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Does it matter what workers do? The role of workers' relational agency in the hybridisation of TNC subsidiaries in China and Mexico

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  • Wenten, Frido

Abstract

This article questions if the issue of hybridisation - or convergence and divergence - in the operations of global car producers is sufficiently addressed on the level of ideal typical 'productive models' or other forms of static ideal types. Arguing that there are difficulties in accounting for dynamic change and process, I suggest a shift in attention to processes of relational agency between social agents on and beyond the shop floor. Based on empirical evidence on the Chinese and Mexican subsidiaries of one of the largest global car manufacturers, I argue that in these relational processes worker agency has to be considered as a factor that shapes institutional change and variety, as well as the actual performance of shop floor institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenten, Frido, 2017. "Does it matter what workers do? The role of workers' relational agency in the hybridisation of TNC subsidiaries in China and Mexico," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86957, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:86957
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/86957/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meng,Xin, 2009. "Labour Market Reform in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521121118, January.
    2. Jurgens, Ulrich & Krzywdzinski, Martin, 2016. "New Worlds of Work: Varieties of Work in Car Factories in the BRIC Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198722670.
    3. Thun,Eric, 2006. "Changing Lanes in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521843829, January.
    4. North, Douglass C. & Weingast, Barry R., 1989. "Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 803-832, December.
    5. Elfstrom, Manfred & Kuruvilla, Sarosh, 2014. "The changing nature of labor unrest in China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65141, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Florian A. A. Becker-Ritterspach, 2009. "Hybridization of MNE Subsidiaries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-23349-2, October.
    7. Chris King-Chi Chan, 2014. "Constrained Labour Agency and the Changing Regulatory Regime in China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(4), pages 685-709, July.
    8. Manfred Elfstrom & Sarosh Kuruvilla, 2014. "The Changing Nature of Labor Unrest in China," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 453-480, April.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

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