The introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) had potentially significant implications for small firms. Orthodox economic theory predicts adverse consequences, though institutional analysis points to potential efficiency as well as fairness effects. Using longitudinal data on 55 firms,...

Decentralization has been an important international development in large organizations, including those in the public sector, in recent years. The introduction of self-governing trusts in the U.K. National Health Service in the early 1990s serves as a paradigm case of public sector...

Rather than legal enactment and collective bargaining being the main engines of the 'Europeanisation' of industrial relations, benchmarking and 'soft' forms of regulation are increasingly to the fore. This article traces the origins of benchmarking from management tool to regulatory instrument,...

Commercial firms in industries once under public ownership generally have well-organised trade unions with significant disruptive capacity, yet overt confict is often low despite major change. This paper examines the experience of two major rail and energy companies after privatisation. The...

Pay determination in small firms is widely expected to follow the dictates of the market. Research on 81 firms in three competitive sectors finds, instead, loosely defined and variable pay structures. This variability is explained in terms of the interplay between labour and product markets,...

1. Introduction / James Arrowsmith and Valeria Pulignano -- 2. Private sector employment relations in Western Europe : collective bargaining under pressure? / Keith Sisson -- 3. Worker voice under pressure : collective workplace representation and the challenge of multiplying spaces and actors /...

In recent years, new evidence and conclusions on the characteristics of innovation across the economy as a whole have given rise to new theories and new approaches to policy. There is a reference group of eight countries for this report: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden,...

A summary is now available of the discussions which took place over the two-day conference, 'Employment and labour market insertion strategies as a tool for social inclusion', hosted by the Foundation and the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs. The conference examined how active...

This report presents an analysis of initiatives in Greece that aim to achieve better coordination of employment activation measures. The report identifies measures in both policy and practice for improving coordination, including strategic as well as operational measures, and underlines the...