It is found that in the automotive sector, where product markets are international, there is more transnational organizational co-ordination, but companies avoid transferring their employee participation practices, preferring unilateral management and leading to vertical segmentation between Western and Eastern European sites. In finance, companies from liberal market economies transfer sophisticated direct participation practices, also for anti-union purposes, as firm-specific advantages. The industrial relations outcome shows enduring gaps with Western European practices.
ISSN:0950-0170
1469-8722
DOI:10.1177/0950017012464417