INTREPID · Employment Relations in Multinational Companies: Cross National Comparative Analysis

This proposed exchange programme seeks to develop a community of international scholars involved in closely linked studies on management practice in multinational companies (MNCs) across different national contexts. Despite the importance of MNCs to the global economy there is little by means of both comprehensive and representative studies of how MNCs organise and manage their employees in different contexts, and how the growing power of MNCs is impacting other social actors (e.g. trade union movement, national and local government). This lacuna goes right to the heart of this network’s objective i.e. to ensure an accurate, representative depiction of the activities of MNCs. This consortium involves scholars from three European Union (EU) and three third countries involving some 17 universities and business schools. International researcher exchanges represent a critical means of driving this research programme forward through facilitating more nuanced comparative insights that can only be gained through on-the-ground interactions between scholars from different countries and their involvement in empirical investigations outside of their own national context. The proposed research programme seeks to build on the embryonic synergies between the various partner countries to provide rich empirical data that can be used to both construct theoretical frameworks and inform policy. Exchanges have been identified and agreed between partner institutes and include both established scholars and newer researchers in the initial stages of their scholarly careers. We feel this is imperative for team renewal and to facilitate the growth and longevity of the research network going forward. A relatively equal distribution into and out of the European and third-country institutions (112 person months over 4 years) have been identified. This breaks down into 59 person months out of EU institutions and 53 person months from the ‘third’ country partners.