To what extent does the variety of capitalism prevailing in a Essay

To what extent does the variety of capitalism prevailing in a particular economy determine the choice of HR policies by organisations in that economy Give re - Essay Example Hall and David (2001) agree with this idea completely since they place the firm at the centre of economic activity in any society. HR and Business related activities like training and education of labour, bargaining with unions, capital and asset acquisitions, even interactions with other companies are connected with the flavour of capitalism used in the economy. Naturally, firms in the country would tend to move towards a system which has inherent support from the national institutions and the government. Over a long period of time, the business processes and the HR policies would become mirrors to the methods used by the political and social institutions of the country. The history of capitalism itself is quite recent since during the 1960s, the word ‘capitalism’ was not prevalent in academic discussions. In fact, it was used by Russian and Chinese Communists to describe the economies of the western nations. During those times, the Conservatives talked about ‘free enterprise while the liberals used the term ‘mixed’ economy and anyone who put forward the idea that the economics of the society is the fundamental guiding principle of production and government were seen as materialists (Block, 1999). With time, the New Left took the term capitalism and applied it to the economies which stand in America, Canada, a large part of Europe and some parts of Asia. During the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of development took place in economic theory in international terms and economists began to see varieties of capitalism itself. The neo-liberal viewpoint that there is only one system of Capitalism in the world is put in doubt when examples are seen from Germany and Japan. One can see unionists sitting on the corporate boards of German companies and Japanese companies tend to focus more on stakeholders and employees than shareholders and clients (Block, 1999). At the same time, when the term ‘capitalism’ is used,