Regarding the roles of headquarters human resources departments, Aoki (1988)
compared the power “centralization” of human resources management departments
in Japanese firms with the power “decentralization” in human resources
management departments in Western firms. Jacoby (2004) theorizes that the
headquarters human resources management departments in Japanese firms
maintain strong and broad power. In contrast, he believes that the headquarters
human resources management departments of American firms play weak roles; that
daily decision-making responsibility shifts from headquarters to business units and
their line manages. Jacoby (2004) concludes that much more diversity in the
approach to human resources management is found in American firms than in
Japanese firms. Human resources management systems of Japanese firms are
partially moving from organization-oriented to market-oriented systems, while
human resources management systems of American firms are more transforming to
market-oriented systems. The gap between the Japanese and American systems
has been widening. Yet, in terms of international human resources management
systems, previous research did not clarify relationships between
headquarters/business units of Japanese and American firms and their
subsidiaries.