Multinational companies reorganise more often than companies operating in one country only.
This structural difference was consistently reported for 5 EU-countries and within those for 5 sectors. The countries are Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK and the branches of industry are metal/electronics, bank/insurance/call centres, transportations/telecom, ICT and retail respectively.
Employees working in these countries and sectors have been asked whether they witnessed a reorganisation in their company during the past year and if they expected one in the coming 12 months. In 22 cases out of the 25 country/sector combinations compared respondents working in multinationals on both questions reported more recent reorganisations and expected relatively more to come.
The WageIndicator data on which this outcome is based were drawn over the period from January 2007 till June 2008 included. The impact of the present recession therefore is not yet incorporated in this comparison.
The reasons for more reorganisations are not necessarily all negative, researchers hold: they may simply reflect the multinationals’ greater flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. But they may also have been motivated by eagerness to increase shareholders value, or to respond to the latest trends as propagated by management gurus.
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