Hierarchies, relational contracts and new forms of outsourcing.

We observe that economic restructuring is significantly changing organizational governance. On the one hand, we witness an increase in mergers & acquisitions, which substitutes markets for hierarchies and, on the other hand, we see an increase in outsourcing and subcontracting activities, appearing to replace hierarchies by markets. However, there is evidence that an increasing part of outsourcing activities mix hierarchies with market forms of governance. The key argument of this paper is that firms have established governance structures based on markets, hierarchies and self-enforcing relational contracts so that they are able to keep a substantial amount of control despite of sourcing out labour. Furthermore, we argue that such hierarchical forms of outsourcing produce dependency. Using empirical evidence of the Austrian insurance industry, it is demonstrated that dependency is created, firstly, by the contractual restriction of alternative uses of resources, secondly, by support measures that bind the upstream party closely to the downstream party, thirdly, by relationship-specific investments made by the upstream party, and fourthly, by authority elements.

Women's Labour Force Attachment in Europe: An Analytical Framework and Empirical Evidence for the Household

This paper has two major aims. First, it argues that for employment issues, economics and sociology do not carry out substitutional but complementary research. Interdisciplinary research on labour markets is strongly needed to fully understand the mechanism of labour markets. Second, it theoretically discusses the influence of the household on women's labour market behaviour and shows some evidence from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The increased labour market participation of women in Europe has led to an intensive interdisciplinary research. The economic view of supply (construction of preferences) and demand (firm's rationales) shows that institutional systems, which are considered as exogenous, influence the labour market behaviour of individuals and households. These institutional systems which are the 'black boxes' in the economic view, constitute the main focus of the sociological approach to work. This paper shows that a theoretical connection of labour economics and sociology within an institutional approach, coupled with a gender order perspective, provides a useful framework of analysis. Within this framework, I distinguish between the individual actors of a labour market - namely households, firms and the state - and analyse the interdependencies between them. Political measures influence not only households (e. g. education, care activities) but also firms (e. g. organisation of production). The interaction of these three spheres determines the quantity and quality of the labour market participation of women. The empirical part of this paper tests some of the determinants of the labour market behaviour of women with the help of the data of the European Community Household Panel. It is argued that the determinants of women’s labour market behaviour are interrelated with a whole set of social and economic institutions which form a specific employment system.

Workers on the Border between Employment and Self-employment

The number of workers on the border between self-employment and employment strongly increased across Europe over the last decade. This paper investigates whether and in what respect these workers differ from employees and self-employed and analyses whether these work relationships are a stepping stone to more stable employment in the short-run using Italian data. Depending on the data source the “para-subordinates” represent between 1.8% and 5.3% of the Italian labour force. Since most of them work only for one company and are strongly integrated into the firm of the contract partner, we argue that labour and social security law discriminates against these workers who are in fact very close to employees. We find that they are not low qualified workers, but young, highly educated professionals. At the same time these contracts are not a port of entry into the labour market nor do we find that they are a vehicle to more stable jobs. However, they are a possibility for women to work part-time.Self-employment, Dependency, Outsourcing.

Dependent Forms of Self-employment in the UK. Identifying Workers on the Border between Employment and Self-Employment.

We analyse the characteristics of workers who provide work on the basis of a civil or commercial contract, but who are dependent on or integrated into the firm for which they work. We argue that these dependent self-employed lose their rights under labour law, receive less favourable benefits from social security protection and are often beyond trade union representation and collective bargaining. Using data from the British Labour Force Survey we test two hypotheses: (1) Dependent self-employed workers are significantly different from both employees and (independent) self-employed individuals, thus forming a distinct group. (2) Dependent selfemployed workers have lower labour market skills, less labour market attachment and, thus, less autonomy than self-employed workers. The data support our hypothesis that dependent selfemployed workers are a distinct labour market group which differs from both employees and independent self-employed individuals. Men, older workers, those with low education and a low job tenure have greater odds of working in dependent self-employment than their counterparts. Our results suggest that dependent forms of self-employment are used by firms to increase labour flexibility. (author's abstract)Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

From relational employment to relational contracting : outsourcing and dependent self-employment in the British and Austrian insurance industry

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020.Labour relations in business organisations are facing a profound change. This paper focuses on one specific change in labour relations, namely dependent outsourcing. Dependent outsourcing refers to contracts over products with little alternative use, where the subcontractor bears the entrepreneurial risk. From the perspective of the contractor, dependent outsourcing represents a business relationship to outsource the entrepreneurial risk. The lack or the high costs of an alternative use creates long-standing ties between the business partners, which allows them to overcome some of the difficulties with formal contracts and utilise their detailed knowledge of the situation to adapt to new contingencies as they arise. Drawing on 57 semi-structured interviews in the British and Austrian insurance industry, I identify the nature and logic of dependent outsourcing, deploying the dimensions control, dependency, support and incentives. Results reveal that the logic of dependent outsourcing is not straightforward. Instead, intensive field research shows widespread reasons for and against dependent outsourcing. In both countries, the changes in the cost structure, the passing of risk, the increase in productivity and the gains through specialisation are the most important reasons for tied agency. The reduction of control and mutual dependency are the main problems of insurance companies using tied agents or the key rationales why they do not deploy them. The paper highlights the hybrid position of dependent subcontractors between integration and non-integration. It is argued that blurring firm boundaries are pivotal to understand new developments in organisational governance

From relational employment to relational contracting : theory and evidence of dependant self-employment

Defence date: 10 December 2004Examining board: Prof. Colin Crouch (EUI-Supervisor) ; Dr. Jacqueline O'Reilly (University of Sussex and WZB) ; Prof. Silvana Sciarra (University of Florence) ; Prof. Franz Traxler (University of Vienna)PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 201

Abhaengige Selbstaendigkeit in der Versicherungswirtschaft – Neue Konflikte im Spannungsfeld traditioneller Vertretungsstrukturen (Dependent Self-employment in the Insurance Industry. New Conflicts within Traditional Industrial Relations Structures)

Die Transformation hierarchischer betrieblicher Steuerung in relationalen Vertrags- und Tauschbeziehungen hat in vielen europaeischen Laendern zu einer Zunahme abhaengiger Selbstaendigkeit gefuehrt. Aufgrund des Graubereichs zwischen selbstaendiger und unselbstaendiger Beschaeftigung stellen abhaengig Selbstaendige eine Herausforderung fuer die traditionellen Handlungs- und Organisationslogiken der Verbaende der Arbeitsbeziehungen dar. Der Aufsatz nimmt die Organisationsfaehigkeit und -probleme der Gewerkschaften und Wirtschaftsverbaende in den Blick, exemplifiziert diese anhand einer qualitativen Untersuchung der oesterreichischen Privatversicherungswirtschaft und kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Konflikte zwischen Arbeit und Kapital laengst nicht mehr ausschließlich zwischen Gewerkschaften und Arbeitgeberverbaenden verlaufen, sondern zunehmend verbandsintern ausgetragen werden. Dies fuehrt entweder zu einer Zunahme an Interessensdivergenzen, die unter Umstaenden mit Abspaltung und Partikularismus einzelner Gruppen beantwortet werden, oder – wie in dem untersuchten Fall durch die Gewerkschaften – zur Ignoranz des Problems. In beiden Faellen wird das Problem der Interessensaggregation kurzfristig geloest; Solidaritaet und vor allem verhandlungsschwaechere Gruppen duerften dabei aber langfristig auf der Strecke bleiben.dependent self-employment, industrial relations, insurance industry, new forms of industrial conflict

The “Continuous Collaborators” in Italy. Hybrids between Employment and Self-employment?

Over the last decade Italy has seen a strong increase in the number of workers on the border between self-employment and employment. Depending on the data source the “parasubordinati”, i.e. workers with a “contract of continuous collaboration” (collaborators) represented between 1.8% (ISTAT, 2004) and 5.3% (Alteri and Oteri , 2004) of the Italian labour force. Since most of them work only for one company and are, moreover, strongly integrated into the firm of the contract partner, we argue that the Italian labour and social security law strongly discriminates against these workers who are, in fact, very close to employees. We investigate whether and in what respect the group of the collaborators differs from the group of employees and the group of the self-employed using the Italian Labour Force Survey (ILFS) of 2004 (4th quarter). Additionally, we analyse the short-term labour market transitions of collaborators to other labour market statuses. In contrast to other European countries, these collaborators are not low qualified workers, but young, highly educated professionals. At the same time the contracts of continuous collaboration are not a port of entry into the labour market nor do we find that these contracts are a vehicle to more stable jobs. However, they seem to be a possibility for women to work part-time.Self-employment, Dependency, Outsourcing