Corporate Governance, Employee Voice, and Work Organization

Abstract

This book explores the dynamic relations between corporate governance, employee voice, and the organization of work in the automotive supply industry. From research in three countries—Germany, Sweden, and the United States—it explores and compares historical patterns in changing governance regimes, voice, and work at plant level. It also explores the prospects for high-road, sustainable jobs in the sector. Three detailed case histories from each of the countries contrast companies facing different levels of exposure to capital markets: companies relatively sheltered from stock markets, companies that are highly exposed to them, and companies backed by private equity firms. This design allows for analysis, not just across different national contexts or business systems, but also within them. The complexity of the firm trajectories indicates that the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach for understanding differences has limited analytical purchase. The cases also show that governance compromises and employee voice matter in any comparative analysis and understanding of corporate governance. The book positions the analysis of the empirical material firmly in the context of contemporary debates on the financialization of Western capitalism and the rise of shareholder value as a dominant ideology. According to some authors, this has made high-road forms of work organization less viable. Whilst the book finds persuasive evidence of the impact of shareholder value across our cases, the direct links of this to developments in stock markets are less clear cut. Rather, practices that optimize shareholder value are more easily attributable to the actions of top management, notably through stock repurchases.

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