Describes the state‐of‐the‐art of human resource management in Finland in the mid‐1990s as the Finnish economy recovers from its deepest and longest post‐war recession. Typical to the Finnish system has been the mix of social, political and employers′ interests in the collective...

Focuses on new trends that have been identified for Canadian human resources (HR): the emergence of new roles for HR; new forms of partnerships, particularly in the labor‐management relations; globalizations in daily HR operations; work life issues; programs to tackle the shifting...

Spanish firms have undertaken significant internal changes, including those related to human resources management, in order to adapt to new circumstances of market competitiveness. Length of the contractual relationship is one of the most important of these changes (contracts for an unlimited...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic integration of HRM practices with business/corporate strategy in the context of its applications and processes in two Japanese multinational companies in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – The research used...

Examines how Toyota′s worldwide HRM practice has been developed to sustain the Toyota Production System. Explains how, in setting up the European assembly plant in the UK, Toyota has been faced with both strong forces for international consistency in HRM practices and strong local cultural...

During an extended period of economic recession for most of the 1990s, broad and striking changes have been made to the Japanese employment system. How fundamental or reversible they are is harder to evaluate. If the economic recovery prevails, a considerable stabilization of Japanese human...

HRM and decision‐making patterns can affect the overall effectiveness of joint ventures. Discusses the results of case studies of Chinese‐Japanese and wholly Japanese ventures in China. Proposes that the Japanese managerial strategies may be more suited to building the ew management norms in...

The growing interest in total quality management programmes is well‐known, although there is some concern that such programmes have, in practice, paid only limited attention to human resource management issues. Uses the findings of a primary case study and two secondary case studies to examine...