Table 1 - uploaded by Fiona Moore
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Ethnic and gender composition of the plant labor force (2003; permanent contracts only)

Ethnic and gender composition of the plant labor force (2003; permanent contracts only)

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Ethnographic research in international business studies focuses mainly on small group case studies, ignoring other genres of ethnography and limiting its role. I argue, based on a study of BMW MINI, that holistic ethnography allows multiple perspectives on the organization, making it particularly useful for studying cross-border acquisitions. I ana...

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Context 1
... was restricted in my ability to select a team; however, the team I worked in was unusually ethnically diverse (compare Tables 1 and 2), which allowed me good access to discourses regarding ethnicity and national culture. To provide the context for subsequent analyses, I will briefly indicate the ethnic makeup of the workforce (adapted from an in-house survey using contract workers, about one-third of the workforce, as an indicative sample) and of the team that I studied. ...
Context 2
... was impos- sible to tell the difference between them in terms of appearance or duties. As Table 1 indicates, the core of the workforce was white, British and male, with some visible minorities and white non-British (mostly Eastern European), and a smaller number of women. Time spent at the factory ranged from 3 months to over 30 years. ...

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