Article,
Power and the Diffusion of Organizational Change within Multinational Enterprises
European Journal of Industrial Relations, 1 (2): 229-257 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/095968019512004
Abstract
A key question in debates on the multinational enterprise (MNE) is how it transmits industrial relations and other practices between units operating in different countries. This article treats MNEs as structures of power. It examines aspects of organizational power such as the possession and exchange of resources, the exercise of formal authority and the structuring of interests through `corporate culture'. In MNEs, it is argued, these strands of power give rise to different `channels of influence' for transmitting organizational practices across national borders. Having speculated on which `channels of influence' are likely to be found in different kinds of MNE, the article illustrates the functioning of MNE power structures by examining one concrete mechanism of cross-national transmission: the diffusion of best practice through `coercive comparisons'. It also considers the way in which corporate structures of power interact with systems of national power and authority, and how this affects the cross-national diffusion of employment practices.
