How transferable is the French social model? French multinational companies and their influence on the evolution of industrial relations in Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland, 1998-2007 (DARES)

The research aims to help to understand how French multinationals operating in the banking, retailing, hotel and energy sectors of Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland with different levels of French inward investment influence the industrial relations systems within their subsidiaries and the host countries. If such an influence has occurred in the period since 1998 when French investment began to rise significantly, the research further seeks to understand the mechanisms and directions of such an influence.

In particular the research aims to ascertain whether there has been a transfer of procedural and/or substantive elements of the French social model, and whether there has been any feedback influence from the newly acquired businesses on the parent system. While the research focus is on French multinationals, it also creates a better understanding of the terms and conditions under which the European social model may be exported. In doing this, the research also aims to contribute to the employment relations literature debates about the survival of cultural and societal difference (divergence) in the face of globalization and the strength of the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ American human resource managerial models.