The overall unionisation rate of employees in Finland is very high (96.5%). This literature review examines small business in Finland, including issues of collective representation and bargaining, working and employment conditions, arbitration procedures, size and sector considerations. It...

This literature review defines its terms of reference as an introduction. It then examines small business in France, including issues of collective representation and bargaining, working and employment conditions, arbitration procedures, size and sector considerations. It concludes with policy...

Research on industrial relations in Germany is generally lagging behind if compared to the US or Great Britain. This holds true for all company size classes. Furthermore, most of the existing German studies and investigations are focussed on large enterprises, where organisational structures for...

In the past attention has been paid to industrial relationships in micro and small firms both in analytical and trade union-political terms. Since the first achievement of the phenomenon of the micro and small firms, during the ‘70s, there was the idea that the firm was a “place without...

Among OECD countries, Japan - together with Italy - has the highest proportion of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). According to data published by the Management and Coordination Agency, in the manufacturing sector alone in 1996 were operating 665,540 SMEs - defined as enterprises with...

All the literature reviewed with regards to this topic agrees that Spanish Micro and Small firms are characterised by a lower presence of workers’ representatives. One explanation for this result is given by the existing Spanish labour legislation. This literature review examines small business...

This literature review examines small business in the United Kingdom, including issues of collective representation and bargaining, working and employment conditions, arbitration procedures, size and sector considerations. It concludes with policy implications.

According to available data for 1996, micro and small enterprises (this is, enterprises with 1 to 49 employees) account for around 30% of the total US employment, where this share is lower than the EU average (52%). This literature review examines micro and small enterprises in the US economy,...

The Foundation has compiled literature review reports on employment relations in micro and small enterprises in a number of countries: Bulgraia, Czech Republic, Dencmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the USA, as well as two feature reviews of Bulgaria and the Czech...

The first section of this paper provides a general overview of the economic and social role played by the European micro and small enterprises. Topics analysed include a description of the enterprise structure in the European Union (EU) by enterprise size (number of enterprises, employment and...