Work flexibility and firm growth: evidence from LEED data on the Emilia-Romagna region
研究内部和外部工作灵活性对意大利制造业企业销售增长的影响，发现内部灵活性促进增长，而外部灵活性效果不显著甚至阻碍增长，但在高需求波动和成本竞争行业负面效应减弱。
Abstract In the last decades, work flexibility emerged as a key requirement firms must meet to face volatile markets and highly differentiated product demand. This article compares two alternative approaches to strengthen work flexibility: internal flexibility, that is, practices that focus on the employees’ ability to perform a variety of highly qualified tasks in a context of stable employment relationships; and external flexibility, that is, practices that align employment and labor costs to demand fluctuations using a buffer of nonstandard employees involved in routine tasks. We empirically verify whether both practices are able to boost sales growth using a linked employer-employee panel of manufacturing firms from the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy). While internal flexibility positively affects firm growth, external flexibility is at best not significant, and in some empirical specifications, it appears to hamper firm growth. Such a negative effect, however, decreases when we limit the analysis to industries with high demand volatility and cost-based competition. The related managerial and policy implications are discussed.