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Article
Publication date: 5 March 2021

André T. Mayounga

This paper aims to describe the impact of the labor market on the integration of Africa into the global supply chain (GSC).

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the impact of the labor market on the integration of Africa into the global supply chain (GSC).

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis of trends and comparison of data for 55 nations and territories in Africa using existing data from the World Bank and International Labor Organization, and government and nongovernment reports took place using qualitative content analysis methodology.

Findings

Africa’s labor market enhances the continent’s integration into the GSC despite challenges in other areas, with three pillars identifying the labor market’s strategic sourcing decisions.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is limited to trends analysis, some of which may have changed during the study.

Practical implications

The findings will enable the global business industry and governments to envision the potential and design Africa’s labor market competitiveness across the African continent. The findings also establish the necessity and opportunity for enhanced infrastructure to attract additional foreign direct.

Social implications

The social implication of this paper is beyond the potential of Africa’s labor market. The paper illustrates how the African is setting to become the next sourcing hub for the global supply chain, allowing scholars to close any prevailing global sourcing gap in research.

Originality/value

This paper describes the potential of Africa’s supply of low-cost labor market and its integration in the GSC.

Details

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5364

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 January 2021

Fareesa Malik, Richard Heeks, Silvia Masiero and Brian Nicholson

While digital labour platforms are being increasingly studied across the Global South, the existing literature does not conceptualise the theoretical link between such platforms…

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Abstract

Purpose

While digital labour platforms are being increasingly studied across the Global South, the existing literature does not conceptualise the theoretical link between such platforms and socio-economic development. This paper theorises such a link drawing on the notion of institutional voids defined, as in Khanna and Palepu (2010), as “the absence of intermediaries to efficiently connect buyers and sellers” in an economy. We frame digital labour platforms as means to fill institutional voids, seeking to create “development” in the form of earning opportunities in contexts of deprivation.

Design/methodology/approach

We draw on an interpretive case study of an online work training project in a deprived region of Pakistan, where members of marginalised communities were trained to become freelancers for global digital labour platforms. We use the notion of market-enabling institutions aimed at filling institutional voids as a lens to study the project's declared goals, examining the extent to which these were met in practice for the workers who participated in the training.

Findings

Our analysis reveals three types of market-enabling institutions–credibility enhancers, aggregators and distributors, and transaction facilitators–through which digital labour platforms seek to fill institutional voids. However, workers' narratives reveal that institutional voids are only partially filled by these platforms, and their perpetuation results in diverse forms of power asymmetries leveraged by clients and owners of the platforms. We also observe the formation of solidarity networks among workers, networks that are intra-familial and societal rather than characterised by formal unionisation.

Originality/value

The paper offers a novel perspective to theorise the link between digital labour and socio-economic development. Applying such a perspective in a Global South context, it also finds the limits of the digital platforms' institutional void-filling potential, highlighting the emergence of power asymmetries and the emerging formation of worker solidarity networks.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 February 2009

J. Brandon McKelvey

Globalization has speeded the flow of development across borders, encouraging the movement of both labour and capital. Although it has been well‐documented that labour is less…

2142

Abstract

Purpose

Globalization has speeded the flow of development across borders, encouraging the movement of both labour and capital. Although it has been well‐documented that labour is less flexible than capital and that unskilled labour is disadvantaged by these trends, the impact of globalization on older workers has been largely ignored. The critical gerontology perspective can contribute through its focus on globalization's effects on labour market opportunities and social welfare benefits. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a theoretical paper on ageing.

Findings

This paper examines four issues faced by older workers in an international context in order to more fully understand the differential impact of globalization by age. First, the paradigm of globalization assumes a youthful labour force willing and able to relocate search of employment opportunities, criteria inapplicable to many older workers. Second, human capital inequalities produce differing opportunities for older workers to respond to economic changes. Third, existing social welfare provisions are relatively durable and likely to affect older people in complex ways. Fourth, varied levels of international development and life course possibilities produce differences between countries and regions.

Originality/value

This paper is original in highlighting how a lifetime of constraints placed upon older workers by their moral and political economies make their integration into the idealized global market difficult and pose larger questions about understanding the life course in a global context.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 29 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 March 2015

Martina Lubyova and Pavol Babos

In this paper we show that the neo-transitional economies are less neoliberal than could be expected given their 25-years long transition towards building market environment…

Abstract

In this paper we show that the neo-transitional economies are less neoliberal than could be expected given their 25-years long transition towards building market environment, supporting entrepreneurship and restoring capitalism in general. According to factor analysis results based on a cross-sectional sample of 134 countries during the period of 2010–2012 we find that the neo-transitional economies are characterised by relatively restrictive trade and capital regulations, average level of labour protection and low activity of state in terms of tax-based redistribution and social cohesion support. We briefly review several theoretical frameworks, such as the World System Theory, Commodity Chain and Global Capital theory, and Varieties of Capitalism framework, and point towards their limitations in explaining these transitional outcomes. We conclude that these frameworks are not capable of providing the explanations mainly because of their limited or no concern for labour and capital, and their interactions with the national institutions. We conclude that the history of industrialisation and path dependence provides a more plausible framework for explaining the neo-transitional outcomes. Furthermore, the consideration of the ‘resource curse’ and authoritarian regimes in many CIS countries can explain their neglect for tax-based redistribution and the high degree of government interventions in trade and capital regulations.

Details

Neo-Transitional Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-681-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 July 2014

Abstract

Details

Labor Relations in Globalized Food
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-711-5

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2009

Andreas Kern and Christian Fahrholz

This paper inquires into the root causes of global imbalances from an international trade perspective. The purpose of the paper is to establish a conceptual framework that links…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper inquires into the root causes of global imbalances from an international trade perspective. The purpose of the paper is to establish a conceptual framework that links financial market governance, international trade and financial market integration, and to derive implications for the global financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to analyze global imbalances, the paper draws on a theoretical Heckscher‐Ohlin‐Samuelson international trade model, in which it compares two open economies, solely differing in their financial market governance structures. Building on these findings, the paper extends the analysis to the role of financial market frictions in propagating global imbalances into excessive lending in high‐income economies.

Findings

To that extent, it argues that global imbalances are due to impasses in international production. This paper argues that countries seeking to suppress real appreciation have engaged in financial repression, which has, via financial globalization, translated into excessive expansion of financial service sectors in flexible market economies.

Research limitations/implications

In order to derive a tractable framework, the abstract from inter‐temporal aspects and from an in‐depth analysis of financial modelling issues. Owing to the static nature of the set‐up, the analytic link between global imbalances and the global financial crisis is intuitive.

Practical implications

Given that differences in national financial market governance influence the direction of international capital and trade flows, it argues for more international policy coordination in preventing future crisis.

Originality/value

The unique feature of the contribution is that it links financial market governance and international trade to international financial market integration in a tractable theoretical framework.

Details

Journal of Financial Economic Policy, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-6385

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2012

Jenny K. Rodriguez and Lesley Mearns

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue by problematising labour agency, precariousness, and labour fragmentation as defining themes of the interplay between…

2844

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue by problematising labour agency, precariousness, and labour fragmentation as defining themes of the interplay between employment relations, migration and mobility.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from discussions about the impact of globalisation on changes in features of work and employment, and bringing together theory and research on employment relations and labour migration, the paper discusses the relational spatial and temporal nature of agency, the diverse features of worker experiences of precariousness, and the resulting fragmentation in labour solidarity.

Findings

Labour agency, precariousness and labour fragmentation intersect to create the axis of dynamics of hardship and abuse that dominate work experiences of migrant workers in the global labour market. Globalisation has a pervasive impact in articulating and perpetuating systemic processes of closure, entrapment and containment, which are triggered by migration and legitimised by dynamics of employment relations.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to current discussions about the interplay between migration, mobility and employment relations and sets out future directions of research to enhance our understanding of the role of employment relations to perpetuate, legitimise and normalise dynamics of globalisation that promote the migrant division of labour and create contradictory labour demands and displacements in the global labour market.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 34 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 April 2014

Yehuda Baruch, Susan Sayce and Andros Gregoriou

– The purpose of this paper is to explore potential benefits and possible pitfalls of the removal of the default retirement age.

2285

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore potential benefits and possible pitfalls of the removal of the default retirement age.

Design/methodology/approach

A human capital and labour market perspective provide theoretical lenses for exploring the potential implications for individuals, organizations and societies. The paper employs financial costing analysis to demonstrate.

Findings

The paper uses the UK case to illustrate anticipated managerial and societal outcomes. The main finding from the discussion and the financial analysis is that indeed the current system is unsustainable.

Originality/value

The paper offers areas where lessons about age management can be learnt from other experiences of flexible retirement strategies such as enhancing older workers ' human capital. The idea is of global nature and relevance and forms a “wake-up call” for decision makers at national level.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 43 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2011

Peter Enderwick, Rosalie L. Tung and Henry F.L. Chung

This paper aims to examine the myriad linkages between cross‐border migration and international business activity through a conceptual framework of international arbitrage.

3469

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the myriad linkages between cross‐border migration and international business activity through a conceptual framework of international arbitrage.

Design/methodology/approach

While labour is internationally the least integrated of the various markets (capital, product, labour) the increasing co‐movement of both tasks and workers has created opportunities for the arbitrage and exploitation of differences between national labour markets. Because national labour markets typically display the two characteristics of separation and price discrepancy it is possible to utilise the principle of arbitrage and within this framework examine cost, intellectual, knowledge and employment arbitrage.

Findings

The discussion suggests that international business offers valuable insights into migration processes and effects which have been dominated by the research approaches of other disciplines. It is found that migrants can help reduce transaction costs for bilateral trade, contribute to nostalgic trade, encourage outsourcing and foreign direct investment through referrals and performance signalling, assist country of origin development through remittances and return migration and provide valuable knowledge to their employers in the country of residence.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is a conceptual one which offers no new empirical results but does provide a context for the interpretation of the more specialised studies that appear in this special issue. There is a need for research on this topic to be firmly grounded in the contemporary context of an increasingly integrated global economy. It also suggests a number of specific areas where further work would be useful.

Originality/value

The key contribution of the paper is in developing a comprehensive conceptual framework – that of labour market arbitrage – which enables a clearer understanding of the complex impacts of international migration on international business activity. It also distinguishes between direct and indirect effects.

Details

Journal of Asia Business Studies, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1558-7894

Keywords

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