Most studies of women working in foreign-owned industries in Southeast
Asia have directed their attention to the transnational corporations
(TNCs). Here, rather small Norwegian-owned companies are the focus of
study, concentrating on one case in Southern Johor. Asking whether the
nationality of the company makes any difference to the workers and wh
ether we can trace a Scandinavian tradition of industrial relations, w
e found that it is rather the rural location and the local adaptation
of the company that makes it different from the TNCs. Focus is on the
relation between a foreign company and a rural community, thus on the
interplay between different development strategies.