Global, National and Local Practices in Multinational Companies

This book explores the relationships between the day-to-day activities of managers in multinational firms and the wider social, institutional and cultural contexts in which they operate. The first part of the book asks how managers and other employees might use the unique social and economic characteristics of the countries in which they work to shape the way multinational firms are organized and managed. The discussion then moves on to investigate how management practices and knowledge are spread throughout a multinational firm, taking particular account of political and cultural factors in shaping such processes. The final part of the book then takes a closer look at expatriates, who in many ways embody the internationalization of business. Here, light is initially shed on the role such managers play in the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries before examining the interaction between the activities of expatriates, management practices in multinational firms and the wider socio-political context. Book jacket.

Mike Geppert is a Reader in International Management Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. Michael Mayer is a Reader in Strategic Management at Edinburgh University School of Management.

List of Figures and Tables * Notes on the Contributors * Preface * Introduction--M.Geppert & M.Mayer * PART 1: MANAGERIAL PRACTICES AND THE ROLE OF NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS * The Comparative Institutional Approach to Human Resource Management in Multinational Companies--A.Tempel & P.Walgenbach * Employment Relations as a Resource in the Socio-Political Construction of Transnational Social Spaces by Multinational Companies--K.Williams & M.Geppert * PART 2: PROBLEMS OF TRANSFERRING MANAGERIAL PRACTICES TRANSNATIONALLY * Transferring Value-infused Organizational Practices in Multinational Companies--S.Blazejewski * Variation of Practices across Multiple Levels within Transnational Companies--A.Mohan * Knowledge Transfer Process in Multinational Companies--T.C.Chini & B.Ambos * PART 3: SOCIAL PRACTICES AND 'INTERNATIONAL' PRACTITIONERS * Governing the Outposts? Exploring the Role of Expatriate Managers in a Multinational Corporation--F.Moore * Embedding the Multinational Enterprise--R.Loveridge * Index List of Figures and Tables * Notes on the Contributors * Preface * Introduction--M.Geppert & M.Mayer * PART 1: MANAGERIAL PRACTICES AND THE ROLE OF NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS * The Comparative Institutional Approach to Human Resource Management in Multinational Companies--A.Tempel & P.Walgenbach * Employment Relations as a Resource in the Socio-Political Construction of Transnational Social Spaces by Multinational Companies--K.Williams & M.Geppert * PART 2: PROBLEMS OF TRANSFERRING MANAGERIAL PRACTICES TRANSNATIONALLY * Transferring Value-infused Organizational Practices in Multinational Companies--S.Blazejewski * Variation of Practices across Multiple Levels within Transnational Companies--A.Mohan * Knowledge Transfer Process in Multinational Companies--T.C.Chini & B.Ambos * PART 3: SOCIAL PRACTICES AND 'INTERNATIONAL' PRACTITIONERS * Governing the Outposts? Exploring the Role of Expatriate Managers in a Multinational Corporation--F.Moore * Embedding the Multinational Enterprise--R.Loveridge * Index