Strategic Management and the Politics of Production in the Development of Work: A Case Study in a Danish Electronic Manufacturing Plant

After presenting different conceptions of work politics in industrial sociology and sociology of organization, the authors argue that changes in work and technology, and hence the politics of work, may be better comprehended through a concept of the social constitution of the company. Subsequently, this concept is used as a theoretical and methodological basis for an in-depth case study of the processes of social change connected with the introduction of semi-autonomous working groups in a Danish electronic manufacturing plant. It is shown that the historically developed norms and culture of the organization - referred to here as the social constitution of the company - contribute to the creation of profound, ambivalent attitudes among management as well as workers towards more fundamental changes of work content and organization. Finally, the implications for strategic management for the development of work at the company level are discussed.     

The business cycle and the equity risk premium in real time

Building on the stochastic discount factor model, we estimated a multivariate exponential GARCH-in-mean model to analyze the link between the business cycle and the equity risk premium in the United States. In order to measure the business cycle, we used revised and real-time monthly data on industrial production for the period from 1965 to 2008. The main result of our empirical analysis is that estimates of the equity risk premium based on real-time macroeconomic data may significantly differ from estimates of the equity risk premium based on revised macroeconomic data.     

The employment dynamics of different population groups over the business cycle

We examine differences in employment dynamics across population groups using Bayesian vector autoregressions. We document that groups who are particularly strongly affected by business-cycle fluctuations (males, young people, non-whites, the less educated, and workers in blue-collar occupations) also tend to be affected early in the build-up of a boom or bust. We further identify the drivers of the different cyclicalities across population groups. Supply shocks seem to be most important for the heterogeneous employment fluctuations and particularly for the early effects of recessions and booms on the most affected groups. Dynamics in sectoral activity and in hiring rates can help to understand our findings.     

Conceptualizing leapfrogging with spatially coupled innovation systems: The case of onsite wastewater treatment in China

A rapid implementation of potentially more sustainable sector structures in newly industrializing countries (NICs) is of key importance to reach global sustainability. The conceptual basis for assessing such “leapfrogging” potentials is however still rather weakly developed. The present paper elaborates an encompassing conceptual framework drawing on the technological innovation systems literature and adding an explicit geographical focus that embeds an NIC's innovation system in its international context. From this, we derive six ideal-type leapfrogging trajectories. The framework is applied to the case of a potential transition to onsite wastewater treatment in China. Empirical evidence is based on 30 expert interviews with representatives from companies, universities, authorities and associations in China and Europe. Our results suggest that leapfrogging in the Chinese wastewater sector might develop in either an integrated “international innovation system” trajectory, where Chinese and international actors closely interact, or in an “international competition” trajectory, where Chinese actors endogenously build up technological leadership in strong competition to international actors. We conclude by outlining policy implications and by discussing future research priorities for leapfrogging and transition studies.