The European Company (SE): Power and participation in the multinational corporation

The European Company (Societas Europaea or SE) is a European multinational corporation, established under European Union regulations, intended to institutionalize transnational participation of employees and management in company decision-making. This article analyses a qualitative empirical investigation of the application of participation in European Companies. The experiences of firms adopting this corporate form show that contestability of participatory power is heightened, but its institutional legitimacy retained and diversely utilized. The data display a continuum of actor orientations, formal agreement regarding participation and effectiveness and transnational diffusion of participation. The utilization of this corporate form by labour and management actors is in general underdeveloped.