From Workers Self-Management to Global Workforce Management: Extended Case Study of the Transnational Steel Company, Arcelor Mittal in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The project aims to explore the impact of foreign direct investments (FDI) on employment and human resource management practices, new organizational ethnic hierarchies, industrial relations and local communities in different national contexts. The focus is on acquisitions by multinational companies (MNCs) from emerging economies in the post-communist region of former Yugoslavia. The research is situated at the forefront of the research on globalization, migration, global workforce management and the local and transnational challenges to corporate power. An extended case study investigates the acquisition of the Bosnian Steel company by Indian Mittal Steel and its impact on industrial relations, labour standards and management practices, including Indian management relationships with the state, local management, trade unions and local community. The project is developed in collaboration with the Management School, Sheffield University. It also engages Professor Jacklyn Cock, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, planning a joint comparative study of ArcelorMittal in South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Keywords

Ethnicity, Industrial relations, Transnational, Corporate management, Globalisation

Publications

Slavnic, Z., Likic-Brboric, B., Nadin, S., & Williams, C. C. (2013). From Workers’ Self-management in Socialism to Trade Unions Marginalization in “Wild Capitalism”: A Case Study of ArcelorMittal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Revija za sociologiju / Sociological review, 43(1), 31-55. doi: 10.5613/rzs.43.1.2