Christoph Dörrenbächer, Heinz Tüselmann, Heinz-Rudolf Meissner and Qi Cao
The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework to categorize the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates. Using the case of foreign affiliates in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework to categorize the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates. Using the case of foreign affiliates in Germany, this paper further explores what factors shape the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the scarcity of research on industrial relations in foreign affiliates, this paper is based on conceptual work as well as on a comparative case investigation of 21 foreign affiliates in Germany, involving informants from both labor and management.
Findings
Industrial relations in foreign affiliates in Germany can take four different qualities, based on the following: social partnership; conflict partnership; latently adversarial; and adversarial relations. While previous literature focused on country-of-origin effects, the authors’ case-based investigation further revealed that both affiliate effects and multinational corporation (MNC) effects have a strong impact on the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates in Germany.
Originality/value
This paper provides systematic evidence on the presumption that micro-organizational and MNC-specific factors are necessary to gain a deeper understanding of industrial relations in MNCs. Moreover, this paper contributes to the discussion on the quality of industrial relations in foreign affiliates in Germany, by placing results from both single-case studies and management surveys into perspective.
Details
Keywords
David Freund, Robert Lee, Heinz Tüselmann and Qi Cao
The main purpose of this study is to explain the combined effects of host country weak network ties and absorptive capacity on the innovative foreign knowledge inflows of…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to explain the combined effects of host country weak network ties and absorptive capacity on the innovative foreign knowledge inflows of international high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
Data are drawn from the two largest and most authoritative German Federal Government census-databases of biotech and nanotech SMEs. A structured survey questionnaire was administered and regression analysis adopted.
Findings
This study demonstrates weak network ties in the host country and developing absorptive capacity produce a combined effect that positively influences international high-tech SMEs innovative foreign knowledge inflows. Also, host country weak network ties and absorptive capacity when considered separately, each respectively, positively influence innovative foreign knowledge inflows.
Practical implications
The results help inform key personnel in international high-tech SMEs about the relevance of host country weak network ties and absorptive capacity for foreign knowledge inflows. In addition, the results help policymakers and think-tanks to promote tailored advice and guidance e.g. those policymakers implementing the EU Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan.
Originality/value
There is a recent call in the literature to combine network theory and absorptive capacity theory to better explain knowledge creation in the context of international high-tech SMEs knowledge sourcing. By addressing this call, the study provides a more refined and comprehensive account of international high-tech SMEs innovative foreign knowledge inflows.
Details
Keywords
Against the background of the hotly‐debated issue of Germany’s attractiveness as a manufacturing location, the article assesses whether, and to what extent, the extraordinary…
Abstract
Against the background of the hotly‐debated issue of Germany’s attractiveness as a manufacturing location, the article assesses whether, and to what extent, the extraordinary growth of German direct foreign investment (DFI) into Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) can be connected to a relocation of German industry caused by unfavourable location conditions on the cost side of the German economy. Reviews the German DFI position in general, analyses the particularities of the growth patterns of German DFI into ECE, critically evaluates the perceived location advantages of the region, examines the reasons underlying the DFI decisions of German companies and the subsequent types of investments in ECE, and finally assesses their economic impact on Germany. Concludes that, although the majority of German investors transferred production capacities to ECE, these were only in the minority of cases connected to unfavourable conditions on the cost side of the German location. There are strong grounds to suggest that the net effect of all German DFI into ECE on German exports, production, domestic investment and ultimately German jobs, has been positive.
Details
Keywords
Frank McDonald, Heinz J. Tüselmann and Arne Heise
Investigates the role of direct foreign investment (DFI) in promoting employment in host regions in the European Union (EU). A theoretical framework is developed which suggests…
Abstract
Investigates the role of direct foreign investment (DFI) in promoting employment in host regions in the European Union (EU). A theoretical framework is developed which suggests that the initial impact of DFI on employment is likely to be small and mainly linked to the creation of low skilled jobs with the loss of employment in host economies due to the displacement of domestic output by increased exports from the parent companies of subsidiaries. However, in the longer term, DFI flows should diversify the operations of subsidiaries thereby inducing a change in the pattern of jobs in host regions. The framework is assessed using evidence from a survey of German subsidiaries in north‐west England. Concludes with some policy implications and a future research agenda to expand and develop knowledge in this area.
Details
Keywords
This paper discusses whether in view of the accumulated contextual pressures the evolving new German employee relations model will resemble a more flexible version of the current…
Abstract
This paper discusses whether in view of the accumulated contextual pressures the evolving new German employee relations model will resemble a more flexible version of the current one or whether it will emerge as an Anglo‐Saxonised German model. It ascertains that despite the current contestation of the German model, erosion tendencies, though not negligible, are not as widespread as is often assumed and that far‐reaching reforms along neo‐liberal lines are not desirable in the German context. It is suggested that a large proportion of German employers have a vested interest in maintaining the fundamentals of the current system. A path‐dependent reform trajectory internal to the system is proposed. This paper shows that the series of reforms carried out so far has been accomplished within the parameters of the existing system, taking the form of regulated flexibility and centrally co‐ordinated decentralisation. It ascertains that the German model is more adaptable and more flexible than its reputation suggests, allowing companies to operate with more flexible collective employee relations’ responses. Yet, evidence suggests that firms are already under‐utilising the broadened framework. Nevertheless, the author predicts a continuation of the reform process and an emerging new flexible German employee relations model that remains essentially a collective one.
Details
Keywords
Analyses the tensions between change and continuity in the German model of labour flexibility and examines why recent deregulation and decentralization measures only had a limited…
Abstract
Analyses the tensions between change and continuity in the German model of labour flexibility and examines why recent deregulation and decentralization measures only had a limited impact on companies’ flexibility approaches. Addresses the subsequent issues of how, and to what extent the framework for the several forms of flexibility should be broadened in the particular German context, where the institutional/regulatory environment has encouraged the widespread adoption of a diversified quality production strategy, based on high levels of functional flexibility. Concludes that a large section of German companies may already operate near an optional labour flexibility mix. Suggests system internal reforms based on regulated flexibility and centrally co‐ordinated decentralization, in order to enhance, to some extent, the framework for flexibility without undermining the underlying incentive structure for high skills/high productivity approaches to flexibility.
Details
Keywords
Heinz‐Josef Tüselmann, Frank McDonald and Arne Heise
Based on a representative survey of German subsidiaries in the UK, their parent companies and a comparative analysis to the Workplace Employee Relations Survey 1998, the article…
Abstract
Based on a representative survey of German subsidiaries in the UK, their parent companies and a comparative analysis to the Workplace Employee Relations Survey 1998, the article examines the impact of nationality of ownership on employee relations (ER) in German multinational companies (MNCs) operating in an Anglo‐Saxon setting. It also assesses whether in light of heightened international competition and the problems in the German ER model, there has been a weakening of the home country effect over time. The study finds little evidence of a home country effect in relation to ER structures but reveals a pronounced country‐of‐origin effect in the ER approach and style. There is also evidence that German MNCs have responded to the globalisation pressures of the 1990s by a heightened emphasis on the country‐of‐origin collective approach in their UK subsidiaries, whilst at the same time developing comprehensive direct human resource management employee involvement schemes to complement, rather than substitute collective ER.
Details
Keywords
Government and employers’ sources frequently emphasize that companies located in western Germany have traditionally been circumscribed in their pursuit of flexibility in staffing…
Abstract
Government and employers’ sources frequently emphasize that companies located in western Germany have traditionally been circumscribed in their pursuit of flexibility in staffing, working time arrangements and pay, due to the particular configuration of the German industrial relations system and labour market regulations. Examines to what extent recent deregulation and decentralization measures have actually enhanced the environment for greater labour flexibility. Then considers whether this has led to higher degrees of labour flexibility at the company level. The analysis of a number of key flexibility indicators reveals that, despite some significant broadening of the scope for greater labour flexibility since the late 1980s, companies seem, in general, not to have greatly altered their flexibility mix. In the light of the relatively high degree of functional flexibility in German firms, the pay‐offs from enhancing other forms of flexibility may be considered to be low.
Details
Keywords
Matthew M.C. Allen, Heinz‐Josef Tüselmann, Hamed El‐Sa'id and Paul Windrum
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…
Abstract
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 area 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.
Details
Keywords
Matthew Allen and Heinz‐Josef Tüselmann
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…
Abstract
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.