Exploring the impact of institutional and organizational factors on the reaction of MNCs to the global financial crisis

Abstract

This paper analyses some of the factors that impact multinational companies' (MNCs) reaction to the global financial crisis. This paper reports the results from a large-scale study of its impact on MNCs in Australia, considering occurrences of site closures, offshoring, outsourcing, labour force reductions, reductions in working hours, salary reductions, and reductions in training and travel. Evidence showed that MNC reactions varied according to certain institutional and organizational effects. For example, MNCs originating from liberal-market economies are more likely to have offshored and outsourced production and reduced employment. The implications for understanding of MNC behaviour are discussed.

Keywords:

• global financial crisis
• liberal and coordinated market economies
• multinational companies

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Australian Research Council (Project No. DP120103071) for their financial support. The authors also acknowledge the contributions of our academic colleagues, Ph.D. students and research assistants who have played roles in this research. In particular, we recognize the contribution of Timothy Bartram, John Burgess, Helen Russell, Gitika Sablok and Pauline Stanton. Finally, the authors are very grateful for the helpful comments received from two anonymous reviewers on previous drafts of the paper.