Scholarly attention has tended to focus on the owners and management of the multinationals, but when the focus is changed to that of subsidiaries, different aspects of business development and international capitalism come to light. Sandvik’s study looks at the Falconbridge nickel refinery in Kristiansand, Norway.

International business is synonymous with big challenges. Cultural and institutional complexities remain ever potent, so are 'newer' concerns like climate change and international terrorism. This timely book examines these challenges from the perspectives of different international business actors.

The financial crisis of 2008 brought new urgency to the question how best to organise national economies. This volume gives a business history perspective on the Varieties of Capitalism debate and considers the respective merits of the liberal and coordinated market economies. It looks at individual firms and business people as well as institutions and takes a long-term perspective by covering the whole 20th century. The authors examine both continuity and change with a particular focus on the Netherlands, a nation with an open economy, situated between two countries that oppose each other in the way they organize their economies: Germany and Great Britain. The Netherlands also provides an important case study with Dutch business maintaining strong links to the United States, widely considered to be the ‘typical’ liberal market economy. Contributors address the main topics of the capitalism debate, including labour relations, corporate governance, the firm and its leaders, coordination between firms, innovation, multinationals as agents of change, and economic performance. They show that the Netherlands moved from a mostly liberal market economy before 1914 towards a coordinated market economy from the 1930s onwards, and – up to a certain extent – back again to a more liberal market economy. Under both varieties of capitalism the country experienced economic growth and stagnation, but a more equal division of wealth occurred in the coordinated market economy only. Wars and international economic crises offered moments for revaluation and changes of tack. This book raises questions for every country around the globe: How is change being brought about? Can one see different results from a liberal or a more coordinated market economy? And most critically: which system is more effective in bringing prosperity and enabling enough people to share in the wealth?

'The latest generation of research in comparative institutional analysis of business is impressively captured in this volume; readers find depth in theory development, breadth in application to practice and policy, and insight on the big research issues ahead. Both generalist and specialist readers will find much of value here.' – Bruce Evan Kaufman, Georgia State University, US This inspiring Handbook brings together alternative perspectives from a range of disciplines to shed light on the nature of institutions and their relationship to firm-level practices and outcomes across a wide range of national settings. Expertly written by leading scholars from a range of different starting points, this compendium presents a synthesis of recent work relating to institutionally-informed accounts from transitional and emerging markets, as well as from mature economies. It specifically focuses on the linkage between institutions and what goes on inside firms, and the relationship between setting, strategic choice and systemic outcomes. The Handbook is explicitly multi-disciplinary, encompassing perspectives from a range of the functional areas of management studies. It will prove invaluable for postgraduate students and faculty in international business, and the wider research community in the areas of international business, corporate governance, socio-economics, and comparative HRM.

This book provides cutting edge research and knowledge and an academic study of the impact of globalisation in different areas affecting management and how management is responding. It gives a comprehensive analysis of what is actually happening and likely future trends. It is not just a focus on 'convergence' arguments, but integrates a broader view of still remaining regional and national differences in management and organisation. The book draws on new theoretical approaches in the field of international business, highlighting areas such as Anglo-German subsidiaries of MNCs, HRM practices and change management processes or employment relations in US-based MNCs in Europe and many other aspects.

From the mid-1980s to the turn of the 1990s the international HRfield was considered to be in its infancy. There continues to beboth an evolution of territory covered by the field – aseries of successively evolving cultural, geographical andinstitutional challenges faced by the multinational corporation(MNC) – as well as more critical questioning whether this hascreated an expanded or a fragmented field. This book brings together the latest research on important“issues-driven” concerns that the field of IHRM now hasto face, absorb, interpret then reanalyse through internationallenses. This volume gives attention to those aspects of MNCbehaviour – choices about location, how they organize localsubsidiaries, choices made about technology, capital and labour,and choices made about investments and strategies – that aresubject to institutional influences. It also gives voice to anumber of contemporary issues – reverse knowledge flows,skill supply strategies, employer branding, e-enablement,outsourcing, global networks – that now need to beaccommodated within the field. Broadens the IHRM field to cover comparative and institutionalperspectives Provides a multi-level analysis of globalization phenomena atthe individual, organization, and macro level Focuses on the current problems and issues driving theattention of IHRM Directors