Keith Sisson

Between Decentralization and Europeanization: Sectoral Bargaining in Four Countries and Two Sectors

This article draws on the findings of research in metalworking and financial services in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the UK to explore the impact of three challenges to established sector-level bargaining arrangements: further decentralization to company level and a reorientation of the bargaining agenda towards competitiveness and employment; the cross-border dimension to bargaining prompted by the single European market; and the emergence of new business activities. It finds similarity within each sector across countries, and similarity within each country across sectors. Implications are drawn out for the balance between company and sectoral bargaining; the relationship between sector-level bargaining arrangements in different countries; and the capacity of sectoral systems to adapt to new contingencies.

The conditions for international human resource management: two case studies

A move towards the transnational or global corporation is widely canvassed. Rather less attention has been devoted to how the multinational company actually organizes its HR activities or to the conditions which permit a transnational form of organization to emerge and survive. The paper explores these two issues, using case study evidence from two British-owned companies. The model of the transnational suggests that authority is devolved and control is dispersed. The paper shows, however, that central control was greater than is often thought. As for the conditions for transnationality, key immediate influences were the length of time for which the firms had been multinationals and the routes taken to attain this state; these influences were underpinned by differences in market structure. Even where a transnational approach had been developed, future competitive trends suggested that it might be under threat. The implication is that the‘transnational solution’may be attainable only in certain types of fi...