The conditions for international human resource management: two case studies

Abstract

A move towards the transnational or global corporation is widely canvassed. Rather less attention has been devoted to how the multinational company

actually organizes its HR activities or to the conditions which permit a transnational form of organization to emerge and survive. The paper explores these two issues, using case study evidence from two British-owned companies. The model of the transnational suggests that authority is devolved and control is dispersed. The paper shows, however, that central control was greater than is often thought. As for the conditions for transnationality, key immediate influences were the length of time for which the firms had been multinationals and the routes taken to attain this state; these influences were underpinned by differences in market structure. Even where a transnational approach had been developed, future competitive trends suggested that it might be under threat. The implication is that the‘transnational solution’may be attainable only in certain types of firm and that it may prove to be unstable.

Keywords:

• Centre-subsidiary relations
• decision making
• globalization
• human resource management
• multinational companies.