Title: Employment relations in German multinational companies in the UK and the future of the German model: empirical evidence on country-of-origin effects and industry internationalisation

Authors: Heinz-Josef Tuselmann, Arne Heise, Frank McDonald, Matthew Allen

Addresses: Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, Aytoun Street, Manchester M1 3GH, UK. ' Department of Socioeconomics, Hamburg University, VMP 9, 20146 Hamburg, Germany. ' Bradford University School of Management, Emm Lane, Bradford BD9 4JL, UK. ' Manchester Business School, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB, UK

Abstract: Interest has grown in the significance of the country-of-origin impact on the Employment Relations (ER) approaches in the international subsidiaries of Multinational Companies (MNCs). In this article, a comparative cross-sectional analysis of German subsidiaries with indigenous UK firms will be provided. The central issues concern the extent to which German MNCs in deregulated Anglo-American industrial relations settings draw on the German ER model, adjust to the host-country context or adopt current |best practice| prescriptions frequently associated with leading US MNCs. Here, the key questions are: How and to what extent do different industry-specific forces interrelate with country-of-origin effects and pressures to adopt |best practice| approaches to shape subsidiary ER outcomes?

Keywords: industrial relations; multinational corporations; MNCs; internationalisation; Germany; UK; United Kingdom; country-of-origin impact; international subsidiaries; employment relations; comparative analysis; deregulation; USA; United States; best practice; industry-specific forces; pressures to adopt; public policy; governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2010.032304

International Journal of Public Policy, 2010 Vol.5 No.4, pp.390 - 408

Published online: 29 Mar 2010 *

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