Transferring the Investors in People concept from the UK to The Netherlands

A key issue in international management is the extent to which management practices are converging in response to the pressures of globalisation, and the ready availability to managers in all parts of the world of the same concepts of what constitutes best practice in the different management disciplines. In some instances convergence may be encouraged by Government action. This is the case with the introduction into The Netherlands of the Investors in People (IiP) scheme that originated in the UK. IiP is a benchmark award, given to organisations that can demonstrate that they meet a set of criteria that relate to employee management and the commitment of resources to training. This article is a review of the introduction of IiP in The Netherlands, with the aim of seeing what insights are provided in relation to the cross‐cultural transfer of employment relations practice. Two case studies are used to explore the issues from the perspective of organisations working towards the standard in the two countries. It is concluded that the IiP standard can be transferred to another country, but that modifications have to be made to aspects of its organisation to take account of national differences. The implications of the transfer are discussed in relation to the convergence debate.