Multinationals, Labour Management and the Process of Diffusion: Evidence from Three British MNCs Available to Purchase

Much of the literature on Multinational Companies (MNCs) and Human Resource Management (HRM) is concerned with the extent to which such companies diffuse practices developed in one subsidiary to a subsidiary in another country. Some of the research into the HRM practices of foreign‐owned companies in the UK, for example, is concerned with whether the home country management style and accompanying practices have been introduced into their British plants (e.g. Buckley and Enderwick, 1985; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1992). This can be thought of as forward diffusion in the sense that the direction of diffusion is from home to host countries. This can be contrasted with reverse diffusion in which the direction occurs from host to home countries. The first aim of the paper is to analyse which types of MNC are most likely to seek to diffuse practices from host to home countries. Another emerging strand of the literature on diffusion has examined precisely how MNCs can achieve the diffusion of practices: Mueller and Purcell (1992), for example, have investigated how MNCs in the automotive industry gain acceptance on the part of worker representatives to the diffusion of practices. Coller (1994) and Edwards et al (1993) have provided evidence on the mechanisms through which MNCs are able to diffuse practices. The second aim of the paper is to build on this literature in assessing the mechanisms through which reverse diffusion is achieved.