“Home‐country effects” on multinational companies’ practices abroad are assessed by comparing twelve German‐ and U.S.‐owned plants within the same sector in the “institutionally permissive” Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia. Differences are detected on functional flexibility, corporate culture and working time, but not on participation. Work organization seems more integral to national productive models than industrial relations. Moreover, considerable intramodel variation reflects product‐ and labor‐market contingencies. The results support the interpretation of national models as internally heterogeneous and dynamic.
Rotavirus strain surveillance is being conducted in many countries before and after introduction of newly licensed vaccines to assess the impact of the vaccines on rotavirus strains. Here we describe a strain surveillance study in the Budapest area of Hungary (2003-2006) based on RNA profile analysis, genotyping by multiplex PCR and nucleotide sequencing. Among 1,983 G-typed rotaviruses we identified G1 (22%), G2 (4.8%), G3 (3.5%), G4 (18.5%), G6 (1.1%), G8 (<0.1%, n = 1), G9 (42%), and G12 (3.4%) specificities. Information on P genotype incidence was determined for a subset of samples (n = 814). In addition to the globally important strains, a variety of uncommon antigen combinations were also found, for example, P[9],G3; P[14],G6; or P[14],G8. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the VP7, VP4, VP6, and NSP4 genes of selected strains with uncommon antigen combinations demonstrated high similarity with certain bovine, porcine, feline, equine, and lapine rotaviruses, respectively. Continued surveillance is needed to assess the role of animal rotaviruses in human diseases.
Relocations within an enlarged Europe are often portrayed as an unavoidable destiny or irresistible threat for workers. The article outlines a number of contingent factors which determine how serious are the threats and how feasible is an effective union response. Such factors are then tested through in-depth case studies of 12 plants in the automotive components sector (where cross-border competition is particularly strong), showing how varied can be the scenarios for industrial relations in multinational companies.
This paper draws in some parts on two international projects on FDI in Central Europe, sponsored by VW Foundation and ESRC. The authors are therefore grateful to the cooperation of research team colleagues, without whom these parts would not have existed. In particular this text is indebted for research and theoretical contributions to Mike Fichter, Christoph Dörrenbächer, Paul Marginson and Adam Mielczarek. However, the authors are solely responsible for the content and mistakes of this paper.
Works councils were introduced in Hungary in 1992, partly on the model of the German industrial relations system. The objective was to resolve a crisis of industrial relations in the transition to a market economy: the fragmentation of trade unions, the vacuum of institutionalization, and the representation gap for non-union workers. Drawing on case study research, this article evaluates the experience to date and concludes that the `artificial' imposition of an unfamiliar structure of employee representation has been only partly successful, though arguably contributing to the consolidation of industrial relations in a multi-union environment.
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