A key contribution of this approach is to recognise that the motivation
that organisational actors have to engage in the transfer of practices is more
than just a rational assessment of the potential gains to the organisation as a
whole. However, the focus on the micro-politics of the organisation on its own
does not tell us much about the influence of the wider ‘national business sys-
tems’ which MNCs transcend and, consequently, is not particularly revealing
in generating an understanding of where the imperative to transfer practices
comes from, nor does it tell us much about the constraints to transfer practices
that are external to the firm.
These three approaches all make a contribution to understanding the
transfer of practices across borders, but on their own each of them offers only
a partial understanding. What is required is a fourth, integrated approach
which does three things: first, recognises the competitive pressures on firms in
international markets and the way these pressures create a commercial interest
in transferring practices (the rational approach); second, analyses the influence
of institutions as well as cultures in shaping the behaviour of MNCs (an
amended version of the cultural approach); and, third, examines the role of
organisational actors in initiating, engaging in, or obstructing, the transfer of
practices (the political approach). This integrated approach, which is based on
four sets of influences, is elaborated upon in the next section.
3 THE FOUR INFLUENCES FRAMEWORK
The framework consists of four key influences on the nature and form of the
transfer of practices across borders. The influences arise from the interaction of,
first, the differences between national business systems and, second, the grow-
ing internationalisation of economic activity. In some cases the impact of one
influence is contrary to those of others, creating a tension; in others, however,
the impact is for one influence to reinforce another. Each of the four influences
is considered in turn.
Country-of-origin effectThe first influence is an enduring ‘country-of-origin’ effect in MNCs. That is,
the country in which the multinational originates creates a distinctive national
effect on management style in general and on the nature of employment prac-
tice in particular. A range of sources indicates that even the largest MNCs retain
strong roots in their home country. Ruigrok and van Tulder (1995: 168), for
instance, examined the geographical distribution of the operations of the
biggest 100 MNCs in the world (ranked by foreign assets) and concluded that
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