Management practices and SME performance

We examine the association between management practices and SME performance in Britain over the period 2011 -201 5, using a unique dataset which links survey data on management practices with firm performance data from the UK’s official business register. We find that SMEs are less likely to use formal management practices than larger firms . However, such practices appear to have demonstrable benefits for those SMEs who use them, being positively associated with firm survival, growth and productivity. Our results add further weight to policy initiatives which seek to encourage SMEs to improve their management skills and capabilities

Human Resource Management Diffusion and Productivity Imbalances

In this study, we explore spatial variance in management practices and assess its potential contribution to regional imbalances in productivity. The research builds on a growing body of evidence which indicates that differences in management practices can account for a substantial share of cross-country differences in total factor productivity, and which identifies an important role for management practices in explaining differences in productivity between firms in the UK. We contribute to this literature by studying regional variation in HRM and related management practices using workplace-level (i.e. plant-level) data in Britain, taken from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). We use these data to map spatial variance in HRM intensity in Britain. We then seek to account for that variance and, in doing so, establish whether regional variance in HRM can help to account for regional variance in productivity. This analysis is complemented by a comparative investigation of equivalent data for France, where levels of productivity and HRM are both higher and less dispersed

New Model Unions: Options for the 21st Century

The purpose of this short paper is threefold. First we discuss the underlying properties of the dominant organisational model for trade unions in Britain. Second, we look at options for changing this organisational model. Third, we conclude by looking at what this might imply for the future operation and organisation of trade unions and their engagement with their members

State substitution of the union good: the case of paid holiday entitlements

Purpose: The literature on the union wage premium is among the most extensive in labour economics but unions’ effects on other aspects of the wage-effort bargain have received much less attention. We contribute to the literature through a study of the union premium in paid holiday entitlements. Design/methodology: We examine the size of the union premium on paid holidays over time, with a particular focus on how the premium was affected by the introduction of a statutory right to paid holidays. Our data come from nationally representative survey s of employees and workplaces. Findings: We find that the union premium on paid holidays is substantially larger than the union premium on wages . However, the premium fell with the introduction of a statutory minimum entitlement to paid leave. Originality/value: Ours is the first study to examine explicitly the interaction between union representation and the law in this setting. Our findings indicate the difficulties that unions have faced in protecting the most vulnerable employees in the UK labour market. We argue that the supplanting of voluntary joint regul ation with statutory regulation is symptomatic of a wider decrease in the regulatory role of unions in the UK

Competition and the Retreat from Collective Bargaining, NIESR Discussion Paper No. 318

For most of the twentieth century, collective bargaining provided the terms on which labour was commonly employed in Britain. However, the quarter century since 1980 has seen the collapse of collectivism as the main way of regulating employment. Our argument is that the tacit settlement between organized labour and employers was undermined by increasing product market competition. The paper first provides an overview of the changing map of collective bargaining, focusing on the private sector. It then moves on to ask why the retreat took place, and to explore the part played by product market competition and, in particular, by the profitability of different industries. The paper concludes with an analysis of the consequences of privatisation

Explaining cross-national variation in workplace employee representation

Debates on the desirability of workplace employee representation are rarely evidence-based. We use a workplace survey covering 27 EU countries to show that its incidence is strongly and independently correlated with the degree of centralization in a country’s industrial relations regime and the extent of legislative support. Industry profits are important in explaining trade union presence, but are unimportant in the case of works councils. We find support for the exitvoice model, traditionally associated with Anglophone regimes, whereby worker representation is associated with poorer perceptions of the employment relations climate and with lower voluntary quit rates