The use of flexible employment arrangements: some new evidence from Greek firms

The present study attempts an examination of the extent to which Greek firms use flexible employment arrangements, the kind of jobs in which they are used and the factors affecting their use. It concentrates on three types of flexible work: temporary workers, independent contractors and subcontractors. Drawing upon data from a sample of seventy-five companies, it identifies factors affecting: a) firm's decision to use flexible forms of work or not and b) the percentage of flexible workers used.

The main findings indicate that different types of flexible worker are used by the same firm for the accomplishment of different kinds of job and are affected by different factors. Training costs and monitoring problems appear to be the most influential factors explaining the use of temporary workers, while low frequency of specialized tasks is the main factor affecting the use of independent contractors and often the recourse to subcontractors. Results from the Greek national context would add to existing evidence on this important issue.     

物流服务供应链多级合作的质量监督与协调

考虑集成商自身也承担一部分物流任务的前提下,首先建立了集成商也会受到惩罚时的物流服务供应链多级质量监督模型,然后进一步考虑了分包商之间存在竞争的多级合作质量监督模型,探讨两种模型下相关因素对物流服务质量协调的影响。     

Same same,but different: the heterogeneous nature of subcontractors inside Italian industrial districts

Abstract

This paper investigates the structural features and performances of small firms interacting inside regional production networks, with particular regard to Italian industrial districts specialized in footwear production. A typological classification of the various participants in the supply chains is introduced and used to interpret the performances of the main groups identified, focusing on a five-year period following the 2008 financial crisis. The empirical investigation is conducted using an innovative archive containing detailed information on a large share of Italian micro and small firms that are generally excluded from most firm-level databases. The results show that, inside industrial districts, subcontractors are best described as a set of heterogeneous agents with distinct identities and idiosyncratic approaches to the market. The most widely diffused type of supplier still retains most of the structural characteristics traditionally described by the literature. However, industrial districts are also characterized by the presence of advanced forms of subcontractors whose organizational structure differs from that of a traditional supplier: in fact, such producers share more commonalities with end product firms. The analysis of the performances indicates that advanced subcontractors displayed better results during the period 2008–2012, while traditional suppliers tend to occupy a peripheral position in most subcontracting networks.     

分包单位安全文化建设探讨

电力行业作为我国国民经济的支柱产业之一,越来越多的专业施工企业参与到电力行业电力设施建设中。电力设施建设业作为一个高危险性、事故多发的复杂行业,电力设施建设施工单位尤其分包单位安全施工问题已成为电力建设安全发展的巨大障碍。本文首先就分包单位普遍存在的,可能对安全施工造成不利影响的方面进行分析,其后引入企业安全文化建设概念,探讨寻求解决分包单位存在问题的途径。这就是笔者的写作思路。本文关于安全文化建设的探讨不仅仅适合于本文所针对的主要研究对象——分包单位,同样适合于其他建设型企业。     

基于合作的工程总承包项目分包模式研究

建设项目分包是建设工程项目管理中不可忽视的一环,"大而全"的企业架构将造成大量资本的浪费,企业为了增强自身的核心竞争力,扩大生产经营,选择与专业能力强、技术稳定的分包商合作成必然趋势。总承包商通过对分包经济理论和分包模式的研究,可以更好地开展分包商工作,及时掌握项目信息以达到减少管理成本、提高项目管理水平、增强企业核心竞争力的目的。     

Monitoring in service triads consisting of buyers, subcontractors and end customers

Organisations increasingly outsource service delivery to specialist subcontractors. These buyers, their subcontractors and their end customers operate in a triadic service relationship. In these triads, the buyer lacks direct control over service delivery and completely depends on the subcontractor for its performance towards its end customers. Subcontractors are confronted with two principals (buyer and end customer) who may have conflicting objectives.Although traditionally focusing on dyadic buyer–seller relationships rather than triads, Agency Theory provides valuable suggestions on the type of contract to be used and the type of monitoring to be employed. We adopt Agency Theory as a theoretical lens to look at the buyer–subcontractor–end customer triad and develop propositions on the design of contractual arrangements and monitoring activities. We use the results of two cases of service triads to provide some initial validation for these propositions.     

论施工企业对工程分包的管理

建设工程的分包是指总承包人承包建设工程后,将其承包的某一部分工程或某几部分工程,再发包给其他承包人,与其签订承包合同项下的分包合同。文章主要阐述施工企业对分包方和其所分包的工程在工程进度、安全、技术、质量等方面的管理。     

论施工企业对工程分包的管理

建设工程的分包是指总承包人承包建设工程后,将其承包的某一部分工程或某几部分工程,再发包给其他承包人,与其签订承包合同项下的分包合同。文章主要阐述施工企业对分包方和其所分包的工程在工程进度、安全、技术、质量等方面的管理。     

EPC总承包在水汶水电站中的应用

水汶水电站扩建工程采取EPC总承包方式，总承包单位中标后，通过建立完善的分包组织体系和管理体系，落实管理职责，对分包单位实施一体化管理，确保总承包项翦按合同约定顺利交付使用。     

A Comparison of Exit and Voice Relationships Under Common Uncertainty

We consider a repeated interaction between a manufacturing firm and a subcontractor. The relationship between the two parties is characterized (1) by moral hazard, and (2) by the fact that they do not have perfect knowledge about the base cost level of the project, which is carried out by a subcontractor (the parties only have identical a priori beliefs). We consider a two-period model where the players can update their estimate of the base cost level according to incoming information. Exit relationships, where the firm signs one-period contracts with different subcontractors, are compared with voice relationships, where both partners commit to a two-period interaction and (due to information sharing and face-to-face communication between the partners) additional information about the base cost level is generated. It is shown that in such a dynamic framework with common uncertainty the quality of the additional information plays a crucial role in determining the characteristics of the optimal relationship: voice-based strategies governed by long-term contracts are preferable if the precision of the additional information about the base cost level is high. If the precision of the additional signal is low, exit strategies with frequent changes of the subcontractors are optimal for the manufacturer.     

EPC总承包在水汶水电站中的应用

水汶水电站扩建工程采取EPC总承包方式,总承包单位中标后,通过建立完善的分包组织体系和管理体系,落实管理职责,对分包单位实施一体化管理,确保总承包项目按合同约定顺利交付使用.     

物流服务供应能力约束下期权型契约的设计研究

在分包商物流服务供应能力有限的前提下,针对由第三方物流集成商和物流服务分包商构成的二级供应链,构建集成商和物流服务分包商合作的契约。文中考虑分包商提供的物流服务能力限制的条件下提出一种基于回购的期权型契约合同模型,验证了在期权契约条件下,能够达到供应链最优,但是不能使分包商达到利润最大化。     

项目施工管理中的反索赔

合同是连接业主和各承包商及分包商之间的枢纽,实施中涉及各种大量复杂的合同关系,合同执行过程中索赔和反索赔频繁发生,本文通过相关案例着重论述业主如何做好施工管理中的反索赔工作。     

Buying Back Subcontractors: The Strategic Limits of Backward Integration

In a model where a monopolistic downstream firm (assembler) negotiates simultaneously with each of its n subcontractors the prices of the complementary components which enter its product, we show that backward integration is limited by a strategic negative effect: the prices and profits of independent suppliers increase when a merger reduces their number. Mergers are profitable only if the downstream firm buys at least two thirds of its suppliers. In an endogenous acquisition game à la Kamien and Zang (1990) the only merged equilibrium occurs when there is only one subcontractor. In a sequential acquisition game full integration is not an equilibrium when the number of suppliers is at least five.     

Opportunistic hiring and employee fit

Most research on selection processes and organizational fit deals with existing, unfilled positions where expectations and tasks are known and measurable. This article instead evaluates the reasons, processes, and implications of opportunistic hiring—hiring employees before their jobs exist. Examples from an exploratory study show how “fit” factors into selection decisions. A typology is offered along the dimensions of whether opportunistic hiring is used to meet immediate or anticipated needs and the extent to which these needs are articulated prior to selection. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Governance of Networks and Economic Power: The Nature and Impact of Subcontracting Relationships

Abstract.  Current debate on networking focuses on network structures and firm strategies. In this perspective, theoretical analysis has been concerned with allocative issues. This essay proposes a different interpretation. Starting from the existing theoretical framework, we emphasise the nature and the implications of different types of networks with respect to socio‐economic development from a distributional point of view. Within this context, we develop the analysis of subcontracting starting from the concept of economic power. We then provide an analysis of governance in production by considering the attitudes and the nature of the actors involved. The externalisation of activities by large transnationals, which characterises current corporate restructuring, is often related to the search for greater flexibility, but also for greater power over governments, labour, and subcontractors. Differently, networks based on the mutual dependence of actors, which are not necessarily built around a large firm, could – under particular conditions – reach large production scales or more complex scopes without breaking the links with territorial systems, thus including local objectives in the strategic decision‐making process. Our conclusion is that the impact of subcontracting networks varies enormously. This is crucial to an understanding of future trends and possibilities. Not least, firms and public policy agencies need to understand the implications of different forms of subcontracting network and how those forms actually differ in practice.     

铁路工程架子队管理模式存在的问题与对策

为适应大规模铁路建设需要,进一步规范铁路建设项目施工用工行为,杜绝铁路建设项目"违法转包、分包",确保铁路工程的质量和施工安全,创新劳务管理模式,自铁道部《关于积极倡导架子队管理模式的指导意见》(铁建设【2008】51号)文发布以来,笔者所在的项目部通过在项目上的推广和实施,对架子队的标准化建设进行探索与研究,指出架子队管理模式中存在的难点及在实施过程中存在的问题,并对架子队管理创新的进行了研究。     

Coordinating debris cleanup operations in post disaster road networks

We propose a constructive heuristic that generates roadside debris cleanup plans for a limited number of equipment in the post-disaster road recovery planning problem. Travel times between cleanup tasks are not pre-fixed but depend on the blockage status of the entire road network at the time of travel. We develop a novel mathematical model that maximizes cumulative network accessibility throughout the cleanup operation and minimizes makespan. We propose several practical and robust task selection rules that favor one or both goals that are tested on realistic size road networks with deterministic and stochastic debris cleanup times.     

缅甸瑞丽江一级水电站至达贡山镍矿输电线路拼抢工期的若干措施

文章阐述了缅甸瑞丽江一级水电站至达贡山镍矿220 kV送电线路工程拼抢工期的若干措施,尤其指出大件材料在雨季前运输到现场材料站、将组织不力的施工分包商断然换下、对雨季材料中运的路面进行处理等措施的施行,能使工程满足合同对工期的要求。实践表明,这些非常措施对赢得工程工期是行之有效的。     

军事虚拟物流联盟伙伴选择

从军事虚拟物流联盟完成物资保障任务的实际情况出发,构建了军事虚拟物流联盟伙伴选择的三阶段模型,重点分析了由军方独立组成以及军地共同组成时的伙伴优选情况,并通过算例说明其有效性。