Surviving the EU? The future for national employment models in Europe

The claim by the European Union (EU) to be both the moderniser and the effective saviour of distinctive European ways of doing things is challenged by this review of the multi‐tiered influence of the EU on change in national models. Competition and macroeconomic policy is argued to be more significant than soft law in reshaping national models and in constraining innovation and change to meet new conditions. Lip service is paid by the EU to different paths of development, but the contradictions and synergies across institutional and policy approaches that underpin the notion of varieties of capitalism go unrecognised. European employment models are seen as primarily contributing to social protection, but the potential role for distinctive models to promote comparative advantage, as under varieties of capitalism analysis, is not on the policy agenda.     

Successful eco‐innovators: Exploring the association between open inbound knowledge strategies and the performance of eco‐innovative firms

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the association between open inbound knowledge strategies and the performance of eco‐innovative firms in the food and beverage industry. We propose a mixed framework based on the eco‐innovation literature and the open innovation approach. We consider the characteristics in a traditional sector based upon a resource‐based perspective. Three types of firms are distinguished in terms of their sales growth in the Spanish food industry from the least to the most successful eco‐innovators. Using multinomial logistic regression models, it is shown that the diversity of collaborators (breadth of external sources of knowledge) and joint adoption of product and process eco‐innovations are positively associated with the probability of achieving high sales growth. Moreover, we find an inverted U‐shaped relationship between the breadth of the external search and firm performance, but only for the group of the most successful firms. Moreover, operational flexibility, knowledge‐based capabilities and company size are also positively related to the group of successful eco‐innovators.     

Moving beyond the tensions in open environmental innovation towards a holistic perspective

This paper analyses factors determining open environmental innovation (EI) and explores the possibility of embracing their tensions to achieve integrated environmental strategic goals. Building on recent literature linking open innovation and EI, the study assumes open EI strategic goals as a multidimensional construct based on the “synergistic and interwoven nature” of four identified enabling factors, that is, partners, knowledge, benefits, and motivations. A fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) based on Boolean algebra is conducted to analyse a set of 186 European companies operating in the telecommunication and information and communication technology (ICT) service industries. Making important theoretical, managerial, and policy contributions, this paper offers insights into the key factors enabling open EI and the tensional relationships within and between them. In doing so, it captures the non‐linear effects among these factors and the strategic goals related to an open EI strategy. It also suggests how the paradox theory might help in addressing the tensional dilemma of open EI strategy.     

The impact of the European social fund on youth education and employment

The effectiveness of the European Union's Cohesion Policy in reducing regional socio-economic gaps remains an open empirical issue, while evidence as to how the policy is affected by specific territorial factors and which social groups benefit most from it remains sparse. This article seeks to address this gap by disentangling the impact of the European Social Fund (ESF) on youth education and employment prospects. Drawing on macro-level data for the European NUTS-2 regions, we assess the impact that this fund has on different education-specific youth population shares and employment rates. In the case of education, we find that the receipt of funding is associated with a human capital polarization of regional populations. Specifically, we identify a positive impact of the ESF on population shares with lower-secondary and tertiary education, and a simultaneous negative impact on the share of those with upper-secondary education. In the case of employment, we find a positive response for youth of all education levels. A heterogeneity analysis indicates that both the education and employment responses of the youth population to the receipt of the ESF are strongly influenced by local specialization in high-skilled activities.     

The Fading Attraction of Central Regions: an Empirical Note on Core–Periphery Gradients in Western Europe

Abstract

This paper describes sectoral core–periphery gradients across Western European regions over the period 1975–2000, and it estimates the impact of EU membership on countries’ internal geography. Overall, it is found that the centrality of European regions has been losing importance as a determinant for the location of employment. Central regions have gained employment share in none of the eight broad sectors analysed, whereas peripheral regions have significantly gained employment share in four of these sectors. Accession to the EU has favoured countries’ peripheral regions in terms of manufacturing employment and their central regions in terms of service employment.     

Is environmental innovation conducive to corporate financing? The moderating role of advertising expenditures

Environmental innovation is an important way for firms to achieve sustainable development and acquire resources. Based on the stakeholder, resource dependence, and signal transmission theories, this study divided environmental innovation into substantive and strategic eco‐innovation and constructed a relationship model among environmental innovation, advertising expenditures, and corporate financing. Selecting 162 Chinese manufacturing listed companies from 2012 to 2017 as the research sample and adopting the multiple regression analysis method, the study found that substantive eco‐innovation had a positive effect on corporate financing, but strategic eco‐innovation had a significant negative effect on corporate financing. Further, advertising expenditures played a positive moderating role between substantive eco‐innovation, strategic eco‐innovation, and corporate financing. The robustness test further confirmed these results.     

THE INNOVATION‐EMPLOYMENT NEXUS: A CRITICAL SURVEY OF THEORY AND EMPIRICS

Understanding whether technical change is beneficial or detrimental for employment is at the center of the policy debate, especially in phases of economic recession. So far, the effects of innovation – in its manifold declinations and intrinsic complexity – on labor demand have proven to be not unequivocal. This essay critically reviews the role of technical change in shaping employment dynamics at different levels of aggregation. First, it disentangles theoretically the role of different compensation mechanisms through which employment adjusts after an innovation is introduced. Second, it critically presents the most recent empirical evidence on the topic, with a focus on methods and limitations. Finally, it provides an attempt to conceptualize a number of stylized facts and empirical regularities on the innovation‐employment nexus.     

Unemployment and the Independent European System of Central Banks

A bstract .This paper scrutinizes the case for an Independent European System of Central Banks (IESCB) Proposals for IESCB are based on some specific interrelated theoretical propositions upon which we cast some doubt The case for an IESCB is rejected on the grounds that it would worsen the performance of the real economy We propose different arrangements, which are focused on high levels of employment throughout the European Union as the prime objective Such a scenario, which emphasizes full employment and requires coordination among member countries in terms of economic policy, will avoid most, if not all, of the problems of the IESCB proposals. The alternative would thus be better able to tackle the unemployment problems of the European Union     

Measuring the efficiency of European education systems by combining Data Envelopment Analysis and Multiple-Criteria Evaluation

Education is considered an important factor of economic growth, employment and social inclusion. However, the economic crisis has put the need to achieve educational goals in the most efficient way ever more to the fore. The main objective of this paper is to assess the spending efficiency of European compulsory educational systems, creating a ranking of countries based on the efficiency scores of their systems using a number of standard variables from the literature. To this end, we also present a methodological innovation that combines Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with discrete Multiple Criteria Evaluation (MCE), two methods that we consider complementary if used for providing a performance analysis. Moreover, both methods identify a set of common variables which are associated with higher levels of efficiency in educational systems (e.g. some characteristics of teachers, the stock of adults’ human capital and lower expenditures per student). The results show that findings using DEA are largely confirmed by MCE.

     

Why does eco‐innovation differ in service firms? Some insights from Spain

Although environmental innovation studies have traditionally focused on manufacturing firms, the distinctive features of eco‐innovation activities carried out by service firms require special attention. Using the Spanish Commumity Innovation Survey (CIS), this paper determines which are the main drivers of undertaking eco‐innovation and investigates the similarities and differences between service and manufacturing firms within the five sub‐groups of services (supplier dominated, scale intensive physical networks, scale intensive information networks, science‐based, and others). The results confirm that the main eco‐innovation triggers are similar—technological push factor orientation (internal R&D and persistence) and firm size—while the impact of market pull factors and public environmental legislation differ within the services sub‐groups. In addition, we find a high degree of heterogeneity within service firms. In contrast to traditional service firms, those in the groups involving R&D activities, information networks, and scale‐intensive physical networks exhibit intensive eco‐innovation performance and show a high level of green indicators.     

Environmental regulation,total factor productivity,and enterprise duration: Evidence from China

Environmental regulation has been confirmed to have an important impact on enterprise productivity, which is regarded as a crucial factor of enterprise duration. However, existing studies have paid little attention to how environmental regulation affects enterprise duration. Using firm‐level data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database (2003–2007) and the stochastic frontier analysis method, we estimate enterprise total factor productivity (TFP) and its four decomposed components (scale efficiency change, technological change, factor allocation efficiency change, and technical efficiency change). Meanwhile, we adopt a comprehensive index to measure the environmental regulation intensity. Furthermore, we use the linear probability model and the proportional hazards model to investigate the effect of environmental regulation on enterprise duration through the mediating role of enterprise TFP. The results show that although environmental regulation per se negatively impacts on enterprise duration, environmental regulation can present a synthetic positive effect on enterprise duration due to its positive effect on enterprise TFP. Specifically, environmental regulation significantly mitigates the scale efficiency and technical efficiency of regulated enterprises. It also stimulates regulated enterprises' technological innovation and improves their factor allocation efficiency. In addition, state‐owned and large‐scale enterprises are more malleable when facing environmental regulations. We propose that the government should encourage enterprises to innovate and improve the allocation efficiency of production factors, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling environmental pollution in stages while extending enterprise duration.     

Evaluating the prevalence and distribution of dependent self‐employment: some lessons from the European Working Conditions Survey

This article advances understanding of the prevalence and distribution of dependent self‐employment. Analysing the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey of 35,765 employees in 28 European countries, the dependent self‐employed are found to comprise 4.3% (1 in 23) of the EU workforce, 47% of all those reporting themselves as self‐employed without employees and 31% of all self‐employed. The prevalence of dependent self‐employment, however, is found to have decreased since the previous 2010 survey, is not found to be concentrated among marginalised population groups and is significantly more likely in agriculture, forestry and fishing, arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities, and the household services sector. The implications for theorising and tackling dependent self‐employment are discussed.     

环境规制对污染行业就业的影响

在环境问题日益严峻和经济转型的背景下,能否实现环境规制和就业的双赢成为现阶段我国面临的一个挑战。为了分析环境规制对污染行业就业的影响,在构建数理模型的基础上,利用中国21个污染行业2003—2011年的面板数据,构建模型进行实证分析,研究结果表明：从数理模型来看,环境规制对污染行业的就业有着积极作用;从实证结果来看,环境规制和滞后一期的环境规制指标均对整体污染行业的就业有着积极作用,对重度污染行业的就业有着促进作用,对轻度污染行业的就业影响不明显。     

Creating an Environment for Economic Growth: Creativity,Entrepreneurship or Human Capital?

Scholars and policymakers interested in the growth and prosperity of regions have long recognized that talent and knowledge are fundamental. Yet the question is what types of talent are needed in a growing twenty‐first‐century economy: human capital, creativity and innovation, or entrepreneurship? The latter we define broadly to include any type of risk taking, and not only radical innovation. The literature does not clearly point to one factor as being the most essential. This study assesses this question separately for rural and urban United States (US) counties. We find that human capital––measured by educational attainment––is considerably more conducive to employment growth than the share of creative occupations. Likewise, the share of small and medium businesses is also very conducive to local growth, although this does not apply to the self‐employment share. Rural and urban areas experience similar patterns, although the magnitude thereof tends to be larger for urban counties, whereas high‐technology employment share has had a positive effect in rural areas. Policy conclusions suggest that enhancing small business development and increasing educational attainment are the two strategies that are most likely to succeed.     

Sustainable Development Strategies for Product Innovation and Energy Efficiency

The interaction between product innovation and companies’ activities aimed at improving the energy efficiency of production facilities has been relatively little studied, but is of great relevance to society and companies given the strong focus of governments on grand challenges like climate change, green innovation technologies, and environmental problems in general. This paper utilizes the 2009 European Manufacturing Survey for the Danish sub‐sample including 335 manufacturing firms. Through factor analysis, this paper confirms three main areas of focus of new product development: efficiency considerations, market attention, and greening of innovation. Logistic regression analysis demonstrates that while market attention is important for the development of new products, green aspects of innovation and efficiency considerations are important for production companies wanting to improve their energy efficiency. When these models are combined, the results highlight that energy efficiency moderates the effect of market attention to new product development. This paper therefore finds that aligning product innovation and energy efficiency is a complex and intertwined process – focusing on one may have indirect detrimental effects on the other. These results point to the conclusion that researchers and practitioners in innovation management have to consider more carefully the specificities and interactions of different types of products and process innovations and their environmental implications, and must formulate new, more sustainable managerial practices combining energy efficiency and product innovation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Employment impacts of cleaner production – evidence from a German study using case studies and surveys

The study assesses net employment effects of technical progress, which can be expected by the ongoing transition from end‐of‐pipe technologies towards cleaner production. Empirical evidence is presented on the basis of case studies and firm data including a telephone survey from German industry. The main result is that the transition from end‐of‐pipe technologies to cleaner production leads to a net creation of jobs, which is however restricted to a only small number of firms and to the group of highly skilled labour. Eco‐innovations, like other innovations, are non‐neutral. The demand for skilled and highly skilled labour rises while the demand for unskilled labour decreases. Synergies between environmental, labour market and innovation policy are apparent but they are however small and specific. The exploitation of these synergies requires the design of specific policy programmes differentiating between types of eco‐innovation. The promotion of product‐integrated environmental measures should be more successful if new products complement older ones, while process‐integrated environmental measures should be more successful if consumers' demand is more price elastic. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

Proactive environmental strategy,innovation capability,and stakeholder integration capability: A mediation analysis

This study investigates the underlying mechanisms through which proactive environmental strategy develops organizational capabilities. The results of a survey of publicly listed companies in China reveal that proactive environmental strategy has a more positive influence on stakeholder integration capability than on innovation capability. Moreover, organizational learning plays a greater role in mediating the effect of proactive environmental strategy on innovation capability than on stakeholder integration capability, whereas cross‐functional coordination plays a greater role in mediating its effect on stakeholder integration capability than on innovation capability. These findings provide important implications on organizational capability building via proactive environmental strategy.     

For green or not for green? The effect of cooperation goals and type on environmental performance

Although many scholars have demonstrated that companies engaged in collaborations achieve better environmental performance than other companies, existing studies have not analyzed in depth whether this effect changes considering the characteristics of cooperation. Our paper aims to explore whether collaboration with other companies always has a positive effect on environmental performance or whether it depends on cooperation goals, collaboration type, or company size. Empirical analysis based on a sample of 773 European companies demonstrated that an external source of knowledge is an important way to foster firms' environmental proactivity, especially when environmental goals are shared at the basis of collaboration. Second, we verified that companies involved in JVs with environmental goals achieve greater environmental performance than companies that use M&As to acquire external knowledge. Finally, we demonstrated that it is more important for small companies to be involved in environmental collaboration than larger ones.     

The rate of learning‐by‐doing: estimates from a search‐matching model

We construct and estimate by maximum likelihood a job search model where wages are set by Nash bargaining and idiosyncratic productivity follows a geometric Brownian motion. The proposed framework enables us to endogenize job destruction and to estimate the rate of learning‐by‐doing. Although the range of the observations is not independent of the parameters, we establish that the estimators satisfy asymptotic normality. The structural model is estimated using Current Population Survey data on accepted wages and employment durations. We show that it accurately captures the joint distribution of wages and job spells. We find that the rate of learning‐by‐doing has an important positive effect on aggregate output and a small impact on employment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental Compliance and Firm Performance: Evidence from China*

This article evaluates the impact of environmental compliance on firms’ innovation and financial performance using a panel dataset of Chinese firms for the period of 2000–5. Our results show certification of the ISO14000 has a significantly positive impact on firms’ profitability. This finding is robust when we take into account possible endogeneity of certification, effects of export and types of customers, and possible precertification time trends. In addition, we find that certified firms have larger per‐worker sales volumes and market shares in the country, which suggests an alternative mechanism for the Porter hypothesis in the context of a developing economy.