Using new panel data for Finnish co-operative banks we study the impact of training on wages and performance. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to compare explicitly the effects of general and firm-specific workplace training on outcomes for both employees and firms. Unlike much existing...

By using weekly records on efficiency for four production lines in a Finnish food processing plant during the period 1999-2005, the authors investigated the effects on worker performance once changes in Human Resource Management (HRM) practices were instituted. Using time series methods to...

By using new panel data for Finnish banks we study the impact of training on wages and performance. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first paper to compare explicitly the effects of general and firmspecific workplace training on outcomes for both employees and firms. Unlike much...

We investigate the impact of adopting an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system on performance changes and employee outcomes in a retail chain. We find that: (i) sales and inventory turnover initially drop by 7 % and recover in 6-12 months; (ii) inventory turnover recovers more quickly for...

We investigate the impact of adopting an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in a retail chain and find interesting parallels between firm and employee outcomes. Concerning performance: (i) sales and inventory turnover initially drop by 7% and recover in 6-12 months; (ii) inventory...

First we distinguish various approaches used by economists to assess the impact of human resource management practices on productivity and then we briefly review and illustrate studies that represent different approaches. In the main part of the paper we illustrate the econometric case study...

By using weekly records on efficiency for four production lines in a Finnish food-processing plant during the period 1999–2005, the authors investigate the effects on production line performance once changes in Human Resource Management (HRM) practices were instituted. Using time-series...

This paper compares the formation rates of co-operatives and conventional firms in Finland using regional data. The Finnish co-operative “wave” that began in the mid-1990s provides a useful setting for testing the hypothesis that co-operative formation rates are higher in depressed economic...

We provide the first empirical evidence on the determinants of differences in the size of the cooperative sector around the world. Our key data have been recently released by the ICA and are integrated with other standard sources, such as data from the World Values surveys. In our empirical work...

We examine the proposition that, in co-operatives, the need for democracy must clash with efficiency demands. To shed light on diverse issues surrounding this claim we distinguish different forms of co-operatives and identify different meanings of democratic governance and forms of economies of...