The impact of globalization on human resource management and employment relations in the US automobile and banking industries

Globalization clearly affects employment relations, and we expect that it has a differential impact across ‘varieties of capitalism’. In addition, the way globalization influences employment relations is industry specific. In this article, we examine recent changes to four employment relations practices – remuneration systems, job security, work organization and enterprise governance – in the US automotive and banking industries. We compare the changes in these two key industries and consider whether they correspond to the categorization of the US as a liberal market economy (LME). We find evidence of diverse employment relations practices, many of which are not at all typical of LMEs.