Innovation and employment can be a good marriage. Following on from an analysis of the classical economists, the author challenges the old paradigm of ‘innovation means unemployment’, which has dominated the economic debate for centuries. Is it possible to promote technological change as well as innovation and employment? At what point do technological change and innovation become labour friendly? These are among the topics examined in detail in the enclosed essays. This book considers a set of EU countries in which the results leave no doubts: innovation and employment can be an engine for an increase in employment, but the most important thing is the building of an adequate ecosystem. In this global era, national systems and the organisation of institutions (such as centres of education, legislation, academia and research) remain critical factors and play an important role in the success and the failure of innovation policy.
The diffusion of information and communication technologies is rapidly changing the structure of advanced economies, raising new problems of technological unemployment. The view that market forces can easily counterbalance the labour-saving impact of innovation is contrasted in this book with empirical findings on aggregate compensation effects and on the consequences of product, process and organizational innovation in industries and services. After examining several policy aspects, new employment-friendly economic and innovation policies are proposed.
This book presents the authors’ recent field experiences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in different regions of India. It also demonstrates how social auditing and stakeholder mapping help analyze the impact that particular individuals or groups may have on the functioning of any company in an area. CSR is a rapidly growing area of research and activity, especially in developing countries like India. An increasing number of companies are realizing their own social responsibility, given that they work within societal networks. As a result, any initiation or expansion activity they carry out in society impacts the communities around them. Given the newness of the field, the work on CSR in India is still in the initial stages. Most importantly, there is a need to highlight issues concerning CSR activities using sound methodologies and scientific data. A database comprising qualitative and quantitative approaches collected by tracking CSR activities is invaluable. Further the scientific data is vital to fully understand CSR, and in turn helps in designing appropriate and effective interventions for improving community members’ quality of life. Accordingly, the stakeholders associated with CSR need to have a sound knowledge of how to conduct studies related to baseline data generation, community needs assessments, community profiling, stakeholder mapping, social impact assessments, monitoring and evaluation, as well as the social auditing of CSR projects and other related issues. This book aptly covers these issues and offers supporting empirical evidences from the field.
The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies offers a profoundly illuminating examination of ICT transformations in Europe and its critical role in greater social inequality. It presents scholars and policy makers with original and practical tools to benchmark and assess the ICT diffusion and inclusion process. The core message of book is that a coherent European strategy for embedding ICT technologies in society is long overdue. Social differences in ICT use persist and are in some cases widening, yet despite this fact there is a dearth of research on remedying digital inequalities. This is of particular importance given that relative levels of ICT use, investment and research can often explain variations in economic performance between industrialised countries. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap in the literature by presenting key evidence on the economic benefits (and costs) deriving from investment in an inclusive information society. The authors propose indicators and indexes of digital development and e-Inclusion (and its flip-side e-exclusion) to assess the relationship between inclusive ICT and wider economic and social performance in Europe. Presenting the methodology to monitor countries' performance and ICT use, together with original measures and policy suggestions, this book will be indispensable to policymakers, scholars and postgraduate students in a variety of areas including economic growth, innovation, industrial and organizational studies, information and technology, European studies, and public and social policy.
This report addresses a number of issues that have surfaced in the debates over the impact of technological change on employment. These issues include the effects of technological change on levels of employment and unemployment within the economy; on the displacement of workers in specific industries or sectors of the economy; on skill requirements; on the welfare of women, minorities, and labor force entrants in a technologically transformed economy; and on the organization of the firm and the workplace. It concludes that technological change will contribute significantly to growth in employment opportunities and wages, although workers in specific occupations and industries may have to move among jobs and careers. Recommends initiatives and options to assist workers in making such transitions. ISBN 0-309-03744-1 (pbk.).
Although there is great debate about how work is changing, there is a clear consensus that changes are fundamental and ongoing. The Changing Nature of Work examines the evidence for change in the world of work. The committee provides a clearly illustrated framework for understanding changes in work and these implications for analyzing the structure of occupations in both the civilian and military sectors. This volume explores the increasing demographic diversity of the workforce, the fluidity of boundaries between lines of work, the interdependent choices for how work is structured-and ultimately, the need for an integrated systematic approach to understanding how work is changing. The book offers a rich array of data and highlighted examples on: Markets, technology, and many other external conditions affecting the nature of work. Research findings on American workers and how they feel about work. Downsizing and the trend toward flatter organizational hierarchies. Autonomy, complexity, and other aspects of work structure. The committee reviews the evolution of occupational analysis and examines the effectiveness of the latest systems in characterizing current and projected changes in civilian and military work. The occupational structure and changing work requirements in the Army are presented as a case study.
This book focuses on workplace innovation, which is a key element in ensuring that organizations and the people within them can adapt to and engage in healthy, sustainable change. It features a collection of multi-level, multi-disciplinary contributions that combine theory, research and practical perspectives. In addition, the book presents new perspectives from a number of nations on policies with novel theoretical approaches to workplace innovation, as well as international case studies on the subject. These cases highlight the role of leadership, the relation between workplace innovation and well-being, as well as the do’s and don’ts of workplace innovation implementation. Whether you are an experienced workplace practitioner, manager, a policy-maker, unionist, or a student of workplace innovation, this book contains a range of tips, tools and international case studies to help the reader understand and implement workplace innovation.
This book is an important addition to what can be broadly referred to as the national systems of innovation (NSI) approach. The particular contribution of the book is in the examination of the employment effects of innovation, something only indirectly considered hitherto. . . It is a thorough integration of existing knowledge on the key employment implications of innovation. . . Rachel Parker, Labour and Industry This is a highly readable, non-technical book . . . a highly clear and well-argued book that should be useful for policymakers and higher education alike. It brings together much of the most recent and useful literature in the area of innovation, employment and related public policy. It is an opportune addition to the existing documentation on the subject. Journal of Economics / Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie Which kinds of growth lead to increased employment and which do not? This is one of the questions that this important volume attempts to answer. The book explores the complex relationships between innovation, growth and employment that are vital for both research into, and policy for, the creation of jobs. Politicians claiming that more rapid growth would remedy unemployment do not usually specify what kind of growth is meant. Is it, for example, economic (GDP) or productivity growth? Growing concern over jobless growth requires both policymakers and researchers to make such distinctions, and to clarify their employment implications. The authors initially address their theoretical approach to, and conceptualization of, innovation and employment, where the distinction between process and product innovations and between high-tech and low-tech goods and services are central. They go on to address the relationship between innovation and employment, using empirical material to analyse the effects that different kinds of innovations have upon job creation and destruction. Finally, the volume summarizes the findings and addresses conclusions as well as policy implications. This book will be of great interest to those involved in research and policy in the fields of macroeconomics (economic growth and employment), industrial economics and innovation.
The authors of this book advise the economies of the European Union to become more entrepreneurial in promoting innovation and economic growth. The authors propose a reform strategy with respect to several aspects to achieve this goal. Starting with the rule of law and the protection of property rights; the tax system; the authors deal with regulations governing savings, capital and finance, and the organization of labor markets and social insurance systems. Framework strategies related to the regulations governing goods and service markets, bankruptcy and insolvency are also put forward. A core understanding and future path is also provided towards R&D, commercialization and knowledge spillovers; human capital investments; and informal institutions. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.
The second ‘green skills’ forum organised by Cedefop and the OECD-LEED in February 2014 provided an open space for discussion between researchers, policy-makers, social partners and international organisations on skills development and training needs for a greener economy. The focus of this ...
