Combining the perspectives of business strategy, political economy, industrial relations, and human resource management, Negotiating Competitiveness compares and contrasts the inner workings of employment relations in the "social market" economy of Germany and the free market system of the United States. In analyzing each approach to the relationship between employment relations and competitiveness, Wever shows how the institutional context in which a company operates shapes its employment relations strategies, which in turn affect how it adjusts to external pressures. Negotiating Competitiveness will interest anyone concerned with national industrial competitiveness in the contemporary global economy. This book goes beyond the empirical evidence to examine the extent to which necessary organizational and public policy changes are possible in each country, and to offer concrete ideas for combining the best elements of the employment relations systems of two of the most powerful advanced industrial nations in the world.