Functional flexibility strategies: Evidence from companies in five small European economies

This study is one of several so-called theme reports produced within the framework of the EU funded research project FLEXIBILITY AND COMPETITIVENESS: LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBILITY, INNOVATION AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE (FlexCom). It attempts to make an empirical contribution to the functional flexibility field based on company case studies undertaken for the five small open European economies – Greece, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland – covered by the project. In particular, the study reviews briefly how functional flexibility has generally been defined and measured in the existing literature; provides details on the questionnaire used for collecting the needed company survey data, as well as on major characteristics of the 30 organisations actually covered in the study; presents cross-country empirical evidence on functional flexibility strategies, and, finally, tries to identify links between functional flexibility and economic performance.