"There is a critical need for fresh research into multinational enterprises (MNEs) because they ‘disproportionately influence the direction of change' in the management of people (Batt et al., 2009: 474). There are around 82,000 MNEs in the world, involving more than 810,000 subsidiaries, employing approximately 77 million people and accounting for one-third of total world trade (UNCTAD, 2010). It is therefore unsurprising that MNEs can have significant effects on employment practices.
MNEs have significant potential to be a source of innovation in the diffusion of new industrial relations policies and practices (e.g. Edwards et al., 2013; Walsh, 2001). However, they might also disrupt the status quo of the host context by attempting to remain rooted in their home country's national business system, especially on issues such as trade union recognition (Collings, 2008). The ability to impact industrial relations in different host countries will vary from country to country depending on a range of factors including the power of the MNE and the permissiveness of the host context. There have been substantial research efforts that have considered such issues in Western contexts but less in emerging economies of China, India and Southeast Asia more generally. Research on industrial relations in the new economic superpowers of India and, in particular, China is quite sparse as is research focusing on MNEs operating in other ‘transition economies' (Cooke et al., 2011; Matthews, 2006; Zhao et al., 2012). This is especially important given the changing profile of these countries as they move somewhat more towards market-based economics. For example, new legislation in China encourages collective bargaining at a time when there appears to be increasing levels of industrial unrest (Cooke and Zhan, 2013)...."

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