However, some of these differences identified by Morden (1998) are becoming less of a distinction in Anglo‐Saxon cultures, particularly with reference to the UK. Floyd et al. (1999), for example, show how the business environment in European countries has started to become similar. For example, the Blair Government in the UK is now pursuing an expansionist education policy with increased access. Participation in higher education in the UK is approaching similar levels to those found in France and there has been a movement away from the Oxford élite being the only ones to participate. There are now almost 100 universities, many of them offering opportunities of life‐long learning. In 1985, only 2 per cent of UK managers had degrees, compared to around 40 per cent in France and Germany, and in the longer term this is set to rise for the UK.
In addition, both France and the UK have undergone privatisation programmes in the 1990s, despite a socialist government being in power in France. Air France, for example, has been privatised due to EU policy. The movement towards a single currency, which steers government towards low inflation and control of taxes and spending, will lead to a more similar business environment in both countries and this will allow for management practices to become more similar. Furthermore, there are additional forces at play. For example, the European integration process itself, as it moves forward, will drive forward additional common practice. For example, European integration has led to the free movement of labour and capital. Increased labour mobility is further encouraged with advances in communication and the desire to move further afield. Qualifications have been harmonised, including the Professions Directive 1990 and degree‐level qualifications have also been harmonised, as well as the establishment of a European credit transfer system. Standards will, to some extent, become more similar as labour movement increases and labour markets take advantage of multiskilled European labour.
In addition there is the Social Chapter and ETUC which supports similar rights for workers across Europe. In another respect, European integration has encouraged more common management and business practices. For example, the Procurement Directive 1998 has helped make sure that all public contracts, including water, telecoms and construction, are open to European tender and need to be published in an official European journal. Collaboration and merger activity, encouraged by the adoption of the single European market, will yet again see further opportunity for establishing common management practices. There has been a large increase in European merger activity of late, in order to achieve the economies of scale necessary to compete in a competitive single European market. Indeed, around the world there was a record £1,500 billion of deals in 1998, double the level five years ago. This should lead to a further establishment of more common management practices.
Furthermore, European integration has encouraged foreign multinationals to operate across Europe, so as to avoid being left out of the single European market. These firms therefore bring with them further examples of common management practices. A final note on this subject is that it is likely that the Euro will help spur on further price transparency across Europe. This may, in time, help encourage more labour and capital mobility, as well as further establishing examples of common management practices across Europe. In addition, colonial links and labour mobility with various European countries have also served as a vehicle for bringing across various management practices from East to West and vice versa.