The article, "Diffusion of Labor standards from origin to host countries: cross country evidence from multinational companies in Africa", was written by Merina Ali and Adnan Seric (2014). The study examined diffusion of labor standards from origin to host countries by investigating whether better labor standards of Multinational Companies (MNCs) origin countries are correlated with higher wages of workers in host countries in Africa. Thus, they wanted to establish if labor standards of MNCs countries of origin resulted in higher wages in host countries. The authors' thesis was premised on that MNCs originating from countries with more rights of association and collective bargain and those coming from countries with unions that had strong wage bargain power were found to be paying significantly higher wages to their workers in host countries. Although the authors had good points and made some observations which could give a basis for discussion and further research in the field of employment relations, their article was biased and contained some misrepresentation of data from other authors analysis on the effectiveness of labour standards of MNCs from countries of origin in host countries on the payment of higher wages to their workers.
The authors noted that although domestic policies and local institutions of host countries determined labor standards, globalization had a strong bearing bearing in employment relations. This thinking brought in the issue of macro-theories of structuralism which looked at employment relations as being affected or influenced by the structure of the society in which organisations exist. The authors further highlighted that human rights activists, consumers and corporate shareholders raised concern about workers working conditions especially in developing countries. Also, workers rights violations in developing countries together with increased multinational production raise important research and policy question.
