address the influence of the Swedish business system over employment
relations in the firm and the role of the transfer of practices in reinforcing or
eroding this influence.
There was evidence of a distinctively Swedish element to the manage-
ment of the firm’s international workforce, something which showed up in a
number of respects. First, in the international context, Swedish workers oper-
ate with relatively little direct supervision; indeed, there is no direct transla-
tion in Swedish for the word ‘supervisor’ (Anderson, 1995: 72). Managers at
the HQ of Swedco described attempts to spread a ‘democratic’ approach to
decision making throughout the organisation. As one put it: ‘I want to let my
guys loose. I don’t want to control them and stand behind their backs. This
is typically Swedish, to be a coach.’ Second, Hedlund (1981) has argued that
in Swedish firms it is acceptable to ‘bypass the hierarchy’ in that organisa-
tional actors do not feel constrained by formal authority relationships.
Accordingly, one of the British managers claimed that:‘the company encourages a Nordic approach to openness. Swedes think
nothing of jumping the hierarchy to put forward their ideas.’Third, the tradition of seeking agreement through compromise and negotia-
tion – what Anderson (1995: 76) refers to as the ‘quest for accord’ – was also
evident at the international level in Swedco. One of the Belgian managers
argued that this style clashed with what he was used to:‘You cannot always agree or compromise. Sometimes you have to say no. In
Belgium, we raise our voices, we explode sometimes. But Sweden says this is
something you must not do.’Fourth, the Swedishness of the firm shows up in the stability of ownership.
Unlike most big American and British firms which have fluid ownership struc-
tures involving a large number of shareholders each holding a small propor-
tion of the total stock, Swedco has three large shareholders who control
nearly three-quarters of the voting shares and have done so for many years.
Consequently, in an industry characterised by significant restructuring in
recent years involving a number of ‘hostile’ take-overs, Swedco has expanded
internationally by ‘greenfield’ investments and through a series of collabora-
tive joint ventures and ‘friendly’ acquisitions.
This evidence of a ‘country-of-origin effect’ is very significant; even in a
highly internationalised MNC the nature of the domestic business system
shapes the management of the international workforce. However, the evi-
dence also indicated that the country-of-origin effect is being eroded as
senior management seeks to draw on practices originating in other business
systems. This process was evident in two areas. The first of these is the devel-
opment of ‘flexible’ or ‘variable’ compensation systems. An international
policy-working group involving HR managers from across Swedco has recently
introduced bonus systems that are linked to individual and company perfor-
mance. In addition, for very senior managers, there is a ‘Short Term Incentive
Plan’ which rewards the achievement of immediate goals. Moreover, fourTransfer of Employment Practices Across Borders in MNCs 399