U.S. Multinational Activity Abroad and U.S. Jobs: Substitutes or Complements?

Critics of globalization claim that firms are being driven by the prospects of cheaper labor and lower labor standards to shift employment abroad. Yet the evidence, beyond anecdotes, is slim. This paper reports stylized facts on the activities of U.S. multinationals at home and abroad for the years 1977 to 1999. We focus on firms in manufacturing and services, two sectors that have received extensive media attention for supposedly exporting jobs. Using firm‐level data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in Washington, D.C., we report correlations between U.S. multinational employment at home and abroad. Preliminary evidence based on the operations of these multinationals suggests that the sign of the correlation depends on the crucial distinction between affiliates in high‐income and low‐income countries. For affiliates in high‐income countries there is a positive correlation between jobs at home and abroad, suggesting that foreign employment of U.S. multinationals is complementary to domestic employment. For firms that operate in developing countries, employment has been cut in the United States, and affiliate employment has increased. To account for firm size, substitution across firms and entry and exit, we aggregate our data to the industry level. This exercise reveals that the observed “complementarity” between U.S. and foreign jobs has been driven largely by a contraction across all manufacturing sectors. It also reveals that foreign employment in developing countries has substituted for U.S. employment in several highly visible industries, including computers, electronics, and transportation. The fact that there were U.S. jobs lost to foreign affiliates in key sectors, despite broad complementarity in hiring and firing decisions between U.S. parents and their affiliates, helps explain why economists view the impact of globalization on U.S. jobs as benign despite negative news coverage for declining industries.     

Theories of Firms' Growth and the Generation of Jobs

This paper relates recent empiricalresearch on the growth of U.K. companies to the maineconomic theories of firms' growth and to empiricalresults for the U.S.A. Smaller and younger firms havebeen growing more quickly than larger and older firms, thus generating proportionately more new jobs. Theseresults do not support the various theories of staticand dynamic economies of scale. Serial correlation ofgrowth is very low, so success does not persist. Thesystematic tendency for small and younger firms togrow more quickly is the main reason why firm growthis not entirely stochastic.     

浅谈“教学结合职业规划”模式下服装设计教学的改革方向

二十世纪八十年代以来,中国的经济从计划经济体制逐渐转变到了市场经济体制,并取得了巨大的发展和成绩。在这个过程中,服装行业也是转变和发展最彻底的一个行业,可服装设计教学作为教育行业的一部分并没有因此发生较大的改变,所以服装设计教学在中国很多高校里实际已经和服装市场脱节,甚至出现了很多没有任何企业实践经验的教授、教师却在天天进行实践性教学环节,并且教学目标是培养学生去服装企业里做一个优秀的设计师这么尴尬的现状。所以本文主要论述在新时代背景下,服装设计教学如何走出这种困境,顺应时代和市场的发展而进行改革、调整而发展的方向和思路。     

Technology, markets and the design of women's jobs—the case of the clothing industry

The clothing industry has been saved largely as a result of the introduction of new technology in response to an increasingly competitive market place. But what affect has this restructuring had upon jobs? We explore how women workers have experienced this change and why policy-making should consider job design.     

Dualism in Part-Time Employment

This paper draws on open-ended interviews of managers to characterize two distinct types of part-time employment in service industries. "Secondary" part-time employment displays the typical characteristics of a secondary labor market; "retention" part-time jobs are primary labor market jobs. Some predictions of this model are tested on Current Population Survey data.     

Does interdependency affect firm and industry profitability? an empirical test

Strategy researchers have argued that heterogeneity in firms' practices and profitability within and across industries may derive from industry‐level differences in the extent of interdependencies among firms' activities. Theoretical models have clarified how and why differences in the extent of the interdependencies faced by firms across industries may affect the distributions of firm profits, but the specific predictions from these models have not been empirically tested. In this paper, we present what we believe is the first large scale empirical analysis linking differences in the extent of interdependencies across industries to differences in the distribution of firm profits within and across those industries. We use survey data to measure interdependencies systematically across a wide number of industries, thus addressing the primary obstacle to incorporating interdependencies in larger scale empirical work, and find evidence consistent with the theoretical predictions: average profitability is highest in industries with moderate levels of interdependency; the dispersion of profits among firms is higher in industries with more extensive interdependencies; and industries with more extensive interdependencies have a more positively skewed performance distribution. We find that the effect of interdependencies on average industry profitability is similar in scale to the effect of patent protection and industry growth rates, placing interdependency squarely among the strategy field's central concepts. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于行业数据的新型工业节能减排效率与技术创新研究

本文构建一种基于生产率的新型节能减排指数,测度2007～2013年我国36个工业行业的节能减排效率,并重点分析企业自主创新、国内创新溢出和国外技术引进对工业节能减排效率的影响。研究发现：我国战略性新兴产业、高新技术产业节能减排效率普遍较高,资源、资本、劳动密集型行业节能减排效率普遍较低;企业自主创新对高效率行业作用更明显,国外技术引进对低效率行业影响更突出,国内创新溢出对各行业效率的影响力度基本一致;环境规制、行业企业规模等也是影响节能减排效率的因素之一。     

Skill relatedness and firm diversification

Because of the importance of human capital, a firm's choice of diversification targets will depend on whether these targets offer opportunities for leveraging existing human resources. We propose to quantify the similarity of different industries' human capital or skill requirements, that is, the industries' skill relatedness, by using information on cross‐industry labor flows. Labor flows among industries can be used to identify skill relatedness, because individuals changing jobs will likely remain in industries that value the skills associated with their previous work. Estimates show that firms are far more likely to diversify into industries that have ties to the firms' core activities in terms of our skill‐relatedness measure than into industries without such ties or into industries that are linked by value chain linkages or by classification‐based relatedness. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are margins more procyclical in concentrated industries?

In a series of recent papers, Domowitz, Hubbard and Peterson (DHP) have explored the temporal behavior of price-cost margins in a panel of 284 four-digit SIC industries. This paper reexamines DHP's apparent finding of more procyclical margins in concentrated industries, concluding that it is not robust. The result appears to arise from long-run trend correlations between margin and demand levels, rather than from short-run cyclical effects. Consistent with DHP, prices are found to be stickier and unit costs more countercyclical in concentrated industries. However, (1) an omitted variables bias is uncovered which substantially reduces the estimated cyclical effect on costs, and (2) prices are found to be more flexible in low concentration, low-PCM industries than DHP estimate. With prices more responsive to growth in demand and a countercyclical effect on cost of substantially lower magnitude, margins are thus estimated to bemore procyclical in less concentrated industries. This finding explains the relative rise in low concentration margins in the sixties which, in turn, helps account for the declining significance of the cross-sectional concentration-margins relationship.I would like to acknowledge helpful comments from Roy Rotheim, and two anonymous reviewers.     

Vertical Disintegration and the Disorganization of German Industrial Relations1

Drawing on case studies from the telecommunications and auto industries, the authors argue that the vertical disintegration of major German employers is contributing to the disorganization of Germany’s dual system of in‐plant and sectoral negotiations. Subcontractors, subsidiaries and temporary agencies often have no collective bargaining institutions or are covered by different firm‐level and sectoral agreements. As core employers move jobs to these firms, they introduce new organizational boundaries across the production chain and disrupt traditional bargaining structures. Worker representatives are developing new campaign approaches and using residual power at large firms to establish representation in new firms and sectors, but these have not been successful at rebuilding co‐ordinated bargaining.     

Being a woman in an ICT job: an analysis of the gender pay gap and discrimination in Spain

Despite policy initiatives aimed at promoting female access to jobs, the information and communication technology (ICT) professions have traditionally been largely monopolised by men. Segregation, gendered stereotypes and environmental factors have a clear impact on educational and professional choices, as well as on working conditions. The spread of ICT to all economic activities has meant that ICT specialists are now to be found everywhere, not only in the ICT sector where many stereotypes related to technical jobs persist. This work aims to analyse the gender wage gap and discrimination in ICT professions, with the emphasis on how working in an ICT-intensive industry might affect that situation. The study uses the Spanish Earning Structure Survey data for 2014, and applies wage decomposition techniques to the wage distribution. The results show that female ICT professionals face unfavorable working conditions, especially in highly qualified jobs and in ICT-intensive industries.     

制度短缺与劳工短缺——"民工荒"问题研究

本文认为,在劳动力市场信息不充分的条件下,外来工（农民工）主要（只能）通过私人网络关系去寻找工作。利用网络寻找工作不一定能使他们得到工资较高的工作岗位．却可以节省找工成本。由于外来工工资较低,所以,他们不能安心在所在企业工作,因而有较高的流动率。高流动率造成了劳工短缺即“民工荒”。作为群体的外来工之所以工资低,主要是最低工资标准丧失了调节作用,这是基本的、直接的制度缺陷。外来工的高流动性还塑造了劳资关系双方的短期行为。本文还进一步讨论了农民工高流动率和不能转化为真正的职业工人的制度背景．这就是“半工半耕”和城乡二元户籍划分的正式制度、乡土社会的传统社会规范和社会公众（包括农民工自身）对农民工的认知心理等非正式制度。     

Regulation in Vertically-Related Industries: Myths, Facts, and Policy

This paper explains why conclusions that appear to be “facts” can truly be “myths” in industries like today’s telecommunications industry, where key suppliers operate in multiple vertical stages of production. The paper explains, for example, why an entrant’s decision to make or buy critical production inputs may be largely insensitive to the price of these inputs. It also reviews why a vertically-integrated producer (VIP) may prefer to assist, rather than disadvantage, retail rivals, and why a VIP may be disadvantaging rivals even when it provides them with the same wholesale service quality that it provides to its own retail affiliate.     

The dynamics of continuous innovation in scale-intensive industries

This paper attempts to explain why some industries succeed in dematuring by formulating the generation and utilization of new technologies into a continuous process. By reference to the performance of Japanese scale-intensive industries (i.e. automobile and consumer electronics durables), the analysis provides a theoretical foundation for the proposition that a certain type of positive-sum game played among a variety of market entrants generates specific ‘inter-group dynamics' (hyper-learning process). In this industrial climate the firms’ inclinations towards offensive management and product-cum-process innovation has resulted in the coupling of continuous innovation and industrial evolution.     

"中国价格"探索--以MP3音乐播放器为例

“中国价格”（The China Price）最引起很多人的关注。对中国出口的商品为何拥有如此强大的竞争力,西方国家一直解释不清楚,贸易摩擦也不断发生。MP3音乐播放器案例阐明,在全球价值网络的背景下,中国价格的构成关系及其核心因素．产品知识价值投放的地理位置、知识含量程度对价格效应的不均匀分布。以及产业模块集聚等要素对价格的影响,引发超大规模产业集群、蝗虫工业现象的“中国价格”的系统效应。     

Sources and assessment of complexity in NPD projects

When examining the reasons why NPD projects are late, over budget, or why they suffer from performance problems, complexity is often directly linked to the results achieved. While some research has been done in the complexity area, more research is needed to assess the role that complexity plays in the successful development of new products. In this paper complexity is defined and several reasons are examined why this factor can be a significant issue in successfully managing NPD efforts. Several sources of complexity are also examined including technological; market; development; marketing; organizational; and intraorganizational complexity, i.e., one company partnering with another to develop a new product or technology. A template is then constructed to help product developers evaluate complexity in their development projects. Finally, the paper concludes with suggestions of how the complexity template can be applied by development managers and their teams.     

Why Do Employers Retrain At‐Risk Workers? The Role of Social Capital

Why are some employers willing to retrain workers who are at risk of layoff for new jobs in their organization, whereas others “churn” their workforce through layoffs and outside hiring? The question seems central to understanding why some employers and some jobs are “good,” whereas others are not and, more generally, for understanding employment security. The arguments herein use national probability data to examine this question and find that the retraining option is associated with preserving the social capital among current employees. Employers who make greater use of work systems that rely on social capital are more likely to retrain their workers. Alternative explanations—that retraining is an employee benefit associated with employee‐friendly policies or is part of overall strategy to invest in training—receive no support. These results extend our understanding of the role that social capital can play in organizations. They also suggest that being a “good” employer may have a great deal to do with other choices about systems of work organization.     

Industry Dynamics in the Swedish Textile and Wearing Apparel Sector

This paper analyses the adjustment process within the Swedish textile and wearing apparel sector and finds results that support the notion of Schumpeters creative destruction. The turnover of plants and jobs seems to improve the industries from within due to an exit (entry) of less (more) productive plants, exit (entry) of old (new) incumbents, a destruction (creation) of less (more) human-capital intensive jobs, and a supply of new products on the world market. The econometric analysis of the probability of exit with plant, firm and industry characteristics supports the idea of a rationalisation from within.     

All work intensity is not created equal: Effort motives,job satisfaction and quit intentions at a grocery chain

Prior research has shown that the well-being of employees engaged in intensive work can vary with the discretion their jobs afford regarding how and when to carry out the work. This article explores a different avenue. It argues that well-being also varies with employees’ individual motives for working intensively. The article introduces self-determination theory to the domain of work intensity and focuses on two hypotheses. The first is whether intensive work driven by explicit or implicit incentives is more positively associated with an employee's job satisfaction than intensive work driven by job demands. The second is whether intensive work driven by intrinsic motives is more positively associated with job satisfaction than that driven by explicit or implicit incentives. In both these cases, the article also examines whether equivalent effects exist on (reduced) quit intentions. Original data from a major Greek grocery chain provide corroborative evidence that is robust to a rich set of covariates, including increasingly demanding adjustments for job discretion. The findings contribute to a more complete understanding of why differences in well-being exist among employees performing intensive work, with implications for workers and employers.     

Industrial Migration: A Case Study of Destination by City-Surburban Origin within the New York Metropolitan Area*

Since the early stages of industrial development, the outflow of jobs from central city to suburb has been discernable. This intrametropolitan dispersion process, slowed by depression and war, gained impetus following World War II and accelerated during the ensuing decades. By the 1970s, however, a new dimension had been added to the dispersion process—especially in the mature urban areas of the North-east and Midwest—that being the outflow of jobs from suburbs themselves to other regions of the U.S. Given this new interregional dimension, a multi-jurisdictional strategy to stem the job outflow is in order. This paper provides an input into the framework for developing such a strategy through an examination of destination patterns of jobs by intrametropolitan point of origin using New York City and Nassau-Suffolk as a case study.