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Downsizing sometimes involves the shutdown of manufacturing capacity by multiplant firms. The paper focuses on the selection of a site for shutdown by firms operating two or more sites manufacturing a similar product. Survey evidence from managers involved suggests such decisions are not always based on financial information. Open discussions with managers responsible for selecting sites for closure, suggest the key factors used in selecting a plant for closure are small size, a limited range of activities on site, site difficulties of access of expansion, labour problems, old age in capital equipment (both machinery and buildings) and a long distance from head office.

Multinational firms sometimes have to choose between plants in different countries when selecting a plant for closure. This kind of decision is particularly characteristic of firms operating plants in the same industry but in different EU countries. An examination of a number of cross‐boundary closures in the EU illustrates the dominant role of plant economies of scale in encouraging the concentration of production on the largest pre‐existing site. National differences in labour characteristics can also be important. In making such closure decisions, managers need to be aware that they may be accused of misusing government subsidies, playing one group of workers or government against another group of workers and government, misjudging the political context of the environment in which the closed plant is set and, where the firms have their head offices in Europe, favouring their home country. Strategies are suggested for countering

The purpose of the paper is to present the findings of a study of factory closure management. It details the sequence and the results of the key strategic manufacturing management decisions made from the time of the announcement of the plant closure to the cessation of operations. The paper also includes an analysis of the human resource management (HRM) actions taken during this same time period and their consequences upon all those involved in the closure management process.

The case study methodology consisted of two initial site visits to monitor closure management effectiveness (adherence to plan and the types and frequency of closure management communications). During these visits, documentary evidence of the impact of the closure decision upon production performance was also collected (manufacturing output and quality performance data). Following plant closure, interviews were held with senior business, production and HRM managers and production personnel. A total of 12 interviews were carried out.

The case study findings have informed the development of a conceptual model of facility closure management. Information obtained from the interviews suggests that the facility closure management process consists of five key management activities. The unexpected announcement of a factory closure can cause behavioural changes similar to those of bereavement, particularly by those employees who are its survivors. In addition, similar reactions to the closure announcement may be displayed by those who choose to remain employed by the factory owner throughout the phased closure of the plant.

Facility closure management is an insufficiently researched strategic operations management activity. This paper details a recommended procedure for its management. A conceptual model has also been developed to illustrate the links between the key facility closure management tasks and the range of employee changes of behaviour that can be induced by their execution.

The runaway shop (a plant closure to avoid labour problems) has been seen as a feature of industrial change in the USA. Evidence of the runaway shop has also been noted in the UK. This paper analyses two data sets from the UK. The first, drawn from data relating primarily to the early 1980s, demonstrates that manpower difficulties can affect the closure of plants in multiplant manufacturing firms in particular local labour markets. A second data set, relating to the latter half of the 1980s, presents a contrasting result in that manpower problems had little effect on the closure of plants by British multiplant manufacturing firms. It is suggested these contrasting results may reflect the reduced power of organised labour in the more recent past.

This paper aims to examine the reaction of a local workforce to global restructuring in a transnational company (TNC), which entailed the closure of a manufacturing plant (La Monroe) in Northern Spain. The article explores the micro-political nature of the corporate decision to close the plant, the workforce reaction to relocation and the discourse legitimizing global restructuring. It also delves into the contra-hegemonic potential of labour as a main stakeholder in TNCs.

The methodological approach is qualitative. The article presents a theoretically informed and analytical case study based on the literature on micro-politics and power relations in TNCs. Fieldwork is based on semi-structured interviews carried out with relevant stakeholders and other external actors to the TNC.

The findings substantiate the dynamic role of micro-politics within TNCs. The article presents and discusses evidence of the formation of a broad multi-level political network of resistance to a plant closure plan.

More case study analysis would further support the findings in the paper and provide for a comparative approach.

The article substantiates the dynamic role of micro-politics and power relations in the reification of social norms and discourses on production relocation. It offers an empirical appraisal of the micro-political approach to global restructuring in TNCs. The article also puts labour strategies at the forefront of the analysis in corporate relocation.

This paper aims to explore and analyse how shifting frontiers of control emerge and change the labour process so that restrictions to output become diminished, subsequently affecting organisational performance.

Multiple case study design. Interviews with 104 respondents. Analysis of productivity statistics in order to test for the statistical significance of the closedown effect. Single multiple regression analysis of the comparative strength, of the closedown effect, between cases.

Shifting frontiers of control arise during the closedown process, a control system characterised by markedly unrestricted autonomy for the workers as the management frontiers of control abate. This provides an operative space for informal work practices, innovation and emerging new industrial relations, accounting for the higher levels of output.

A multiple case study of three different manufacturing organisations, with comparably long closedown periods. The authors do not analyse the sustainability of the increase in output or the generalisibility of the closedown effect to other industries.

It is possible to anticipate improved productivity if shifting frontiers of control are rapidly replacing the old. If management abandons the old control mechanisms, previous to the closedown decision, and provides operative space for workers' initiatives and informal leadership during the closedown process, it is possible to expect good performance, enabling a scope for extended closedown periods.

This is the first study that analyses the comparative strength of the closedown effect and how restricted work practices change under the process of closedown.

Argues that there is no guarantee that it will be possible to maintain the present situation, with regard to energy, in an enlarged EU. Indeed, the enlargement has heightened concerns that the current approach may be undermined. Deplores the absence of a clear safety framework for EU nuclear installations and further details the problems, in full, in the article.

May 23, 1968 Redundancy — Dismissal — “Work of a particular kind at the place where … so employed” — Complex of factories — Employer's contractual right to transfer employees to other jobs — Closure of particular plant and erection of new plant using fewer employees — Unavailability of work at closed plant to employee after 10 years — Process worker — No redundancy of process workers at same factory complex — Employee's refusal of transfer to any job offered to him — Whether subsequent dismissal “by reason of redundancy” — Redundancy Payments Act, 1965 (c.62), s. 1(1)(a). 1(2)(b).

Data drawn from a longitudinal case study of change is used to examine contextual factors in the conception, uptake and operation of manufacturing cells. Attention is given to the external context of change and the importance of internal factors, such as the technical configuration of work, and the culture and history of plant operations, in shaping change outcomes. In charting a number of contextual dimensions, political process is also identified as a central element which overlaps and intertwines with context. Highlights how political process and context are important in shaping both the process of change (for example, local implementation strategy and employee responses to change) and change outcomes (for example, operating practices around the new cell arrangements).