Productivity Puzzles - should employee participation be an issue?

In this paper we review econometric efforts aiming to identify whether employee participation adds to productivity growth. The overall picture is mixed. Participation may lead to significant but not substantial higher productivity. The theoretical predictions, pointing to the importance of institutional setting and a need to establish quality cooperation and long-term commitment from both management and workers, seem to be supported by the empirical results. An emerging hypothesis is that both the intensity of involvement and a combination of involvement, economic rewards and participation in decisions significantly influence productivity.productivity, cooperation, participation

Foreign firm location and local multiplier effects : the case of Norwegian industrial towns

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) theory show that these investments form regional effects. Our paper emphasis the heterogeneity of these effects. Different motives for FDI creates different multiplier effects, such as jobs, increased local production and new firms. Our study focus on two different industrial towns in Norway, where natural resources have attracted the foreign firms in the first town, while access to intangible technology resources has been the main attraction in the second. We compare differences and similarities in the way these investments have influenced local linkages and local growth processes. Here we draw on the theoretical contribution from the management model as well as the network model. Our findings indicates that foreign ownership per se do not explain multiplier effects. The motives, the sector-specific characteristics and the history of the local production system provide more reasonable explanations

FDI in Norway’s manufacturing sector

This report investigates the location advantages of the Norwegian manufacturing industry while focusing on economic as well as institutional factors. The economy relies highly on the exploitation of natural resources and only minor parts of its exports are technology based. Norway as a market for consumer goods is not only small in size but is also located at the periphery of Europe. Since the beginning of industrialisation, policies towards FDI have had two targets. The first has been to keep as much of the resource rent as possible within the country and the second, to develop a domestic manufacturing industry. A variety of political tools has been used to achieve these objectives. Although different international agreements aim to reduce preferences for domestic production, several sectors in the Norwegian manufacturing industry remain protected by governmental policy. Norwegian MNEs have internalised former and present L-advantages into firm-specific assets. Domestic interest groups or the state partly control several of these enterprises. Compared to other small European countries, Norway has a relatively low share of FDI in the manufacturing industry. Nonetheless, over the last decades the country has experienced a substantial increase in FDI. This is partly due to investments of foreign affiliates of Norwegian multinational companies, reinvesting in Norway. In 1996, on an average, 18% of the employment in firms with at least 50 employees was located to foreign controlled firms while the corresponding figures in 1980 and 1991 were 8% and 13%. FDI mainly takes the form of mergers and acquisitions and is particularly significant in sectors with an above average R&D intensity and in other market segments with a relatively high producer concentration. The main industrial clusters as well as the production of consumer goods have experienced the major growth of FDI employment in the period 1991-1996. Often, these are also sectors with a high degree of governmental protection

Working Paper nr 31: Knowledge diffusion through FDI - established wisdom or wishful thinking?

In the present paper, I take a closer look at econometric efforts which aim to examine technology transfer through inward foreign direct investment (FDI). The contributions considered are systematized within the framework of the Investment Development Path (IDP) while focusing on some methodological issues. Although there still exist a number of challenges concerning estimation procedures, the following picture emerges. In the early stages of the IDP, foreign owned firms are on average more efficient than locally owned firms, possibly indicating certain ownership advantages of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Spillovers are mostly of the pecuniary kind, though “public good type” externalities may occur in sectors which acquire adaptive abilities. While empirical evidence is mixed, when controlled for selection and simultaneity bias neither direct nor indirect knowledge transfer appears to be present in developed countries. This result may be explained by the tightening of the technology gap. Developed country firms may still exchange experiences to a large extent. Existing estimation techniques simply do not provide sufficient potential for detecting the fundamental relations (that is, whether foreign firms learn from domestic firms, whether domestic firms learn from foreign firms or whether there are mutual advantages from interacting), and should be supplemente

Kompetanseløftet 2015 - Konsekvenser i kommunene?

Last ned gratis Som et ledd i Kompetanseløftet 2015 kan kommunene søke Fylkesmannen om tilskudd til utdanning og videreutdanning av personell, samt kursvirksomhet. I dette notatet studerer vi utvikling i antall personer som har fått utdanning eller videreutdanning ved hjelp av Kompetanseløftet 2015, samt hvilken type kompetanse midlene er gått til. Resultatet sees i sammenheng med utviklingen i antall sysselsatte med fagkompetanse i brukerrettet pleie og omsorg i kommunesektoren. Variasjoner i utviklingen i total sysselsetting, andel med relevant utdanning og antall personer med utdanning gjennom Kompetanseløftet 2015 analyseres med bakgrunn i ulike kjennetegn ved kommunene som størrelse, sentralitet, behovsprofil og frie inntekter. Tilknyttet prosjekt Evaluering av kompetanseløftet 2015 i perioden 2013–201

Capital Market and Industrial Development, 1993.

The project "Capital Market and Industrial Development, 1993" aims to study the organization of the capital market, the development of industries in general, and especially small businesses. The project studies the financial structure of small businesses, profit and solidity. The study is based on two datasets consisting of account data from small businesses, in addition to survey data

Bolig- og befolkningsutvikling i delbydel Linderud

Forstudien er en undersøkelse av boligmarkedet og levekårene i delbydel Linderud. Hensikten med studien er å gi et bilde av den nyeste utviklingen i området basert på foreliggende registerdata. Tilknyttet prosjekt Områdeløft Linderud/Vollebek

Foreign Direct Investment in Norway’s Manufacturing Sector

This report investigates the location advantages of the Norwegian manufacturing industry while focusing on economic as well as institutional factors. The economy relies highly on the exploitation of natural resources and only minor parts of its exports are technology based. Norway as a market for consumer goods is not only small in size but is also located at the periphery of Europe. Since the beginning of industrialisation, policies towards foreign direct investment (FDI) have had two targets: The first has been to keep as much of the resource rent as possible within the country and the second, to develop a domestic manufacturing industry. A variety of political tools has been used to achieve these objectives. Although various international agreements aim to reduce preferences for domestic production, several sectors in the Norwegian manufacturing industry remain protected by governmental policy. Norwegian MNEs have internalised former and present L-advantages into firm-specific assets. Domestic interest groups or the state partly control several of these enterprises. Compared to other small European countries, Norway has a relatively low share of FDI in the manufacturing industry. Nonetheless, over the last decades the country has experienced a substantial increase in FDI. This is partly due to investments of foreign affiliates of Norwegian multinational companies, reinvesting in Norway. In 1996, on an average, 18% of the employment in firms with at least 50 employees was located to foreign controlled firms while the corresponding figures in 1980 and 1991 were 8% and 13%. FDI mainly takes the form of mergers and acquisitions and is particularly significant in sectors with an above average R&D intensity and in other market segments with a relatively high producer concentration. The main industrial clusters as well as the production of consumer goods have experienced the major growth of FDI employment in the period 1991–1996. Often, these are also sectors with a high degree of governmental protection

Sosial boligpolitikk i Norge

Oppdraget innebærer kartlegging av statens og kommunenes samlede ressursbruk knyttet til boliger, bokostnader, boligsosialt arbeid og oppfølging av vanskeligstilte husstander. Tilknyttet prosjekt Kartlegging av offentlig ressursbruk knyttet til den sosiale boligpolitikke

Foreign direct investments and regional effects : the case of Norway

Foreign direct investments (FDI) have had an important role in Norway since the start of the manufacturing age in the beginning of the 1900s. Traditionally these were mostly export-oriented manufacturing companies. However, shifts have taken place since the 1960s. In 1996 nearly ¾ of the employment in foreign majority owned companies are within trade or services mostly oriented towards the Norwegian market. This article aims to discuss more closely some business strategies and regional linkages among FDIs in order to focus on factors that may tempt such investments. This is followed by a discussion of regional policy implications. Empirical evidence is mainly based on case interviews from two research projects that took place in the period 1998-99. One main conclusion from the two research projects is that investments from abroad are a logical consequence of an increasingly international economy. The overall picture is that there seem to be many similarities between foreign and domestic firms concerning structural conditions, location and linkages. A market orientation with mergers and acquisitions as dominating investment strategy seem to be an important explanation for these findings