This article addresses the interplay between international competition and national institutional patterns. It discusses the involvement of Japanese transnational corporations (TNCs) in the contemporary restructuring of work organization and industrial relations in three European countries with historically disparate `systems', Britain, Germany and France. There are three main arguments. First, the operations and influence of such firms have been significantly mediated by existing national institutional configurations; second, such institutional complexes are marked not only by external pressures but also by internal tensions and contestation; and third, while Japanese TNCs have made a direct or indirect contribution to important shifts in work and employment relations, these have not produced a simple convergence towards a new production paradigm.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Altmann, N.
, Kóhler, C. and Meil, P., eds (1992) Technology and Work in German Industry. London: Routledge.
2.
Berggren, C.
(1992) The Volvo Experience: Alternatives to Lean Production. London: Macmillan.
3.
Bochum, U.
and Dorrenbacher, C. (1996) `Reactions to the Crisis: Job Losses, Shortened Working Week, Income Losses and Business Re-engineering in the German Auto Industry', in P. Stewart (ed.) Beyond Japanese Management: the End of Modern Times?, pp. 163-188. London: Frank Cass.
4.
Broad, G.
(1994) `Japan in Britain: the Dynamics of Joint Consultation', Industrial Relations Journal25: 26-38.
5.
Burnham, P.
(1996) `Globalization: States, Markets and Class Relations', Conference on the Globalization of Production and the Regulation of Labour, University of Warwick.
6.
Crouch, C.
(1993) Industrial Relations and European State Traditions. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
7.
Crouch, C.
(1994) `Beyond Corporatism: the Impact of Company Strategy', in R. Hyman and A. Ferner (eds) New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, pp. 196-222. Oxford: Blackwell.
8.
Danford, A.
(1995) `Work Organisation and Labour Process inside Japanese Firms in South Wales: a Break from Taylorism?', Labour Process Conference, Blackpool.
9.
Delbridge, R.
(1995) `Surviving JIT: Control and Resistance in a Japanese Transplant', Journal of Management Studies32: 803-817.
10.
Delbridge, R.
, Lowe, J. and Oliver, N. (1995) `Economics Rules OK? Continuity and Change under Global Competition', Labour Process Conference, Blackpool.
11.
Deutschmann, C.
(1992) `Works Councils and Enterprise-level Industrial Relations in German Transplants of Japanese Firms', in S. Tokunagaet al. (eds) New Impacts on Industrial Relations, pp. 133-147. Munich: Lovidicum-Verlag.
12.
Durand, J.-P.
(1996) `The Competivity of the Automobile Industry: the French Way', in P. Stewart (ed.) Beyond Japanese Management: the End of Modern Times?, pp. 136-162. London: Frank Cass.
13.
Edwards, P.
, Hall, M., Hyman, R., Marginson, P., Sisson, K., Waddington, J. and Winchester, D. (1992) `Great Britain: Still Muddling Through', in A. Ferner and R. Hyman (eds) Industrial Relations in the New Europe, pp. 1-68. Oxford: Blackwell.
14.
EIRR
(1990) `Renault Modernises its Industrial Relations Policy', European Industrial Relations Review194: 12-14.
15.
EIRR
(1991) `Four-day week at Peugeot', European Industrial Relations Review204: 16-18.
16.
EIRR
(1992a) `France', European Industrial Relations Review216: 4-5.
17.
EIRR
(1992b) `West German Bargaining Round', European Industrial Relations Review217: 11-13.
18.
EIRR
(1992c) `Germany: the Response to "Lean Production"', European Industrial Relations Review223: 16-18.
19.
EIRR
(1993) `The Hoover Affair and Social Dumping', European Industrial Relations Review230: 14-20.
20.
EIRR
(1994) `Labour Costs and International Competitiveness', European Industrial Relations Review241: 13-17.
21.
Elger, T.
(1996) `Manufacturing Myths or Miracles: Work Reorganization in British Manufacturing Since 1979', Warwick Labour Studies Working Paper 11.
22.
Elger, T.
and Smith, C., eds (1994) Global Japanization? The Transnational Transformation of the Labour Process. London: Routledge.
23.
Elger, T.
and Smith, C. (1997) `Exit, Voice and Mandate: Labour Strategies and Management Practices of Japanese Firms in Britain', Aston Business School Research Paper RP9715.
24.
Flecker, J.
and Schulten, T. (1997) `The End of Institutional Stability: What Future for the German Model?', Labour Process Conference, University of Edinburgh.
25.
Fridenson, P.
(1995) `Fordism and Quality: the French Case 1919-1993', in H. Shiomi and K. Wada (eds) Fordism Transformed: the Development of Production Methods in the Automobile Industry, pp. 116-183. Oxford: OUP.
26.
Garrahan, P.
and Stewart, P. (1992) The Nissan Enigma: Flexibility at Work in a Local Economy. London: Cassell.
27.
Goetschy, J.
and Rozenblatt, P. (1992) `France: Industrial Relations System at a Turning Point?', in A. Ferner and R. Hyman (eds) Industrial Relations in the New Europe, pp. 404-444. Oxford: Blackwell.
28.
Grant, D.
(1996) `Japanization and New Industrial Relations', in I. Beardwell (ed.) Contemporary Industrial Relations: a Critical Analysis, pp. 203-233. Oxford: OUP.
29.
Grunberg, L.
(1986) `Relations in the Economic Crisis: a Comparison of British and French Automobile Plants', Sociology20: 503-529.
30.
Hassel, A.
and Schulten, T. (1997) `Globalization and the Future of Central Collective Bargaining: the Example of Germany', EMOT Seminar: Globalization and Industrial Transformation in Europe, Malaga.
31.
Hirst, P.
and Thompson, G. (1996) Globalization in Question. Cambridge: Polity.
32.
Hyman, R.
(1986) `British Industrial Relations: the Limits of Corporatism', in O. Jacobi, B. Jessop, H. Kastendiek and M. Regini (eds) Economic Crisis, Trade Unions and the State, pp. 79-104. London: Croom Helm.
33.
Hyman, R.
(1994) `Economic Restructuring, Market Liberalism and the Future of National Industrial Relations Systems' in R. Hyman and A. Ferner (eds) New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, pp. 1-14. Oxford: Blackwell.
IDS
(1993b) `Agreement on Cost-cutting at OPEL', IDS European Report384: 5-6.
36.
Jacobi, O.
, Keller, B. and Miiller-Jentsch, W. (1992) `Germany: Co-determining the Future', in A. Ferner and R. Hyman (eds) Industrial Relations in the New Europe, pp. 218-269. Oxford: Blackwell.
37.
Jefferys, S.
(1996) `Down but Not Out: French Unions after Chirac', Work, Employment and Society10: 509-527.
38.
Jiirgens, U.
(1993) `National and Company Differences in Organizing Production Work in the Car Industry', in B. Kogut (ed.) Country Competitiveness, pp. 106-123. Oxford: OUP.
39.
Kenney, M.
and Florida, R. (1993) Beyond Mass Production: the Japanese System and its Transfer to the US. Oxford: OUP.
40.
Lane, C.
(1989) Management and Labour in Europe. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
41.
Lane, C.
(1991) `Industrial Reorganisation in Europe: Patterns of Convergence and Divergence in Germany, France and Britain', Work, Employment & Society5: 515-539.
42.
Lane, C.
(1994) `Industrial Order and the Transformation of Industrial Relations: Britain, Germany and France Compared', in R. Hyman and A. Ferner (eds) New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, pp. 167-195. Oxford: Blackwell.
43.
Lane, C.
(1995) Industry and Society in Europe: Stability and Change in Britain, Germany and France. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
44.
Lincoln, J.
, Kerbo, H. and Wittenhagen, E. (1995) `Japanese Companies in Germany: a Case-study in Cross-Cultural Management', Industrial Relations34: 417-440.
45.
Maclnnes, J.
(1987) Thatcherism at Work. Buckingham: Open University Press.
46.
Mahnkopf, B.
and Altvater, E. (1995) `Transmission Belts of Transnational Competition? Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining in the Context of European Integration', European Journal of Industrial Relations1: 101-118.
47.
Marginson, P.
and Sisson, K. (1994) `The Structure of Transnational Capital in Europe: the Emerging Euro-company and its Implications for Industrial Relations', in R. Hyman and A. Ferner (eds) New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, pp. 15-51. Oxford: Blackwell.
48.
Morris, J.
, Munday, M. and Wilkinson, B. (1993) Working for the Japanese: the Social and Economic Consequences of Japanese Investment in Wales. London: Athlone.
49.
Mueller, F.
(1992) `Designing Flexible Teamworking: Comparing German and Japanese Approaches', Employee Relations14: 5-16.
50.
Mueller, F.
(1996) `National Stakeholders in the Global Contest for Corporate Investment', European Journal of Industrial Relations2: 345-368.
51.
OECD
(1996) OECD Economic Surveys 1995-1996 United Kingdom. Paris: OECD.
52.
OECD
(1997) OECD Economic Surveys 1996-1997 France. Paris: OECD.
53.
Palmer, G.
(1996) `Reviving Resistance: the Japanese Factory Floor in Britain', Industrial Relations Journal27: 129-142.
54.
Peck, F.
and Stone, I. (1993) `Japanese Inward Investment in the North East of England: Reassessing "Japanization"', Environment and Planning11: 55-69.
55.
Roth, S.
(1992) `Japanization, or Going Our Own Way?', Graue Reibe der Hans-Bockler-Stiftung48: 4-73.
56.
Ruigrok, W.
and van Tulder, R. (1995) The Logic of International Restructuring. London: Routledge.
57.
Sachwald, F.
(ed.) (1995) Japanese Firms in Europe. Luxembourg: Harwood.
58.
Saglio, J.
(1995) `Industrial Relations and Human Resources in France', in R. Locke, T. Kochan and M. Piore (eds) Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy, pp. 197-230. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
59.
Sako, M.
(1994) `Training, Productivity and Quality Control in Japanese Multinational Companies', in M. Aoki and R. Dore (eds) The Japanese Firm, pp. 84-116. Oxford: OUP.
60.
Sako, M.
and Sato, H., eds (1997) Japanese Labour and Management in Transition. London: Routledge.
61.
Schulten, T.
(1996) `European Works Councils: Prospects for a New System of European Industrial Relations', European Journal of Industrial Relations2: 303-325.
62.
Smith, C.
and Elger, T. (1997) `New Town, New Capital, New Workplace? The Impact of the Employment Relations of Japanese Inward Investors in a West Midlands New Town', Aston Business School Research Paper RP9720.
63.
Smith, C.
and Meiksins, P. (1995) `System, Society and Dominance Effects in Cross-national Organizational Analysis', Work, Employment and Society9: 241-267.
64.
Smith, P.
and Morton, G. (1993) `Union Exclusion and the Decollectivisation of Industrial Relations in Contemporary Britain', British Journal of Industrial Relations31: 97-114.
65.
Sorge, A.
and Maurice, M. (1993) `The Societal Effect in the Strategies of French and German Machine-tool Manufacturers', in B. Kogut (ed.) Country Competitiveness, pp. 75-95. Oxford: OUP.
66.
Stopford, J.
and Turner, L. (1985) Britain and the Multinationals. Chichester: Wiley.
67.
Streeck, W.
(1992) Social Institutions and Economic Performance. London: Sage.
68.
Van Ruysseveldt, J.
and Visser, J. (1996) `Contestation and State Intervention Forever? Industrial Relations in France', in J. Van Ruysseveldt and J. Visser (eds) Industrial Relations in Europe: Traditions and Transitions, pp. 82-123. London: Sage.
69.
Whitley, R.
(1992) `Societies, Firms and Markets: the Social Structuring of Business Systems', in R. Whitley (ed.) European Business Systems, pp. 5-45. London: Sage.
70.
Williams, K.
, Haslam, C., Williams, J. and Johal, S. (1994) `Deconstructing Car Assembler Productivity', International Journal of Production Economics34: 253-265.
71.
Womack, J.
, Jones, D. and Roos, D. (1990) The Machine that Changed the World. New York: Rawson.
