Am Beispiel der pharmazeutischen Industrie in Deutschland und England zeigt die Studie die Auswirkungen der Globalisierung auf die industriellen Beziehungen. Sie verdeutlicht, dass vor allem der Wandel der Eigentümerstrukturen, die steigenden Erwartungen der Finanzinvestoren sowie deren glaubhafte Drohungen, ihre Investitionen auch wieder abzuziehen, die traditionellen Formen der Interessenregulierung maßgeblich verändern.

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InhaltsangabeTable of Contents 1.Preface 2.Introduction 3.Paradigmatic theoretical approaches to the study of industrial relations 3.1 Industrial Relations: a definition 3.2Theories of industrial relations 3.2.1Industrial relations as a social system 3.2.2Actororiented analysis 3.2.3Institutionalist analysis 3.2.4Human resource management 3.2.5Comparative approach 3.2.6Industrial relations systems 3.3Political economy approach 3.3.1The free-market approach 3.3.2Marxist analysis 3.3.3Theory of regulation 3.3.4Corporatism 3.3.5Welfare state regimes 3.3.6Varieties or models of capitalism 3.4Theoretical synthesis 4.Globalization and its impact 4.1Globalization, Internationalization, Regionalization, and Imperialism 4.2Analytical framework for the study of globalization 4.3Economic globalization 4.3.1Areas and main drivers of economic globalization 4.4The globalization discourse 4.5Empirical evidence 4.5.1Globalization of Trade 4.5.2Globalization of financial markets 4.5.3Foreign Direct Investment 4.5.4Global Production 4.6Globalization processes in ethical pharmaceutical industries 4.6.1History of the pharmaceutical industry 4.6.2Sector specifics: a snapshot 5.Industrial relations institutions and processes: comparing the United Kingdom and Germany 5.1Industrial relations in the German pharmaceutical industry 5.1.1Codetermination levels 5.1.2Collective bargaining: stable structures, blurring practices, and new actors 5.1.3Centralized industrial relations under pressure:the trend toward the workplace level 5.1.4Impact of globalization on industrial relations in the German pharmaceutical industry 5.1.5Conclusion: assessing the changes in the industrial relations system of the German ethical pharmaceutical industry 5.2Industrial relations in the United Kingdom's pharmaceutical industry 5.2.1Employee representation: unionized versus nonunionized 5.2.2Structure of collective bargaining: importance of the workplace level 5.2.3Conclusion: Impact of globalization on industrial relations in the British pharmaceutical industry 6.Conclusion: impact of globalization on industrial relations Literature List of Tables and Figures

Introduction "If it is true that the problems exceed the national framework, it is also true that the contribution to the solution of these problems cannot be adequately evaluated in a purely national context" (Traxler 2005: 391). The term 'globalization' is on everyone's lips: for some time now it has been dominating not only the media but also academic discourse in the social sciences. Surprisingly, despite the ubiquity of the term, the socioeconomic grounds for its use remain relatively unexplored empirically; thus discussion is often wide-ranging but lacking in depth of focus. This study therefore attempts to contribute to the globalization discourse in the social sciences in a manner that is both theoretically sound and empirically substantiated. This comparative empirical study concentrates on the impact of economic globalization, understood here as a process of increasing and intensifying interaction between actors beyond the boundaries of the nation-state, the development of trans-national networks and institutions, and the diffusion of cultural patterns on company-level labor relations in firms in the ethical pharmaceutical industry, selected by company size, in Germany and the United Kingdom. The ethical pharmaceutical industry has been chosen as an empirical field because this sector clearly exemplifies the differences in labor relations between corporatist (Rhineland) and adversarial (neo-American) capitalism (Albert 1992). Indications as to the future development of labor relations within the respective models of capitalism in Germany and the United Kingdom will be elaborated on the basis of empirical data. Industrial relations at the company level are analyzed because it is at the company level where globalization processes materialize and their impact is felt unmediated. To keep this project manageable, industrial relations at levels beyond the company (e.g. at sector or at national levels) and indirect forms of participation (e.g. workgroups and quality circles) have to be left out, although they are equally important for the context of this study. The key questions here will be: What are the main changes attributed to globalization? What impact do these changes have on workplace industrial relations in the ethical pharmaceutical companies in Germany and the United Kingdom? And what conclusions can be drawn from this analysis about the future of industrial relations in these two countries? Outline of the project This study is divided into four main parts: 1. Various theoretical approaches to the study of industrial relations are introduced in chapter 3 and their merits and weaknesses are discussed. The concluding section of chapter 3 presents a synthesis that serves as a guide for the remainder of this study. 2. Chapter 4 ties an abstract analysis of the different aspects and dimensions of globalization to a specific elaboration of processes in the ethical pharmaceutical industry. 3. The configurations of industrial relations in the German and British ethical pharmaceutical industries are depicted in chapter 5 and changes occurring within them are analyzed. 4. The conclusion incorporates all aspects and presents an argument about the impact of globalization on industrial relations in the ethical pharmaceutical industry in both countries. Hypotheses The empirical results might corroborate the following hypotheses: 1. The convergence thesis. According to this position, globalization, i.e. the common logic of integrated world markets for an increasing number of goods, will eventually lead to a convergence of processes and outcomes of different national versions of capitalist production. This argument assumes two forms: industrial relations systems converge either into a single model, most probably the AngloSaxon (Kerr et al. 1964, more recently Strange 1997), or into two different models (dual convergence thesis). According to Iversen and Pontusson, "there is a trend toward convergence on the German model of coordinated industry-level bargaining among the coordinated market economies [] and [] toward convergence on the dual American model of firm-level bargaining and a large nonunion sector among the liberal market economies" (Iversen and Pontusson (2000, 3ff.). 2. The divergence thesis. This thesis, put forward by Hall and Soskice, predicts the continuation, albeit possibly with moderate changes, of the different models of capitalism. As Kathleen Thelen sees it, "contemporary changes are best understood [] in terms of continuing and if anything increasing divergence between the 'coordinated' and 'liberal' market economies" (Thelen 2001, 72). According to Franz Traxler (1995, 206f., see also Mesch 1995, 42f. for a similar assessment), while the problem areas in the field of industrial relations are converging through the internationalization of markets and the increasing differentiation of production, company size, and education and skill-level of employees, the institutional adaptation mechanisms are still divergent. This leads, according to Traxler, to a persistent divergence of industrial relations systems. 3. The hybridization thesis. According to Schmierl, the German industrial relations system has undergone substantial changes, exemplified by the erosion of traditional forms of interest representation, flexible restructuring endeavors of the collective actors, and the emergence of new forms of articulation of interests. These processes have led to a contradictory synchrony of continuities and discontinuities that result neither in an increasing divergence nor in a convergence, but in what he calls a 'hybrid' system of industrial relations (Schmierl 2001, 441f.). Framed in the varieties-of-capitalism approach, this thesis assumes that changes (mainly in coordinated market economies) take place that lead not to a total break with the past but to a path change in which the institutionalization of industrial relations is determined, to a greater extent, by the economic relationships of the individual companies and, to a lesser extent, by the political environment (Streeck and Höpner 2003a, 10). Similarly, Britta Rehder argues that conceptual dichotomies like 'divergence versus convergence' or 'stability versus erosion' fail to capture the nature of changes within industrial relations. Instead, she proposes looking at the gradual institutional processes of change within the German system of industrial relations, processes she terms "path changes without system-break" (Rehder 2003, 18). 4. The above three theses assume that, even under the impact of economic globalization, national systems of industrial relations remain coherent entities, which is, incidentally, also the basic assumption of the varieties-of-capitalism approach. However, in the literature doubts have been raised as to the validity of this assumption. Thus it is important to examine the question whether historically evolved industrial relations models remain internally stable or fray out. After researching employment relations in seven countries and in two sectors (automobile and telecommunications industries), Katz and Darbishire came to the conclusion that within the existing and ever-growing variation in employment relations a common set of processes and outcomes emerges, a process that they call converging divergences (Katz and Darbishire 2000). Based on that conclusion, the converging divergences hypothesis assumes that while diversity in employment relations still exists, within individual sectors this diversity may converge into a common set of internationally applied employment practices. 5. The fifth hypothesis, the fragmentation hypothesis, could be regarded as a combination of hypotheses 3 and 4, i.e. important relationships (see Figure 3.2) are changing in nature and becoming market mechanisms mainly as a result of changes in the organizational structure of transnational companies (creation of holding structure...

Table of Contents 1.Preface 2.Introduction 3.Paradigmatic theoretical approaches to the study of industrial relations 3.1 Industrial Relations: a definition 3.2Theories of industrial relations 3.2.1Industrial relations as a social system 3.2.2Actor-oriented analysis 3.2.3Institutionalist analysis 3.2.4Human resource management 3.2.5Comparative approach 3.2.6Industrial relations systems 3.3Political economy approach 3.3.1The free-market approach 3.3.2Marxist analysis 3.3.3Theory of regulation 3.3.4Corporatism 3.3.5Welfare state regimes 3.3.6Varieties or models of capitalism 3.4Theoretical synthesis 4.Globalization and its impact 4.1Globalization, Internationalization, Regionalization, and Imperialism 4.2Analytical framework for the study of globalization 4.3Economic globalization 4.3.1Areas and main drivers of economic globalization 4.4The globalization discourse 4.5Empirical evidence 4.5.1Globalization of Trade 4.5.2Globalization of financial markets 4.5.3Foreign Direct Investment 4.5.4Global Production 4.6Globalization processes in ethical pharmaceutical industries 4.6.1History of the pharmaceutical industry 4.6.2Sector specifics: a snapshot 5.Industrial relations institutions and processes: comparing the United Kingdom and Germany 5.1Industrial relations in the German pharmaceutical industry 5.1.1Codetermination levels 5.1.2Collective bargaining: stable structures, blurring practices, and new actors 5.1.3Centralized industrial relations under pressure:the trend toward the workplace level 5.1.4Impact of globalization on industrial relations in the German pharmaceutical industry 5.1.5Conclusion: assessing the changes in the industrial relations system of the German ethical pharmaceutical industry 5.2Industrial relations in the United Kingdom''s pharmaceutical industry 5.2.1Employee representation: unionized versus nonunionized 5.2.2Structure of collective bargaining: importance of the workplace level 5.2.3Conclusion: Impact of globalization on industrial relations in the British pharmaceutical industry 6.Conclusion: impact of globalization on industrial relations Literature List of Tables and Figures