Convergence versus Divergence: Testing Varieties of Capitalism Perspective on the Globalization of Business Practices

This paper analyses links between intra-organizational adaptation and institutional variation across countries. Using the varieties of capitalism viewpoint, we examine strategic options open to multinational firms operating simultaneously in liberal market economies and coordinated market economies. A holistic perspective is achieved by implementing an original ‘index of institutional impact.’ Data are drawn from a survey of the subsidiaries of German firms in the UK in 2007. The results suggest that pressure towards accepting local practices for multinational firms varies across the dimensions in which firms resolve coordination problems, inciting speedy convergence in some, but allowing for maintaining distinctive practices in other

The effects of market economy and foreign MNE subsidiaries on the convergence and divergence of HRM

This study explores patterns of human resource management (HRM) practices across market economies, and between indigenous firms and foreign MNE subsidiary operations, offering a novel perspective on convergence and divergence. Applying institutional theorizing to improve our understanding of convergence/ divergence as a process and an outcome, data collected from nine countries at three points in time over a decade confirm that convergence and divergence occur to different extents in a non-linear fashion, and vary depending on the area of HRM practice observed. Patterns of adoption and convergence/ divergence are explained through the effect of institutional constraints, which vary between liberal and coordinated market economies, and between indigenous firms and foreign MNE subsidiaries. The study contributes a more graded conceptualization of convergence/ divergence, which reflects the complex dynamic reality of international business

Politische Hebel zur notwendigen Stärkung der Tarifbindung

Nur noch jeder zweite abhängig Beschäftigte ist durch einen Tarifvertrag geschützt. Die Ampelkoalition will das ändern. Welche Reformen nötig sind, damit der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft nicht weiter der Boden entzogen wird

Mutual Recognition on "Trial": The Long Road to Services Liberalization

In his 1986 White Paper on completing the single market, Lord Cockfield hailed mutual recognition as the miracle formula for the much needed liberalization of services markets. Twenty years later, the European Union is passing a services directive where the principle of mutual recognition is conspicuously absent, at a time when effective liberalization seems ever more necessary. How do we explain this puzzle? Why has mutual recognition been put on "trial"? We make three interrelated arguments. First, the initial draft directive overlooked the EU’s prior experience in this area which is one of "managed" mutual recognition. Secondly, the political context had changed significantly, with enlargement exacerbating the distributional consequences of the adoption of mutual recognition. Thirdly, the final compromise succeeded precisely because it recovers the spirit of the managed mutual recognition, albeit in a minimalist form. Nevertheless, final agreement has come at a price: the symbolic sacrifice of the principle of mutual recognition itself