This paper complements a large body of literature on structural change and underlying factors for the expansion of services. The main aim is to explore the determinants of the employment growth in the enlarged European Union from the perspective of various service groups, public, private and mixed services,and to identify which factors played the most significant role in theperiod 1995-2007. The roles played by standard determinants, the state, social and demographic changes, institutional framework of labour markets and membership to old EU15 considerably differ across service groups
COBISS.SI-ID: 31223133
As the extent of international sourcing rises and the number of functional activities spreading across-national borders increases, there is a call for a better understanding of its impact on structural change. In this work, we explore the effects of international sourcing comparatively and look for differences between manufacturing and service firms. This study is based on a unique Slovenian data set that links the recently conducted Eurostats survey on international sourcing with a detailed financial firm-level data. The results from the matching methodology suggest that service firms involved in international sourcing gain an improvement in the quality and technological learning, resulting in the employment growth and development. This is not the case for manufacturing firms driven primarily by cost cutting. In our view, a better understanding of these effects is vital for both manufacturing as well as service firms that are influenced by this new trend
COBISS.SI-ID: 31251805
Using conceptualization of levels of regionalism and twofold typology of actors (governmental [GOV]-non-governmental [NON-GOV] and external-internal), this article presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis of regionalizing actors' activities in the Mediterranean in order to assess their compatibility in different fields of regional cooperation. The research thesis supported in the article is, that the Mediterranean is a region where formulation of a common idea on the content of regional cohesiveness is still a subject of highly competitive process of contestation which gives opportunity to the EU's actorness. Results show a prevailing influence of external inter-GOV actors which has already altered regional activities of internal actors in three ways: (1) there are examples of 'defensive' and 'agenda influencing' reactions of few internal informal inter-GOV fora in political-economic-human rights fields, especially to the EU's inter-regional practices, and lately absence of GOV regionalizing actors; (2) there are supportive (EU agenda following) reactions of regional non-governmental (NON-GOV) actors present in functional and also human rights fields and (3) despite poor market regionalization regional NON-GOV functional cooperation is growing especially under external inter-governmental sponsorship, which has consolidated existence of new regionalizing actors, i.e. multi-actor coalitions. The latter also represent the biggest immediate opportunity for the EU's actorness.
COBISS.SI-ID: 31475037
The paper analyses the impact of innovation on the performance of Slovenian firms. Using firm-level innovation data we find surprising results on the benefits of innovation. Only manufacturing firms with below average productivity growth are likely to benefits significantly from successful innovation, while faster growing firms do not gain additional benefits from innovating.
COBISS.SI-ID: 20564198
This article analyses the effectiveness of the main instrument of Slovenian FDI policy, the ʼFDI Co-financing Grant Schemeʼ. We look at the post-grant performance of foreign subsidiaries that received grants in 2000-09 using a double-track approach: calculation of performance premia of subsidised foreign subsidiaries, based on financial statements data, as suggested by Bernard and Jensen, and a questionnaire survey to tackle those qualitative aspects of subsidiariesʼ operations which are used in the official evaluation of grant applications. Subsidised foreign subsidiaries on average show better performance than comparable local companies and better qualitative characteristics than non-subsidised foreign subsidiaries. The main objectives of the scheme, creation of new capacity and jobs in export-oriented activities, have been achieved. The quality of this quantitative increase is more of a question; the data do not indicate any real breakthroughs in technological intensity, human resource development or productivity. In terms of technology and skills subsidised FDI projects remain more or less on the level of average Slovenian firms.
COBISS.SI-ID: 512355196