Firm size and the division of labor
The recent publication of Italy’s 1981 Industrial Census has highlighted a phenomenon of which there had already been some signs for a number of years - the fact that manufacturing firms in every sector are reducing their size. The data indicate that both the appearance of a large number of small ne...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Associazione Economia civile
2013-10-01
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| Series: | PSL Quarterly Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/10788 |
| _version_ | 1811172430388920320 |
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| author | B. CONTINI |
| author_facet | B. CONTINI |
| author_sort | B. CONTINI |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The recent publication of Italy’s 1981 Industrial Census has highlighted a phenomenon of which there had already been some signs for a number of years - the fact that manufacturing firms in every sector are reducing their size. The data indicate that both the appearance of a large number of small new firms and the reduction in the average number of employees in existing firms of all sizes have contributed to this. Similar conclusions have been drawn for other European countries. The author’s hypothesis is that the observed reduction in the average size of firms is caused by two concurrent factors: (1) the increased rigidity of the overall cost structure of business firms; (2) the increased uncertainty in both factor and product markets, which makes more flexible organisational structures desirable.
JEL: L16, L60, O14
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:29:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-154d18ea28a74eddbbb6f2eaa6ec1d45 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2037-3635 2037-3643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T17:29:55Z |
| publishDate | 2013-10-01 |
| publisher | Associazione Economia civile |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PSL Quarterly Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-154d18ea28a74eddbbb6f2eaa6ec1d452023-02-03T16:47:26ZengAssociazione Economia civilePSL Quarterly Review2037-36352037-36432013-10-013715110.13133/2037-3643/10788Firm size and the division of laborB. CONTINIThe recent publication of Italy’s 1981 Industrial Census has highlighted a phenomenon of which there had already been some signs for a number of years - the fact that manufacturing firms in every sector are reducing their size. The data indicate that both the appearance of a large number of small new firms and the reduction in the average number of employees in existing firms of all sizes have contributed to this. Similar conclusions have been drawn for other European countries. The author’s hypothesis is that the observed reduction in the average size of firms is caused by two concurrent factors: (1) the increased rigidity of the overall cost structure of business firms; (2) the increased uncertainty in both factor and product markets, which makes more flexible organisational structures desirable. JEL: L16, L60, O14 https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/10788Italymanufacturingfirm sizedivision of labor |
| spellingShingle | B. CONTINI Firm size and the division of labor PSL Quarterly Review Italy manufacturing firm size division of labor |
| title | Firm size and the division of labor |
| title_full | Firm size and the division of labor |
| title_fullStr | Firm size and the division of labor |
| title_full_unstemmed | Firm size and the division of labor |
| title_short | Firm size and the division of labor |
| title_sort | firm size and the division of labor |
| topic | Italy manufacturing firm size division of labor |
| url | https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/10788 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bcontini firmsizeandthedivisionoflabor |