scholarly journals One firm, two countries, one workplace model? The case of Foxconn’s internationalisation

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-278
Author(s):  
Rutvica Andrijasevic ◽  
Devi Sacchetto ◽  
Ngai Pun
Keyword(s):  
Mainland China ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Chinese Firm ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Managerial Agency ◽  
Work And Employment ◽  
Insight Into

This article aims to provide insight into the employment relations in China-based multinational companies internationalising to Europe, a still relatively unexplored topic. We investigate the transfer of work and employment practices from Foxconn’s manufacturing headquarters in mainland China to its subsidiaries in Czechia and the factors that influence the firm’s internationalisation of production. By drawing upon original ethnographic fieldwork, the study makes a two-fold contribution. First, it shows the analytical inadequacy of the ‘latecomer’ model which assumes that the Chinese firm is an asset seeker. Second, it illustrates the relevance of diversity of labour and non-institutionalised forms of workers’ agency for theorisation of internationalisation. These topics are still insufficiently addressed by the literature that favours managerial agency and the model of distinctive and stable national labour forces. The study contributes to the theoretical debates on internationalisation by illustrating the limits of the national institutionalist perspective, the importance of considering a multi-scalar analytical framework and the relevance of labour composition in shaping multinational employment relations. JEL Codes: J61, J42, L23

The politics of employment relations in a multinational corporation during crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 560-582
Author(s):  
Stephen Clibborn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Motors ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
Successful Transfer ◽  
Insight Into

Much progress has been made recognising the importance of power and politics in organisational processes but legal regulatory institutional constraints on actors remain overemphasised in the extant literature. This article provides unique insight into organisational processes during the global economic crisis. The glare of crisis illuminates the negotiated nature of organisational processes and outcomes, demonstrating the range of options available to actors, both within and beyond apparent legal institutional limits. General Motors has received significant publicity for its near collapse, government bailout and restructure through bankruptcy proceedings. During the crisis the company made changes impacting its global workforce. This article tracks three key employment practices from development in the United States headquarters to implementation in the Australian subsidiary in the context of inconsistent local laws. Directives to cut pay for some employees, freeze pay for others and terminate the employment of a large number of workers were received and implemented in the subsidiary in varying and counterintuitive ways. Institutional consistency does not guarantee successful transfer, while even host country legal institutional inconsistency is no guarantee of failure.

scholarly journals Polluting pharmaceutical atmospheres: Compulsion, resistance, and symbolism of buprenorphine in Norway

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-285
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Bartoszko
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Opioid Substitution Treatment ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Opioid Substitution

This article offers a counter narrative to the current ethnographic studies on treatment with buprenorphine, in which notions of promised and experienced normality dominate. In some countries, introduction of buprenorphine led to a perceived “normalisation” of opioid substitution treatment, and this new modality was well received. However, in Norway the response has been almost the opposite: patients have reacted with feelings of disenfranchisement, failure, and mistrust. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Norway, this article offers comparative insight into local experiences and subjectivities in the context of the globalisation of buprenorphine. By outlining the ethnographic description of the pharmaceutical atmosphere of forced transfers to buprenorphine-naloxone, I show that the social history of the medication is as significant as its pharmacological qualities for various treatment effects. An analysis of the reactions to this treatment modality highlights the reciprocal shaping of lived experiences and institutional forces surrounding pharmaceutical use in general and opioids in particular.

The contemporary British workplace: a safer and healthier place?

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Robinson ◽  
Clive Smallman
Keyword(s):  
Health And Safety ◽  
Work Force ◽  
British Government ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Workplace Accidents ◽  
Management Techniques ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Work And Employment ◽  
Force Characteristics

Using a nationally representative survey of British workplaces, this article seeks to extend current perspectives on OHS (occupational health and safety) by examining the impact of a range of current work and employment practices, and work-force characteristics on the incidence of workplace accidents and, uniquely, ill health. Our findings indicate that the British Government faces major challenges in terms of its plans for OHS. Ill health, in particular, is poorly served by existing OHS management techniques, while injury and illness seem to be associated with many more ‘determinants’ in the world of work than has previously been proven.

scholarly journals Towards the development of a DSS supporting the integration of crowdsourcing in theory testing: Analytical framework design

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Enwereuzo ◽  
Pedro Antunes ◽  
David Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Framework Design ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Insight Into

© 2019 Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved. Crowdsourcing can be an adopted strategy for researchers where tasks are distributed to internet users to harness different forms of data, which adds to the reliability and validity of the research process. As theory testing is an essential part of the research process, involving activities that most times needs input from different and diverse participants, the need to consider adopting the crowdsourcing strategy for theory testing is paramount. Adopting a design science paradigm to manage this challenge, we design an analytic framework which comprises of important attributes that need to be considered if crowdsourcing is to be used for any of the theory testing activities. The framework which was justified using sample cases gives us an insight into what attributes make such activity crowdsource-able. The value of this artefact lies in its capacity to help researchers utilize crowdsourcing to their advantage.

Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Wong ◽  
Tat Chor Au-Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Transitional Stage ◽  
Young Workers ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Alternative Pathways ◽  
Work And Life

Informed by autonomist perspectives on precarious work and labour subjectivity, this article discusses the dynamics between autonomy and job precarity. Based on purposive sampling, the qualitative findings, drawn from interviews with precarious workers aged 18–29 years in Hong Kong, reveal tensions among four types of aspirations. First, the desire for achieving freedom and individual ambition in work made the respondents critical of the notion of employment-related stability. Second, a determination to break with mainstream career paths empowered young people to take alternative pathways to new modes of work and life. Third, precarious employment was seen as a stepping stone for realising plans for travel or study. Finally, tolerance of precarity was perceived as a transitional stage in their striving for future stability. However, the findings also show the structured dilemmas experienced by young workers regarding the complex relationship between autonomy and precarity in a neoliberal labour market. Some young workers pursued work–life autonomy, constrained by precarious employment relations, acknowledging and bearing the costs, while some strategically used precarity in individual negotiations with employers to realise their goals. This article analyses young workers’ subjectivity through the lenses of autonomy and age and pushes the boundary of precarity studies beyond an implicit dichotomy between determinism and voluntarism. JEL codes: I38, J38, J62

A FIRM-LEVEL STUDY OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS: THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

2006 ◽  
Vol 03 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. MA ◽  
M. LIAO
Keyword(s):  
International Competitiveness ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
International Competition ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
International Context ◽  
Beijing Area ◽  
Innovative Capability ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

An analytical framework for conceptualizing the issue of international competitiveness at the firm level is presented taking into account that the firms are increasingly being exposed to international competition. The model identifies three interdependent innovative capability dimensions, which offer insight into the sources of sustainable international competitive advantages over time: Technological capability, managerial capability and resource exploiting capability. The paper presents the challenges of these three components of innovative capability in an international context, and describes how a firm can develop and sustain competitiveness through the operation in the environment of globalization. Finally, based on data from 213 firms in the Beijing area, the paper proves that these three innovative capability components are closely related to international competitiveness. The study reinforces the importance of innovative capability composition in internationalization decision-making and suggests further research in this context.

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