MNEs and flexible working practices in Mauritius

We compare how far companies based in Africa, India and the ‘global North’ operating in Mauritius adopt high-trust flexible working practices and how these are linked to different clusters of wider labour management practice. Using comprehensive firm-level data collected in late 2011, we find that African/Indian company practices are closer to those of indigenous firms than to those of Northern companies. The different company groups operate in quite different ways but regional multi-national enterprises operate in a similar way to indigenous companies. We therefore conclude that Rugman and Verbeke's ‘regionalization’ theory also applies to the HR field. We further find that both a relatively strategic approach to HRM and measures to develop employer–employee interdependence are, respectively, linked directly and indirectly to flexible working incidence.