ERM Annual Report 2013: Monitoring and Managing Restructuring in the 21st Century

[Excerpt] The 2013 annual report from the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) presents a retrospective of over a decade of measuring the impact of large-scale restructuring activity in Europe. It summarises restructuring trends based on a restructuring database that includes details of over 16,000 large-scale restructuring events – each generally involving at least 100 job losses or gains. In particular, the report focuses on comparing activity in the pre-crisis period (2003–2008) with the post-crisis period (2008–2013) in order to identify changes in the prevalence of different restructuring practices, and to show which sectors have been disproportionately affected, in employment terms, by the global recession. The report also includes a critical assessment of all ERM activities including the two newer policy-oriented databases: public support instruments and restructuring legislation. Finally, the report places the spotlight on the phenomenon of offshoring, charting the decline in offshoring activity by European firms since the onset of the crisis

Monitoring and managing restructuring in the 21st century: ERM Annual report 2013

The 2013 annual report from the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) presents a retrospective of over a decade of measuring the impact of large-scale restructuring activity in Europe. Based on a database containing details of over 16,000 large-scale restructuring events– each generally involving at least 100 job losses or gains – it paints a picture of restructuring trends across the EU Member States. The report sets out to compare activity in the period leading up to the economic and financial crisis (2003–2008) with the post-crisis period (2008–2013), in order to identify changes in restructuring practices and to pinpoint the sectors that have been disproportionately affected, in employment terms, by the global recession. Also included is a critical assessment of all ERM activities, including the two newer policy-oriented databases: public support instruments and restructuring legislation. Finally, the report places the spotlight on the phenomenon of offshoring, charting the decline in offshoring activity by European firms since the onset of the crisis

Robots and AI

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are powerful forces that will likely have large impacts on the size, direction, and composition of international trade flows. This book discusses how industrial robots, automation, and AI affect international growth, trade, productivity, employment, wages, and welfare. The book explains new approaches on how robots and artificial intelligence affect the world economy by presenting detailed theoretical framework and country-specific as well as firm-product level-specific exercises. This book will be a useful reference for those researching on robots, automation, AI and their economic impacts on trade, industry, and employment

Foreign subsidiaries in Brazil: location determinants for high value-added activities

This thesis explores the location determinants for high value-added activities (HVAAs) carried out by foreign-owned subsidiaries in Brazil. It adopts an extended version of Dunning's (2000) envelope paradigm to integrate different location factors, extracted from a wide range of location theories and frameworks that have been identified in the field of international business. The thesis is original in its conceptualisation of the degree of value added in separate activity sets in terms of complexity, which is widely recognised as a barrier to imitation of unique and valuable activities in strategic management literature. This thesis studies four activity sets (R&D, manufacturing, supply, and marketing) and analyses different facets of the host-country environment. By adopting such a disaggregate stance it accounts for the fact that different activity sets are attracted to different location factors. Based on a large-scale telephone survey, a bespoke database of foreign-owned subsidiaries in Brazil was created. This unique database holds the most complete and up-to-date data of foreign subsidiaries in this emerging market. Such an approach minimises some limitations of prior research, such as home country bias. Likewise, in using Brazil as analytical setting, this study also extends the geographical reach of the subsidiary roles research to an emerging economy context. The results indicate that the local environment of the foreign subsidiary has a rather limited effect on the degree of value added within its activity sets, pointing towards less advanced location advantages in emerging markets for HVAAs of foreign subsidiaries if compared to developed countries. Yet, location factors seem to be relevant for the extent of activity sets. In general, this thesis confirms the view that different activities are drawn towards different aspects of the host environment. As regards policy implications, only very limited means are available to a host location to influence the likelihood of HVAAs at foreign subsidiaries through adjusting the profile of the local environment. Overall, policy makers need to be clear on which activity sets they intend to target, as the impact of location factors varies by activity set. Headquarters managers may be well advised to locate HVAAs in developed countries, which are more likely to offer those location factors that matter the most. Subsidiary managers may want to focus on internal sources of knowledge to unfold the potential of their unit