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This chapter establishes the distinctive characteristics of the four host business systems: the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. After providing an overview of the role of foreign, particularly US, multinationals within each of the four economies, it establishes the key aspects of the industrial relations systems in each case, particularly those that contrast with the American system. Building on this, the chapter provides an analysis of the extent to which each of the countries are likely to be ‘receptive’ to the introduction of American-style employment practices.

This book explores the trajectory of Germany's industrial relations system in the years after World War II and relates it to the German economy. The story of industrial relations in postwar Germany is reflective of many broader economic, political, and social trends in the country during this period. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the postwar German industrial relations system flourished and served as an important component of an effective economy and a sound democracy. Trade unions and employers associations embraced “social partnership,” that is, they accepted each other as equal partners that work together constructively to advance the economic and social well-being of German citizens. Using historical institutionalism and statistical analysis, this book examines the two most prominent explanations for developments in German industrial relations: the “erosion” and “exhaustion” arguments. Part I discusses the framework of the German industrial relations system, while Part II looks at the principal role played by trade unions and employers associations in industrial relations.

This chapter examines how law and the state supported and sustained Germany's postwar industrial relations system. It first provides an overview of the German labor law before considering how the postwar German state has bolstered the social partners through the use of tripartite bodies to govern numerous aspects of German society, both economic and noneconomic. It then challenges two widely held assumptions about labor law and the role of the state in postwar industrial relations. First, the German economy was more successful in the immediate postwar era because losing World War II wiped the slate clean of prewar laws and deals between interest groups and the state that hindered growth. Second, labor and management practitioners commonly stress collective bargaining autonomy and underplay the important role of the state in providing the prerequisites for that autonomy. The chapter argues that the forces driving membership trends for German trade unions and employers associations differ and that state support of German industrial relations cannot be held responsible for change in the postwar era.

This chapter examines Germany's distinctive system of codetermination (Mitbestimmung), which gives employees some say in management decision making, and the role it played in preserving the solidity and stability of the German industrial relations system throughout the postwar years. It begins with an overview of codetermination and its two components: works councils and employee representation on supervisory boards of large enterprises. It then explains how codetermination has made trade unions especially resilient and goes on to assess employers' attitudes toward codetermination, particularly with regards to various forms of parity representation on supervisory boards. It also considers the efforts of employers associations and trade unions to amend codetermination legislation over the years. The chapter concludes by discussing the larger significance of codetermination to German industrial relations and the German economy.

This book concludes by discussing the findings presented in the first five chapters and integrating them into a comprehensive picture of industrial relations in Germany. It shows that labor law and the German state have been resilient throughout the postwar years and effectively provide a framework that incorporates the actors constructively into the German economy. It argues that the industrial relations framework has remained effective and relevant, able to withstand threats and tumult such as German unification and European integration. It considers how the neocorporatist components of the German state, including the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency), have helped to preserve the political influence of trade unions and employers associations. It compares these and other results with those in other countries and ends by reflecting on the future of the German industrial relations system.

This chapter examines the relevance of employers associations to postwar Germany's industrial relations system. It begins with a brief overview of the prewar establishment and postwar reconstruction of employers associations and goes on to consider how employers associations fared after the German unification. It then discusses the effects of industry structure and trade exposure on employers association density, along with the impact of density on collective bargaining. It also explores divergences in the forms of social partnership in key sectors of the German economy and the larger implications of the interplay between trade unions and employers associations for the future of German industrial relations. It suggests that density trends among employers associations have been of greatest importance in determining the influence of German industrial relations in the postwar era.