Temporary hires and innovative investments

The flexicurity approach claims a positive effect of flexible labour on firm performance, also through an increased ability to innovate. Critics consider it a deregulation of the labour market, decreasing investment in human capital and innovation. We contribute to this broad debate providing an estimate of the relationships linking innovative investment, substitution investment, permanent hires and temporary hires. In particular, we aim at affirming or denying that innovative investments are accompanied by a specific kind of workforce, being it stable or flexible. In doing so, we contribute to bridge the gap among two quite separate strands of literature, as existing literature usually analyses capital and labour separately. Estimating a nonlinear recursive equation system we highlight a significant increase in the likelihood of hiring on a permanent base when the firm innovates; this holds till 2008. Afterward, during the crisis, innovating firms are more likely to hire using temporary contracts instead, a possible signal of a cost saving strategy adopted in a loose labour market by firms still able to innovate. Furthermore, both permanent and temporary hires never depend on increases in labour costs; however, substitution investment increases when labour cost increases, maybe in an attempt to increase labour productivity through a more efficient capital equipment.     

论汽车企业工程零件清单(EPL)的管理方法

工程零件清单(EPL)用于向公司的其他业务部门传递开发车辆的零件信息,其准确性和完整性影响整个车辆开发过程。因此,EPL从项目初期建立模板到EPL冻结发布,如何保证工程零件清单的准确性至关重要。文章介绍了在整车开发流程(VDP)中的重要几个时间节点EPL的管理方法。     

巧用Excel校核工程零件清单的完整性和准确性

文章介绍产品配置表(PDS)和工程零件清单的结构,论述了基于手工Excel管理的工程零件清单(简称EPL),如何巧用Excel结合PDS检查EPL工程零件清单中发布的采购级零件的完整性,以及零部件带有的其他信息是否准确。文章提供了2种方法,并比较了这2种方法的优劣,为提高EPL数据完整性、准确性提供帮助。     

Differences in business R&D intensity across OECD countries: the role of size-dependent regulation

We analyse the impact of size-dependent regulation in the labour market on business R&D intensity for 20 OECD countries spanning the periods 2002–2011. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that stricter size-dependent regulation leads firms with more than 50 employees to significantly reduce their R&D intensity. This finding implies that size-dependent regulation induces a distortion in the reallocation of R&D-related resources.