Annalisa Cristini and Dario Pozzoli
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of innovative workplace practices in a sample of manufacturing establishments.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of innovative workplace practices in a sample of manufacturing establishments.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprises manufacturing establishments located in Italy and a comparable sample extracted from the British Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS). The paper controls for sector, size, skill quality and industrial relations.
Findings
Job rotation and technical training are positively associated with current performance in both samples. On average, British establishments are more productive: the different endowment in terms of workplace practices, skills and industrial relations accounts for 40 per cent of the gap, while the different efficacy of the endowment on performance accounts for the remainder.
Originality/value
In both samples the introduction of team working implies a relatively important advance along the reorganisation process, which was undertaken in the early stages of reorganisation in British establishments but much later in Italian firms. Linking the progression of the reorganisation to non‐convexities in supermodular production functions may be an interesting line of future research.
Details
Keywords
Enrico Marelli and Francesco Pastore
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Labour, productivity and growth”.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Labour, productivity and growth”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the articles in the special issue, which investigate the main theme – labour, productivity and growth – from different points of view by employing a variety of econometric methods. These include improvement of the evaluation of the impact of labour market flexibility on economic performance, analysis of the macroeconomic law of decreasing returns to labour, a new panel co‐integration method, and a reinterpretation of co‐integration analysis to assess the impact of incomes policy. Institutional variables, in particular the system of industrial relations, are duly considered.
Findings
The papers in the special issue highlight different causes of sluggish economic (productivity) growth in Europe, in the light of not only traditional macroeconomic variables, such as total factor productivity and labour market flexibility, but also such factors as neo‐corporatist industrial relations and management practices, which are generally neglected in the literature.
Originality/value
The paper introduces a number of articles proposing innovations in the interpretation and application of a wide range of theoretical approaches and econometric methodologies. It also discusses several policy suggestions for fighting sluggish productivity growth, including investment in research and development, human capital, flexicurity, innovative industrial relations practices and high‐performance workplace practices also considered capable of affecting macroeconomic performance.