Abstract
Based on qualitative research, this paper explores the transference and change of work systems across national borders in a Danish Multinational Corporation (MNC). A qualitative longitudinal study was made of two factories belonging to the same MNC and the processes of transforming the work system were analyzed. The paper presents a case that has not been subject to a great deal of research: the problems faced by a Scandinavian company when internationalizing into a quite distinct business system. The main object of analysis was the negotiation of the changes in the work systems at the two sites. The host country institutions and worker/manager traditions are shown to have a strong influence on the way the work system was translated and negotiated. The organizational actors had an understanding of quite different national institutions and made it difficult to transfer the work system from Denmark to Brazil.
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