posted on 2017-11-24, 14:16authored byOlga Tregaskis, Phil Almond
This paper uses an embeddedness framework to reconceptualise HRM agency over the external labour market, and in so doing bring into focus the societal implications of HRM. Drawing on qualitative data from 53 key informants in two English regions, we identify the ways in which the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals (MNCs) engage with labour market skills actors. Our findings reveal how power structures are mobilised by local economic actors to align labour market skills with MNCs’ demand priorities. We show that multinationals may seek to partially endogenize the resources of local labour markets when their competitive value is redefined in social as well as economic terms, and demonstrate that the social structure of subnational institutional governance arrangements and firm strategic action on skills creates the conduit through which resource endogenization may occur. Such structures potentially provide a space for social as well as economic concerns to be addressed, although the social structure of institutional arrangements may not prevent social concerns being overridden by economic priorities impacting the quality and value of skills.
Funding
Funded by ESRC grant RES-062-23-1886
History
School
Loughborough University London
Published in
British Journal of Management
Volume
30
Issue
3
Pages
593-609
Citation
TREGASKIS, O. and ALMOND, P., 2017. Multinationals and skills policy networks: HRM as a player in economic and social concerns. British Journal of Management, 30 (3), pp.593-609.
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: TREGASKIS, O. and ALMOND, P., 2017. Multinationals and skills policy networks: HRM as a player in economic and social concerns. British Journal of Management, 30 (3), pp.593-609, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12276. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.