Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

The authors sought to analyse whether the intended change of the early retirement
consensus between the German legislator, employers and trade unions at the beginning of
the 1990s would be put into practice at firm level.
The comparative analysis of Naschold/de Vroom (1994) follows a neo-institutional and
actor-theoretical approach. The institutional and structural focus is broadened by a view on
organisations. The survey, carried out in seven countries, was not only based on statistical
analysis at macro level but also on qualitative analyses at firm-level. Research groups in all
participating countries revealed distinct national patterns of labour market exit which
transcended branch differences and differences related to enterprise size. With regard to
Western Germany, the researchers stated that the externalisation strategy is applied by all
studied German firms as a reaction to age-selective personnel problems irrespective of the
production regime (Naschold et al. 1994a: 467).
The analysis of the WZB researchers was conducted before the 1992, 1996 and
following pension reforms in Germany which undermined the decade-long consensus
between the employers, trade unions and state actors over early exit. My analysis, albeit
concentrated on firms with at least 250 employees and based solely on qualitative methods,
will be able to show what repercussions the paradigmatic change has had at firm level.
Institutional theory and empirical evidence collected by Naschold/de Vroom (1994) and
Maurice (1991; see also Lane 1989: 39) lead to hypothesis 5: Institutions matter and
bring about country-specific patterns of internalisation and externalisation of older
workers. Those patterns superpose the branch similarities between Germany and
Poland.
Operationalisation: I will conduct a Germany-wide and Poland-wide 9 comparison
between branches (within-case), and a comparison between in total 14 German and Polish
companies from the sector ´Manufacturing of Food Products and Beverages´ (in short:
foodstuffs sector) and ´Manufacturing of Transportation Equipment´ (in short:
transportation equipment sector), which will constitute an across-case comparison (Gerring
2001: 202ff).
9 However, with concentration only on three regions in each country.
24