New evidence is presented on the degree of aggregate and sectoral labour productivity convergence among 11 EU countries between 1970 and 1990. As with studies for other groups of countries, it is ...found that there is a greater degree of aggregate than sectoral convergence. Aggregate productivity converged at 0.9 percent per annum, with agriculture and manufacturing both diverging and only services converging 0.6 percent p.a.. We contend that structural change provides one explanation for this finding. When measured as changes in sectoral employment shares, structural change accounted for between 50 percent and 66 percent of the overall rate of aggregate productivity convergence among the EU countries over the period. Countries with relatively low levels of aggregate productivity benefited most from structural change.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role that the nation-state plays in influencing the behaviour of the transnational companies (TNCs) and how it affects one's view of TNCs as ...efficiency- versus strategy-driven institutions.Design methodology approach - The paper starts with a brief historical analysis of the main theories of international production and the TNCs, to which it then relates the role of the nation-state and of strategic approaches.Findings - The characteristics of the nation-states that affect the behaviour of TNCs are linked to their regulatory regimes regarding fiscal, currency and social security regulations. These create opportunities for advantages of operating across frontiers and thus for specific strategic behaviour towards labour and governments.Research limitations implications - The theoretical approach presented will need to be supported by empirical findings.Practical implications - There are policy implications specifically related to the fact that multinationality per se gives advantages and that actors other than the TNCs may have to move towards achieving a multinational organization.Originality value - The paper questions the international character of most current theories of the TNC, arguing about the necessity to put the nation-states with their different characteristics at the heart of the explanations of TNCs' activities and suggests a strategic rather than efficiency approach to theories of the TNC.
Workload factors impacting managers Marsh, Robert F; Blau, Shawn
The Journal of management development,
03/2007, Letnik:
26, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Purpose - The paper seeks to identify elements of lean production that may be applicable to managers.Design methodology approach - A survey was administered to 125 middle and lower level managers to ...assess perceptions about level of workload and amount of workload control. Principal components analysis was employed to identify primary factors.Findings - Five primary factors accounted for 56 percent of total variance. The principal factors corresponded to the lean production concepts of work in process level, empowerment, and non value-added time.Originality value - These middle and lower level managers identified five primary factors that accounted for 56 percent of the variance in their self-reported levels of workload and control. Three of these factors correspond to existing metrics that have been utilized in lean production in industry.
Change orders impact many areas of a construction project. However, the impacts that change orders have on labour efficiency are much harder to quantify than other impacts and therefore are a ...significant risk to contractors. Little research has been completed in the past quantifying these impacts, so disputes are common between owners and contractors regarding the actual cost of change. This study used data from 43 projects to develop a linear regression model that predicts the impact of change orders on labour efficiency. The input factors needed for the model are (1) total actual project hours, (2) total estimated change hours, (3) impact classification, and (4) timing of change. The model calculates the labour loss in efficiency for a particular project so that owners and contractors will better understand the true impact of change on labour efficiency. The research is limited to the mechanical trade, but does include specific work in plumbing, HVAC, process piping, and fire protection.
This paper compares the efficiency of Indian banking industry over two time periods, 1999?2003 and 2004?2008. Ownership effects in determining the efficiency are also compared in this paper. A ...Cobb?Douglas stochastic frontier model is adopted in order to estimate the bank efficiency. The analysis suggests that there is a substantial efficiency improvement in the Indian banking sector during 2004?2008 as compared with 1999?2003. The overall mean efficiency of Indian banks increased to 64% in 2004?2008 as compared to 30% during 1999?2003. In between labour and capital inputs, labour is found to be the dominant input factor in determining the overall banking efficiency. Labour efficiency improved significantly from 74% in 1999?2003 to 98% during 2004?2008. Among three ownership groups, domestic private sector banks are found to be most efficient in generating the banking output measured in terms of total business and total income. The improvements in the Indian banking sector are mainly attributed due to globalisation, deregulation and advances in information technology. Nevertheless, still there is a wide scope for Indian banking industry to improve efficiency further.
Analyses how the high proportion of temporary employment affects the firm's technical efficiency. Uses the stochastic frontier approach to measure the technical efficiency of the Spanish ...manufacturing firms during the period 1990-2001. A negative relation between technical efficiency and the proportion of temporary jobs has been obtained. Also, shows that permanent employment makes an important contribution to output while temporary does not.
Labour manoeuvrability and economic performance Modderman, Eelco; Gorter, Cees; Dalhuisen, Jasper ...
International journal of social economics,
01/2007, Letnik:
34, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose - The aim of this paper is to explain the relationship between economic performance and labour manoeuvrability of township-village enterprises in the Jiangsu province, People's Republic of ...China. Design/methodology/approach - After a concise general overview of recent economic developments in the Chinese economy and the functioning of labour markets, a statistical analysis was performed on economic performance and labour market conditions based on a sample of 103 enterprises in the area considered. Findings - The analysis shows that the flexibility to fire employees has a considerable impact on the rise in added value of the enterprises, whereas hiring flexibility appears to have negligible effects. Research limitations/implications - Although the paper has a limited scope related to one Chinese province, it seems plausible that the results - a positive economic effect of deregulation - have a more general validity, but this would call for a broader comparative study across sectors and regions. Originality/value - The paper thus offers a novel contribution to a better understanding of the economic performance after the fast changes in the Chinese economy.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model to explore the economic consequences of an exogenous skill-biased technological change.Design methodology approach - The paper ...develops a theoretical model based on assumptions and conditions that replicate those of a government-sponsored poverty reduction programme in India.Findings - The paper finds that, under certain stated conditions, wage inequality between artisans with improved toolkits and those without is likely to increase, while, under a different set of conditions, this is likely to decrease.Research limitations implications - Actual wage inequality implications of specific exogenous skill-biased technological changes need to be studied to take the theoretical model further.Practical implications - One major implication is that, when government help is provided by way of an exogenous skill-biased technological change to a fraction of workers, it may have the unintended consequence of increasing wage inequality between the beneficiary and the non-beneficiary workers. In extreme cases, it may even lower the equilibrium wages of the non-beneficiary workers.Originality value - The paper brings out the critical role of efficiency units of workers with skill-biased technology (artisans with improved toolkits) and those without these in determining the wage inequality between these categories of workers (artisans) based on a theoretical model of the trajectory along which the rural economy moves.
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