HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HIGH PERFORMANCE THEORY IN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS
Jaap Paauwe, Professor, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Elaine Farndale, Dr., Tilburg University, The Netherlands

Abstract
Peters and Waterman's (1982) book ''In search of Excellence'' tried to unravel the reasons for continuous high corporate performance. Subsequently, the flaws in their reasoning have become well-known, and some of the companies which featured in their list of top performers have encountered major problems. But the quest to elicit the secrets of lasting corporate success has continued. Kirby (2005) summarizes progress to date with an inventory of ten studies published since 1982, identifying eight characteristics of a theory of high-performing companies. In an empirical study, we explore these characteristics from a human resource (HR) management perspective in a sample of high-performing multinational corporations, based on in-depth case studies including 69 interviews with senior (HR) managers of 6 companies (ABB, EDF, IKEA, Procter&Gamble, Siemens, Unilever) based in eight countries.
Keywords: high performance, human resource management, multinational corporations