Human resource management in US subsidiaries in Europe and Australia: centralisation or autonomy?

We explore determinants of subsidiary autonomy in setting human resource management (HRM) practices within US-parented multinational enterprises (MNEs), in Europe and Australia. We examine both the effect of strategic context and the effect of the institutional location of the subsidiary. We find that US MNEs show greater centralisation of control over HRM where the subsidiary faces global markets, in coordinated market economies vs liberal market economies, and where union density is low. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 151–166. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400313