LER 554 Comparative Employment Relations Systems

Prof. Ruth Aguilera, Fall 2008

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Required Readings

• WK 2: WSJ's Report Card for American Workers

  • A Brief History of Labor Day in the United States by our own student, Dierdre Darnall

• WK3: Canada: Small differences matter

  =  Watch PBS: Sick around the world

• WK 4: Competitive Advantage of Nations

• WK 5: Japanese Industrial Relations (Whittaker)  Required

  Prahlad and Doz, "An Approach to Strategic Control in MNCs" (in electronic course reserves)

               Summary slides

  For curious minds: (1) Gilson and Roe --Lifetime Employment and (2) Hanami The Changing Labor Market in Japan

• WK 6: Mid-term Study Guide

• WK7: (1) Aguilera (2004) Corporate Governance; (2) Corporate Boards in Turmoil  (WSJ, Sept. 06)  (3) Global Corporate Governance (Financial Times, Aguilera & Yip), read pp. 4-5;  CEOs & Boards (Oct. 5th, 2006- WSJ)

• WK8: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Employment Relationship The Green Machine

• Wk 9 -- EUROPEAN UNION WEEK -- chose ONE of these talks to attend --no class! Write up a one page (single space) essay summarizing the main points in the lecture and your reactions to it. It is due on Tuesday Oct 28th in class.

• WK10 (Oct 28th): Global Governance and International HR

  Speaker: Mr. Patrick J. Canavan, BIO, Senior Vice President, Global Governance (retired May 2008)

• WK11 (Nov 4th): EXPATRIATES

  Case: Catskill Roads; Slides: Expatriate Assignments

  Reading: Adler, Cross-cultural transitions (posted on e-reserves)
  *** mini quiz ***

• WK 12 (Nov 11th): CROSS-BORDER MERGER AND ACQUISITIONS

Required readings:

Morosini, "Global Execution"

Beckia "Why Mergers Fail"

Zollo and Meier "What is M&A Performance?"

 

Watch this short clip:

Daimler to Sell Bulk of Chrysler to Equity Group?
http://vvi.onstreammedia.com:80/cgi-bin/visearch?squery=+ClipID:2++VideoAsset:pbsnh051407&query=daimler&user=pbs-newshour&tid=email

 

Additional non-required readings:

Reuer, "Avoiding Lemons"

Chrysler Turnaround (WSJ, Sept. 06)

Chrysler's updates: big three to smaller two, Detroit (WSJ, Oct 08)

 

SECOND WRITE UP DUE IN CLASS- Remember to use the readings to answer the case questions

• WK 13 (Nov 18th) SECOND IN-CLASS EXAM

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

• WK 14 (Dec 2nd) RESEARCH ON INDIVIDUAL CASE WRITE-UPS

• WK 15 (Dec 9th) GUEST SPEAKER and WRAP-UP

FINAL CASE DUE IN CLASS:

Guidelines: Final Individual Write-up

 

Guest speaker: Ms. Lori Malatesta, recently retired from Amdocs.

********************************

• Other: EU and NAFTA: EU Expansion; EU Transformed

Assignments

What is the meaning of Labor Day in America?

 

Syllabus

Miscellaneous

Labor Facts PBS clip

 

Kun Jing -- Tibet

The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed (actively seeking work) / labor force. The labor force is smaller than the working age population, as it only consists of the employed and the unemployed (actively seeking work) and does not include people outside of the labor force like students, the incarcerated, stay-at-home parents and, controversially, the discouraged (given up on seeking work).

Library Research Tools for your Class Assignments here

Student Presentations

wk2 Cleven, Gibson, Hetcher & Mathis: Labor Relations in South America

 

wk3 Anderson, Miller, Roberts & Seymour: Healthcare USA/UK

     MSNBC A tale of 2 sickbeds: Healthcare in the UK vs. US, Sept 22, 2008

wk4 Johnson, Morozowich, Velasco & Wawrzak: Costa Rica and Guatemala: An Analysis of Child Labor

wk5 Bayci, Snyder & Zhang: An Overview of the Oil Industry

wk6 Darnall, Kristich, Lin & Ofuonye: Employment Relations in Russia

Employment Relations in Russia

wk7 Fiske, Sincora & Smith: The Current Economic State: The Brief

wk9 Dahms, Leibold, Micenheimer & Otalvora: Globalization Trends: An Emerging Markets Response to Americanization.

wk11 Katz, Lambert, Rawal & Tate: Women in the Workforce

wk12 Kester, Martin & Sevastru: The European Union

Five requirements to join the EMU:

• Public budget deficit as a percentage of GDP should be less than 3%
 • Gross public debt should not exceed 60% of GDP
• The inflation rate should be within 1.5 percentage points of the best three EU performers
• Long-term bond yields should be within 2 percentage points of the best three
• The applicant's currency would have to respect Exchange Rate margins for at least two years before entry.

wk13 Caccamo, Carpenter & O'Brien: A Lesson in ADR and SOX