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Transnational corporations are the most powerful and significant single economic entity of our time, whose role and strength are undeniable. Transnational corporations are not only economic but also extremely important political and social institutions of the modern world. We have witnessed numerous discussions about global competition and transnational corporations, but there are very few conceptual and theoretical discussions that would analyze transnational corporations and their management. However, there are a number of attempts to analyze certain aspects of transnational corporations from existing theoretical perspectives. Existing organizational theories are based on very simplistic assumptions that are not adequate for transnational corporations because they cannot illustrate the complexity and kind of abundance of transnational corporations. In addition, transnational corporations are rarely used as an object of research. This paper first defines the prerequisites for the applicability of organizational theories in the research of transnational corporations, and then analyzes the dominant organizational theories in order to determine their adequacy.

Transnational corporations (TNCs) are part of an economic system of global capitalism that operates under a neoliberal regime underpinned by strong support from international organisations such as the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and most nation states. Although TNCs have grown in power and influence and have had a significant impact on population health over the past three decades, public health has not developed an integrated research agenda to study them. This article outlines the shape of such an agenda and argues that it is vital that research into the public health impact of TNCs be pursued and funded as a matter of priority. The four areas of the agenda are: assessing the health and equity impacts of TNCs; evaluating the effectiveness of government regulation to mitigate health and equity impacts of TNCs; studying the work of activist groups and networks that highlight adverse impacts of TNCs; and considering how regulation of capitalism could better promote a healthier and more equitable corporate sector.

In the current era, governments are playing smaller roles in regulating workers' rights internationally, and transnational corporations (TNCs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the struggle for workers' rights, and labour/trade unions have started to fill this governance gap. This paper focuses on the least researched of the relationships among these three actors, the union-NGO relationship, by analysing the ways in which it affects definitions of TNC responsibility for workers' rights at their suppliers' factories. Based on a qualitative study of the union-NGO relationship in the Swedish garment industry between 1996 and 2005, we propose that there are six main configurations of union-NGO relationships. By linking these configurations to their effects on TNC responsibility, we propose that co-ordination relationships between unions and NGOs, particularly high-commitment co-ordination relationships, are likely to result in a broadening of the definition of TNC responsibility, while conflictual relationships, both high and low commitment, result in a narrowing of the definition of TNC responsibility. The study indicates that co-operation is generally more beneficial for both unions and NGOs than is any form of conflictual relationship, in terms of broadening the definition of TNC responsibility.

Over the past decade, discussion has flourished among practitioners and academics regarding workers' rights in developing countries. The lack of enforcement of national labour laws and the limited protection of workers' rights in developing countries have led workers' rights representatives to attempt to establish transnational industrial relations systems to complement existing national systems. In practice, these attempts have mainly been operationalised in unilateral codes of conduct; recently, however, negotiated international framework agreements (IFAs) have been proposed as an alternative. Despite their growing importance, few studies have empirically studied IFAs. This paper starts to fill this gap by studying why corporations adopt IFAs, based on a qualitative study of the process leading to the signing of a recent IFA. The study's findings complement existing research into why corporations adopt IFAs, codes of conduct, and CSR policies by demonstrating that corporate motives can be linked to a desire to retain a trusting relationship with the labour union movement. In addition, the findings indicate that the discrete campaign model of stakeholder pressure dominant in previous research should be complemented by a continuous bargaining model of stakeholder pressure. The paper concludes by discussing differences between these conceptual models of stakeholder pressure and avenues for future research.

As social movements co-evolve with changes in states and markets, it is crucial to examine how they make particular kinds of actors into focal points for the expression of grievances and the demand for rights. But researchers often bracket the question of why some kinds of organizations are more likely than others to become targets of social movement pressure. We theorize the \"social production of targets\" by social movements, rejecting a simple \"reflection\" model to focus on configurations of power and vulnerability that shape repertoires of contention. Empirically, we extend structural accounts of global commodity chains and cultural accounts of markets to analyze the production of targets in the case of the anti-sweatshop movement of the 1990s. Using a longitudinal, firm-level dataset and unique data on anti-sweatshop activism, we identify factors that attracted social movement pressure to particular companies. Firms' power and positions strongly shaped their likelihood of becoming targets of anti-sweatshop activism. But the likelihood of being a target also depended on the cultural organization of markets, which made some firms more \"shamable\" than others. Contrary to suggestions of an anti-globalization backlash, globalization on its own, and related predictions about protectionism, cannot explain the pattern of activism.

Management Practices in China draws on real business case studies created by senior managers, many of whom are studying on or alumni of Executive/International MBA (EMBA/IMBA) Programmes in Mainland China. It captures unique, actual, operational and strategic business cases, written to reflect and learn from real-world problems and challenges. Good quality case studies are always hard to find, and this book creates a unique contribution, in providing real-world cases produced by and for practising managers. It will be of great benefit to teachers, researchers and practitioners (including EMBA/IMBA students) both in China and internationally, and provides important and valuable insights into decision-making in China-based companies. The book features up-to-date cases from a wide range of China-based companies, from multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises, including for- and not-for-profit organisations, a significant proportion of which are China-owned. Management Practices in China is the second title in The China Business Case Study Series. It is published in association with the University of Aberdeen (UK), and Webster University (USA).