By using weekly records on efficiency for four production lines in a Finnish food-processing plant during the period 1999–2005, the authors investigate the effects on production line performance once changes in Human Resource Management (HRM) practices were instituted. Using time-series...

The recent era of economic turbulence has generated a growing enthusiasm for an increase in new and original economic insights based around the concepts of reciprocity and social enterprise. This stimulating and thought-provoking Handbook not only encourages and supports this growth, but also...

Using new panel data for Finnish co-operative banks we study the impact of training on wages and performance. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to compare explicitly the effects of general and firm-specific workplace training on outcomes for both employees and firms. Unlike much existing...

We investigate the impact of adopting an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in a retail chain and find interesting parallels between firm and employee outcomes. Concerning performance: (i) sales and inventory turnover initially drop by 7% and recover in 6-12 months; (ii) inventory...

Using data for various years, including new data for 1973–84, the authors examine the scope, nature, determinants, and effects of Japanese employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). In 1988, of firms listed on Japan's eight stock exchange markets, 91% had an ESOP, and the average...

The authors use the econometric case study method to investigate the direct impact of offline teams on productivity in a non-unionized subsidiary of a multinational firm from January 1999 through November 2001. They analyze daily data on rejection, production, and downtime rates for both team...