IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v47y2009i1p1-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

One Store, Two Employment Systems: Core, Periphery and Flexibility in China's Retail Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Jos Gamble
  • Qihai Huang

Abstract

Research on ‘flexible’ or ‘contingent work’, derived primarily from manufacturing and production contexts in Western settings, has often been theorized in terms of a core‐periphery model. Based upon ethnographic research on vendor representatives and regular store employees conducted at a multinational retail firm in China, we indicate that this model is insufficient to capture the complexity of employment arrangements in this context. This article delineates the coexistence of two employment systems and a quadrilateral relationship in which workers' interests sometimes overlap but often compete. Our research also indicates that institutional arrangements in China significantly affect the strategies that are open to firms and the consequent structure of employment relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jos Gamble & Qihai Huang, 2009. "One Store, Two Employment Systems: Core, Periphery and Flexibility in China's Retail Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 1-26, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:47:y:2009:i:1:p:1-26
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2008.00695.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2008.00695.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2008.00695.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gadrey, Jean & Jany-Catrice, Florence & Ribault, Thierry, 2001. "Levels and Systems of Employment in the Japanese Retail Trade: A Comparison with France," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 25(2), pages 165-184, March.
    2. Gerla Van Breugel & Woody Van Olffen & René Olie, 2005. "Temporary Liaisons: The Commitment of ‘Temps’ Towards Their Agencies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 539-566, May.
    3. Stephen Ackroyd & Stephen Procter, 1998. "British Manufacturing Organization and Workplace Industrial Relations: Some Attributes of the New Flexible Firm," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 163-183, June.
    4. David N.F. Bell & Robert A. Hart, 2003. "Annualised Hours Contracts: The Way Forward in Labour Market Flexibility?," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 185(1), pages 64-77, July.
    5. Arne L. Kalleberg, 2001. "Organizing Flexibility: The Flexible Firm in a New Century," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 479-504, December.
    6. Guy Davidov, 2004. "Joint Employer Status in Triangular Employment Relationships," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 727-746, December.
    7. Alexander J. S. Colvin, 2006. "Flexibility and Fairness in Liberal Market Economies: The Comparative Impact of the Legal Environment and High‐Performance Work Systems," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(1), pages 73-97, March.
    8. Janet Walsh, 2007. "Experiencing Part‐Time Work: Temporal Tensions, Social Relations and the Work–Family Interface," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 155-177, March.
    9. Bill Taylor, 2002. "Privatization, Markets and Industrial Relations in China," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 249-272, June.
    10. Randy Hodson, 2005. "Management Behaviour as Social Capital: A Systematic Analysis of Organizational Ethnographies," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(1), pages 41-65, March.
    11. Lei Guang, 2005. "Guerrilla Workfare: Migrant Renovators, State Power, and Informal Work in Urban China," Politics & Society, , vol. 33(3), pages 481-506, September.
    12. Gamble, Jos, 2006. "Introducing Western-style HRM practices to China: Shopfloor perceptions in a British multinational," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 328-343, December.
    13. T. J. Walsh, 1990. "Flexible Labour Utilisation in the Private Service Sector," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 4(4), pages 517-530, December.
    14. Jill Rubery & Jill Earnshaw & Mick Marchington & Fang Lee Cooke & Steven Vincent, 2002. "Changing Organizational Forms and the Employment Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 645-672, July.
    15. John Francis Geary, 1992. "Employment Flexibility and Human Resource Management: The Case of Three American Electronics Plants," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 6(2), pages 251-270, June.
    16. Jos Gamble, 2006. "Multinational Retailers in China: Proliferating ‘McJobs’ or Developing Skills?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(7), pages 1463-1490, November.
    17. Catherine Hakim, 1990. "Core and Periphery in Employers' Workforce Strategies: Evidence from the 1987 E.L.U.S. Survey," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 4(2), pages 157-188, June.
    18. Laurie Hunter & Alan McGregor & John Maclnnes & Alan Sproull, 1993. "The ‘Flexible Firm’: Strategy and Segmentation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 383-407, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaodong Yang & Gangshu (George) Cai & Charles A. Ingene & Jihong Zhang, 2020. "Manufacturer Strategy on Service Provision in Competitive Channels," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(1), pages 72-89, January.
    2. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2013. "The economic organization of employment: systems in human resource management and industrial relations," Chapters, in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Jos Gamble, 2010. "Transferring Organizational Practices and the Dynamics of Hybridization: Japanese Retail Multinationals in China," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 705-732, June.
    4. Cooke, Fang Lee & Wu, Gang & Zhou, Jing & Zhong, Chong & Wang, Jue, 2018. "Acquiring global footprints: Internationalization strategy of Chinese multinational enterprises and human resource implications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 184-201.
    5. Wei Wei, 2024. "Never cross the red line? Analysing employment relations practices and the behaviour of front‐line managers in Chinese McDonald's stores," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 100-118, March.
    6. Lisa Qixun Siebers, 2017. "Hybridization practices as organizational responses to institutional demands: The development of Western retail TNCs in China," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 1-29.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John S. Heywood & W.S. Siebert & Xiangdong Wei, 2011. "Estimating the Use of Agency Workers: Can Family-Friendly Practices Reduce Their Use?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 535-564, July.
    2. Peter Cappelli, 1995. "Rethinking Employment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 563-602, December.
    3. Nicole Torka & Jan Kees Looise & Stefan Zagelmeyer, 2011. "Ordinary Atypical Workers, Participation within the Firm and Innovation: A Theoretical Endeavor and Empirical Outlook," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 22(3), pages 221-239.
    4. Jos Gamble, 2007. "The rhetoric of the consumer and customer control in China," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(1), pages 7-25, March.
    5. Jos Gamble, 2010. "Transferring Organizational Practices and the Dynamics of Hybridization: Japanese Retail Multinationals in China," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 705-732, June.
    6. Christian Pfeifer, 2005. "Flexibility, Dual Labour Markets, and Temporary Employment. Empirical Evidence from German Establishment Data," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 16(3), pages 404-422.
    7. Chaney, Isabella & Gamble, Jos, 2008. "Retail store ownership influences on Chinese consumers," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 170-183, April.
    8. Damian Raess & Brian Burgoon, 2015. "Flexible Work and Immigration in Europe," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(1), pages 94-111, March.
    9. A. Arrighetti & E. Bartoloni & F. Landini & C. Pollio, 2019. "Exuberant proclivity towards non-standard employment: evidence from linked employer-employee data," Economics Department Working Papers 2019-EP02, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    10. Lars W. Mitlacher, 2005. "Temporary Agency Work, the Changing Employment Relationship and its Impact on Human Resource Management," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 16(3), pages 370-388.
    11. Martin Gächter & David A. Savage & Benno Torgler, 2009. "Retaining the Thin Blue Line: What Shapes Workers' Intentions not to Quit the Current Work Environment," Working Papers 2010-05, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck, revised Mar 2010.
    12. David Pastoriza & Miguel Ariño & Joan Ricart, 2008. "Ethical Managerial Behaviour as an Antecedent of Organizational Social Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 329-341, March.
    13. Huan Zhang & Lin Sun & Qiujie Zhang, 2022. "How Workplace Social Capital Affects Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Burnout," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, August.
    14. Philippe Askenazy & Clément Brébion & Pierre Courtioux & Christine Erhel & Malo Mofakhami, 2023. "HRM Strategies in Response to the First Covid Lockdown: a Typology of French Workplaces," CEPN Working Papers hal-03953817, HAL.
    15. Virginie Xhauflair & Benjamin Huybrechts & François Pichault, 2018. "How Can New Players Establish Themselves in Highly Institutionalized Labour Markets? A Belgian Case Study in the Area of Project†Based Work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(2), pages 370-394, June.
    16. Hafid Ballafkih & Joop Zinsmeister & Martha Meerman, 2017. "A Job and a Sufficient Income Is Not Enough: The Needs of the Dutch Precariat," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(4), pages 21582440177, December.
    17. Bennedsen, Morten & Larsen, Birthe & Wei, Jiayi, 2022. "Wage Transparency and the Gender Pay Gap: A Survey," Working Papers 17-2022, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    18. Bruno Frey, 2013. "European unification: a new proposal," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 285-294, December.
    19. Giulio Pedrini, 2020. "Off‐the‐job training and the shifting role of part‐time and temporary employment across institutional models. Comparing Italian and British firms," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 427-453, September.
    20. Pantic-Dragisic, Svjetlana & Söderlund, Jonas, 2020. "Swift transition and knowledge cycling: Key capabilities for successful technical and engineering consulting?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:47:y:2009:i:1:p:1-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.