institutional factors, such as trade unionisation or unemployment rates rather
than, overlapping but distinct, cultural factors. Brewster and Larsen (2000)
argued that there is something in common in HRM between the countries in
the North of Europe where English is widely spoken.
An attempt to refine such distinctions was made by Calori and de Woot
(1994). Trying to map an emerging European management model, they pro-
posed an examination of cultural clusters at a regional level (see Figure 7.1,
adapted by the authors). At the first level of segmentation, the United
Kingdom appears separate from the rest of Europe. The UK is pictured as closer
to the American model, with a shared history, language and spirit of free enter-
prise. The rest of Europe can then be broadly split into the North, the South
and the East. Calori and de Woot (1994) argue that the South of Europe is char-
acterised by more state intervention, more protectionism, more hierarchy in
the firm and more intuitive management. The North features less state inter-
vention, more liberalism, more participation in the firm and more organised
management.
Comparing Latin countries with Germanic countries, it appears for
instance that patterns of ownership in the private sector tend to vary. In many
of the Southern European countries, family ownership of most businesses
(even some giant, household names) remains a common pattern. In contrast,
in Germany a tight network of banks effectively controls a significant number
of the larger companies. These interlocking shareholdings and the close
involvement in the management of the larger companies create a major disin-
centive to drive competitors, often owned by the same banks, out of the market-
place. Equally, these shareholders are less likely to apply pressure to produce
short-term profits (compared to the US or UK style wider shareholding system:
see Lawrence, 1991a).
Eastern countries remain influenced by the Germanic model; this is espe-
cially true for Poland and the Czech Republic, who maintain strong commer-
cial links with Germany in particular. Many commentators have, at least thus
far, tended to refer to ‘Eastern Europe’ or, more correctly, Central and Eastern
Europe (CEE) as a whole, thus encompassing all post-communist economies.
Unsurprisingly though, a more sophisticated, and distinct, picture of manage-
ment and HRM has started to emerge in this region (see for example Clark and
Soulsby, 1999) as each country reasserts its own national identity, even whilst
shaping up towards acquiring EU membership.
Amongst Southern countries, France is differentiated mainly because its
management system uniquely combines, on the one hand, improvisation and
intuition with, on the other hand, structure and hierarchy (Barsoux and
Lawrence, 1997; Communal, 1999). From a geographical point of view, France
is also at the border between the North and the South.
Amongst Northern countries, the Nordic countries differ from
Germanic countries or smaller countries (such as Belgium, Luxembourg and
HRM in Europe 181