The overall composite Business Survey Index for the manufacturing sector in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022 remained under the baseline (100). Moreover, all feeder indices have slightly decreased compared to the previous quarter.Business conditions (88), sales (86), domestic demand (88), exports...

This study focuses on the demand sector of smart factories, especially policies related to the introduction of smart factories by small and medium sized manufacturers. As will be explained later, discussions focusing on SMEs are important because the gap in capacity and resources between large...

The overall composite Business Survey Index for the manufacturing sector in Q2 2022 remained under the baseline (100). However, most feeder indices have increased compared to the previous quarter. Specifically, business conditions (90), sales (95), domestic demand (94), exports (96), and others...

The overall composite Business Survey Index for the manufacturing sector in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021 remained under the baseline (100). However, most feeder indices have slightly increased compared to the previous quarter. Specifically, sales (98), domestic demand (96), exports (100) and...

It is well established that management practices have on average a significant and large impact on firm output after controling for a range of standard factors such as other inputs, industry etc. We investigate non-linearities in the impact of management practices on firm performance using...

The fragmentation of international production raises a host of problems in our ability to measure and understand the international economy. Global value chains is one leading approach, but scholars point to several limitations, most prominently aggregating from firm-level observations to...

The paper reports the results of a survey of top executives of Russian manufacturing subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs). We reveal the prevailing types of job contracts and the use of monetary and non-monetary benefits, and find the similarities with and differences from such...

This paper addresses the relationship between the utilization of temporary agency workers by firms and their competitiveness measured by unit labor costs, using a rich, newly built, data set of German manufacturing enterprises. The analysis is conducted by applying different panel data models...

Recently, increased competition has prompted companies to enhance their organizational efficiency. One of the areas most influenced by this pressure is supply management, which uses a large percentage of corporate assets and has the potential to negatively affect customer service. Another...

The BSIs for the 3rd quarter of 2014 suggest that the weakness in manufacturers’ business conditions has continued. The BSIs of sales and domestic demand have worsened since last year. Furthermore, the BSIs on facilities investment, operation ratio of facilities, employment, and financial...