Higher levels of education are associated with greater success for self-employed individuals and their firms. During economic downturns, highly educated self-employed individuals are less likely to close their firms compared to those with lower levels of education. However, during economic upturns, highly educated individuals have higher outside options for wage work, so they are more likely to close their firms. Regardless of the economic conditions, firms led by highly educated self-employed individuals tend to experience higher growth.
Thinking about developing business leadership for the post covid worldYing wei (Joe) Chou
The document discusses the need to develop business leadership skills for the post-COVID world. It describes a model developed at Sacred Heart University's Center for Nonprofits that may provide students with the skills, attitudes and values required for successful social entrepreneurship. Over 15 years, 925 MBA students have completed 260 consulting projects for 125 nonprofit clients, totaling 65,000 volunteer hours and $60,000 in consulting services to help nonprofits. The model emphasizes developing students' "knowing," "doing," and "being" to prepare them for leadership in a world that demands both business acumen and social purpose.
Small–medium enterprise formation and nigerian economic growthYing wei (Joe) Chou
This document discusses small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and their relationship to economic growth in Nigeria. It provides background on SMEs in Nigeria, noting they account for a large share of employment and output but the country still faces high unemployment, poverty, and low human development. The paper reviews literature on the importance of SMEs in creating jobs, innovation, and knowledge transfer. It also discusses theories of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial development. The purpose is to empirically examine the link between SME formation, employment, and economic growth in Nigeria using statistical techniques like error correction modeling and cointegration testing.
The document discusses the relationship between investment in education and economic growth in the MENA region. It finds that while MENA countries invested heavily in education in the 1960s-1990s, this investment did not consistently translate into higher economic growth. Several studies show no significant relationship between levels of education and GDP growth in MENA. Total factor productivity growth, a measure of technological progress, was also relatively low in MENA compared to other regions despite investment in human capital. So while education levels rose, other growth-enhancing policies were lacking, preventing the full benefits of education investment from being realized in terms of economic growth.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2015 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2013 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our latest edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of 33 countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2017 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
Voor het derde jaar op rij publiceert Hays in samenwerking met Oxford Economics de Hays Global Skills Index. De Hays Global Skills Index geeft de dynamiek weer van de arbeidsmarkten van 31 landen wereldwijd. De index geeft aan hoe groot de druk is op de arbeidsmarkt en hoe goed een land wel of niet in staat is talent te leveren.
Thinking about developing business leadership for the post covid worldYing wei (Joe) Chou
The document discusses the need to develop business leadership skills for the post-COVID world. It describes a model developed at Sacred Heart University's Center for Nonprofits that may provide students with the skills, attitudes and values required for successful social entrepreneurship. Over 15 years, 925 MBA students have completed 260 consulting projects for 125 nonprofit clients, totaling 65,000 volunteer hours and $60,000 in consulting services to help nonprofits. The model emphasizes developing students' "knowing," "doing," and "being" to prepare them for leadership in a world that demands both business acumen and social purpose.
Small–medium enterprise formation and nigerian economic growthYing wei (Joe) Chou
This document discusses small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and their relationship to economic growth in Nigeria. It provides background on SMEs in Nigeria, noting they account for a large share of employment and output but the country still faces high unemployment, poverty, and low human development. The paper reviews literature on the importance of SMEs in creating jobs, innovation, and knowledge transfer. It also discusses theories of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial development. The purpose is to empirically examine the link between SME formation, employment, and economic growth in Nigeria using statistical techniques like error correction modeling and cointegration testing.
The document discusses the relationship between investment in education and economic growth in the MENA region. It finds that while MENA countries invested heavily in education in the 1960s-1990s, this investment did not consistently translate into higher economic growth. Several studies show no significant relationship between levels of education and GDP growth in MENA. Total factor productivity growth, a measure of technological progress, was also relatively low in MENA compared to other regions despite investment in human capital. So while education levels rose, other growth-enhancing policies were lacking, preventing the full benefits of education investment from being realized in terms of economic growth.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2015 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2013 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our latest edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of 33 countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2017 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
Voor het derde jaar op rij publiceert Hays in samenwerking met Oxford Economics de Hays Global Skills Index. De Hays Global Skills Index geeft de dynamiek weer van de arbeidsmarkten van 31 landen wereldwijd. De index geeft aan hoe groot de druk is op de arbeidsmarkt en hoe goed een land wel of niet in staat is talent te leveren.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2012 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
This study examines how corporate entrepreneurship, national policies, and supply chain collaboration impact innovativeness among LED manufacturers in Malaysia. It analyzes survey data from manufacturers using partial least squares. The study finds that corporate entrepreneurship plays a moderating role in the relationships between national policies, supply chain collaboration, and innovativeness. The study expands literature by providing empirical evidence on these relationships from the perspective of an emerging country and examining the moderating role of corporate entrepreneurship. It has implications for helping local companies understand how to enhance innovativeness and expand their role in global supply chains.
Corporate entrepreneurship and business performance the moderating role of o...Ying wei (Joe) Chou
This document summarizes a research paper that investigated the relationships between corporate entrepreneurship, organizational culture, and business performance in selected banks in Pakistan. The study found that corporate entrepreneurship was positively related to business performance, and that organizational culture was positively related to business performance. Additionally, the study found support for the hypothesis that organizational culture moderates the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and business performance, such that the relationship is stronger when organizational culture is considered. The study used a survey to collect data from managers in major Pakistani banks and analyzed the results using structural equation modeling.
Entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial education and performanceYing wei (Joe) Chou
1. The study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (including proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking) and business performance, as well as the role of entrepreneurship education.
2. The findings show that innovative proactiveness positively influences non-financial business performance, while risk-taking propensity does not influence financial or non-financial performance.
3. Entrepreneurship education was also found to have no connection with entrepreneurial orientation or business performance.
This document summarizes the current state of research on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) among emerging market firms. It reviews literature from 2000-2019 that examines CE related to innovation, strategic renewal, and new venturing in emerging economies. The review finds that while research exists on these topics separately, there is a lack of holistic examination of CE incorporating all three aspects. It concludes that more research is needed to understand how country-level differences in emerging markets impact firms' CE activities and competitive strategies. The document provides directions for future research to address these gaps.
The document discusses several key concepts related to labor and employment:
1. Labor is a factor of production and refers to human effort and skills. Human capital refers to the economic value of people's skills and abilities.
2. Employment involves a contract between an employer and employee, where the employee provides labor in exchange for wages. Unemployment exists when able and willing workers cannot find jobs.
3. Other concepts discussed include the unemployment rate, NAIRU, Phillips curve, underemployment, and differences in perspectives on the causes of unemployment from various economic theories.
Corporate entrepreneurship as a strategic approach for internal innovation pe...Ying wei (Joe) Chou
This document discusses corporate entrepreneurship as a strategic approach for improving internal innovation performance. It reviews literature on corporate entrepreneurship and the relationship between intrapreneurship and strategic models. The paper proposes a conceptual framework that focuses on internal innovation over external mergers and acquisitions. Key factors for enhancing internal innovation include developing systems to motivate innovative behavior, concentrating entrepreneurial ventures, and educating employees on corporate entrepreneurship. Implementing strategic approaches can help corporations innovate internally and improve growth and profits, while accepting failure as part of the innovation process.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our latest edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of 33 countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe: https://www.hays-index.com/
The document is a report on the Hays Global Skills Index 2013, which analyzes factors impacting the global skills landscape across 30 countries. Some key points:
- The report finds structural factors like education systems, legal frameworks, and government policy have a greater impact on labor market efficiency than current economic conditions alone.
- Countries with more flexible labor markets that allow for wage adjustments tended to fare better during the economic downturn, with lower unemployment.
- Many countries face a mismatch between the skills available and those needed by employers, seen through rising unemployment alongside increasing unfilled jobs.
- To address chronic skills shortages, the report recommends governments pursue policies that encourage flexible labor markets, strengthen links between education
This document analyzes the relationship between trade openness and income inequality in Africa using data from 38 African countries from 1980 to 2018. It reviews previous literature that has found mixed results on the impact of trade openness on inequality. The literature identifies factors like economic conditions, social factors, and institutions that influence inequality. The document aims to examine the effects of five dimensions of trade openness on income inequality in Africa, using multiple indices of trade openness. Preliminary results from the analysis show that measures of domestic and international trade are associated with higher income inequality. The study contributes new evidence on this topic in Africa.
Diffusion of innovation through individual and collective entrepreneurship an...Ying wei (Joe) Chou
This document discusses a study that explores the relationship between individual entrepreneurship, collective (team-based) entrepreneurship, and innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study develops a theoretical framework and tests relationships using structural equation modeling on survey data from 700 entrepreneurs in SMEs in Pakistan. The results confirm that both individual entrepreneur traits and collective team efforts contribute to innovation in SMEs. Specifically, entrepreneur personality traits directly impact innovation while centralized decision-making does not, and factors like communication and collaboration among team members contribute to collective entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation, which both directly impact innovation. The study aims to provide a more holistic view of entrepreneurship and innovation by considering both individual and collective dimensions.
The document discusses various topics related to labour markets including:
- Labour is one of the four factors of production and its supply is determined by the number of able people and their willingness to work. Demand is determined by economic conditions.
- Labour markets exist at the international, national, local, and internal levels and labour can transfer between these markets.
- Unemployment rates are used to measure economic performance and are a target of macroeconomic policy, with different types of unemployment like frictional and structural unemployment.
- Current labour issues include topics like globalization, technological changes, job mismatches, and developing human capital with the right skills. The Philippine government addresses these through strategies in the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan.
The document discusses how changes in technology, demographics, and the economy are disrupting labor markets and the world of work. Key points:
1) Structural forces like aging populations, globalization, and technological change have created economic instability and disrupted traditional labor markets.
2) This has led to the emergence of new ways of working, including more flexible and on-demand work arrangements.
3) The labor market is broken and needs reconfiguration to address issues like skills mismatches and changing worker-employer relationships. A new 21st century world of work is emerging from this disruption.
The document discusses theories of labor market segmentation. It describes the dual labor market theory which depicts a primary market of stable unionized jobs and a secondary market of unstable low-paying jobs. It also discusses the internal and external labor market theory, and the Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis analysis which statistically decomposes wages into internal firm effects and external market effects to estimate the internal-external wage differential. Empirical issues around validating theories of segmentation are also noted.
Earnings and discrimination ppt bec bagalkot mbaBabasab Patil
The document discusses differences in earnings between occupations and explores possible causes for these differences. It notes that physicians typically earn $200,000, police officers $50,000, and farm workers $20,000. Earnings are determined by factors like labor supply and demand, human capital like education, and potential discrimination. While competitive markets tend to reduce discrimination, it can persist if supported by customer preferences or government policies.
Labour Market Economy by Pathik patel 40Pathik Patel
This document discusses the labour market in India. It covers several key points:
1. The Indian labour market consists of three main sectors: rural workers make up over 60% of the workforce, the organized sector employs 8% and produces 40% of GDP, and the growing informal urban sector represents the residual.
2. The labour force size is approximately 430 million workers as of 2004-05, growing at 2% annually. Women's participation is lower at 28% and unemployment is relatively low at 3.1%, but disguised unemployment is high.
3. There is debate around whether India's labour market is rigid or flexible. While some argue for greater flexibility, evidence does not strongly support nominal or real
Employment protection legislation's effect on labor market performanceTanuj Poddar
This document analyzes the effects of employment protection legislation (EPL) on labour market outcomes in transition and Western countries. It explores both the potential benefits and costs of strict EPL. While EPL may provide stability and security, it can also reduce flexibility and increase unemployment. The document reviews mixed empirical evidence from Western countries and develops new indicators to analyze EPL impacts in transition countries like Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, and Russia.
This document contains a literature review and descriptive analysis of income determinants in the South African labour market. The descriptive analysis includes graphs and tables examining income distribution and average income by factors like race, gender, age, location and more. Key findings are that income is highly skewed with most earning low wages, and that on average white individuals earn the most while African individuals earn the least. Males also earn more than females on average. Urban areas have higher average incomes than traditional or farm areas. The analysis provides insights into inequality in the South African labour market.
This document discusses challenges women face when re-entering the workforce after taking time off for family reasons. It covers the topic from multiple perspectives, including the woman's perspective on career continuity, the project manager perspective on project continuity, and economics of diversity in the workplace. The document also presents 5 case studies of women in different situations dealing with re-entering the workforce. It concludes with lessons for working women and project managers, such as resetting expectations, re-skilling, flexibility, matching demand and supply, and leveraging loyalty. The overall message is that facilitating women's re-entry into the workforce has social and economic benefits but also presents challenges that require consideration from multiple viewpoints.
Este documento presenta la información sobre el llenado de zapatas en una construcción civil. Detalla los materiales necesarios como cemento, hormigón y piedra, asi como las herramientas como martillo, pala y nivel. Explica también los equipos de seguridad requeridos como casco, botas y lentes. Finalmente, identifica posibles peligros como golpes, cortes o caídas y comparte experiencias de incidentes ocurridos durante esta actividad.
The document discusses open educational resources (OER) and the benefits of adopting OER, known as #GoOpen. It defines OER as educational materials that can be freely used, modified, and shared. OER include courses, textbooks, videos and more. The document outlines the "5 R's of Openness" that define how OER can be reused and redistributed. It discusses how OER can increase equity, save costs, and empower educators. An example is provided of a school district that adopted OER. Large OER repositories and content providers are also listed. Implementation tips include devoting less time to content creation and more to teaching.
Què pot oferir l'escola plurilingüe? L'aprenentatge significatiu en el món di...Neus Lorenzo
"Fomentem les competències comunicatives, plurilingües i interculturals en un món complex en transició". Dues versions d'aquest document es van presentar a terme a Girona (Novembre 2010) i Castelló (gener 2011) en el marc de Jornades plurilingües.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our 2012 edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe.
This study examines how corporate entrepreneurship, national policies, and supply chain collaboration impact innovativeness among LED manufacturers in Malaysia. It analyzes survey data from manufacturers using partial least squares. The study finds that corporate entrepreneurship plays a moderating role in the relationships between national policies, supply chain collaboration, and innovativeness. The study expands literature by providing empirical evidence on these relationships from the perspective of an emerging country and examining the moderating role of corporate entrepreneurship. It has implications for helping local companies understand how to enhance innovativeness and expand their role in global supply chains.
Corporate entrepreneurship and business performance the moderating role of o...Ying wei (Joe) Chou
This document summarizes a research paper that investigated the relationships between corporate entrepreneurship, organizational culture, and business performance in selected banks in Pakistan. The study found that corporate entrepreneurship was positively related to business performance, and that organizational culture was positively related to business performance. Additionally, the study found support for the hypothesis that organizational culture moderates the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and business performance, such that the relationship is stronger when organizational culture is considered. The study used a survey to collect data from managers in major Pakistani banks and analyzed the results using structural equation modeling.
Entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial education and performanceYing wei (Joe) Chou
1. The study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (including proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking) and business performance, as well as the role of entrepreneurship education.
2. The findings show that innovative proactiveness positively influences non-financial business performance, while risk-taking propensity does not influence financial or non-financial performance.
3. Entrepreneurship education was also found to have no connection with entrepreneurial orientation or business performance.
This document summarizes the current state of research on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) among emerging market firms. It reviews literature from 2000-2019 that examines CE related to innovation, strategic renewal, and new venturing in emerging economies. The review finds that while research exists on these topics separately, there is a lack of holistic examination of CE incorporating all three aspects. It concludes that more research is needed to understand how country-level differences in emerging markets impact firms' CE activities and competitive strategies. The document provides directions for future research to address these gaps.
The document discusses several key concepts related to labor and employment:
1. Labor is a factor of production and refers to human effort and skills. Human capital refers to the economic value of people's skills and abilities.
2. Employment involves a contract between an employer and employee, where the employee provides labor in exchange for wages. Unemployment exists when able and willing workers cannot find jobs.
3. Other concepts discussed include the unemployment rate, NAIRU, Phillips curve, underemployment, and differences in perspectives on the causes of unemployment from various economic theories.
Corporate entrepreneurship as a strategic approach for internal innovation pe...Ying wei (Joe) Chou
This document discusses corporate entrepreneurship as a strategic approach for improving internal innovation performance. It reviews literature on corporate entrepreneurship and the relationship between intrapreneurship and strategic models. The paper proposes a conceptual framework that focuses on internal innovation over external mergers and acquisitions. Key factors for enhancing internal innovation include developing systems to motivate innovative behavior, concentrating entrepreneurial ventures, and educating employees on corporate entrepreneurship. Implementing strategic approaches can help corporations innovate internally and improve growth and profits, while accepting failure as part of the innovation process.
The Hays Global Skills Index is the only comprehensive overview of the professional global labour market and examines the challenges faced by organisations as they search for the most sought-after skills. Our latest edition provides an analysis of the employment markets and economic status of 33 countries, featuring insights from Hays experts across the globe: https://www.hays-index.com/
The document is a report on the Hays Global Skills Index 2013, which analyzes factors impacting the global skills landscape across 30 countries. Some key points:
- The report finds structural factors like education systems, legal frameworks, and government policy have a greater impact on labor market efficiency than current economic conditions alone.
- Countries with more flexible labor markets that allow for wage adjustments tended to fare better during the economic downturn, with lower unemployment.
- Many countries face a mismatch between the skills available and those needed by employers, seen through rising unemployment alongside increasing unfilled jobs.
- To address chronic skills shortages, the report recommends governments pursue policies that encourage flexible labor markets, strengthen links between education
This document analyzes the relationship between trade openness and income inequality in Africa using data from 38 African countries from 1980 to 2018. It reviews previous literature that has found mixed results on the impact of trade openness on inequality. The literature identifies factors like economic conditions, social factors, and institutions that influence inequality. The document aims to examine the effects of five dimensions of trade openness on income inequality in Africa, using multiple indices of trade openness. Preliminary results from the analysis show that measures of domestic and international trade are associated with higher income inequality. The study contributes new evidence on this topic in Africa.
Diffusion of innovation through individual and collective entrepreneurship an...Ying wei (Joe) Chou
This document discusses a study that explores the relationship between individual entrepreneurship, collective (team-based) entrepreneurship, and innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study develops a theoretical framework and tests relationships using structural equation modeling on survey data from 700 entrepreneurs in SMEs in Pakistan. The results confirm that both individual entrepreneur traits and collective team efforts contribute to innovation in SMEs. Specifically, entrepreneur personality traits directly impact innovation while centralized decision-making does not, and factors like communication and collaboration among team members contribute to collective entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation, which both directly impact innovation. The study aims to provide a more holistic view of entrepreneurship and innovation by considering both individual and collective dimensions.
The document discusses various topics related to labour markets including:
- Labour is one of the four factors of production and its supply is determined by the number of able people and their willingness to work. Demand is determined by economic conditions.
- Labour markets exist at the international, national, local, and internal levels and labour can transfer between these markets.
- Unemployment rates are used to measure economic performance and are a target of macroeconomic policy, with different types of unemployment like frictional and structural unemployment.
- Current labour issues include topics like globalization, technological changes, job mismatches, and developing human capital with the right skills. The Philippine government addresses these through strategies in the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan.
The document discusses how changes in technology, demographics, and the economy are disrupting labor markets and the world of work. Key points:
1) Structural forces like aging populations, globalization, and technological change have created economic instability and disrupted traditional labor markets.
2) This has led to the emergence of new ways of working, including more flexible and on-demand work arrangements.
3) The labor market is broken and needs reconfiguration to address issues like skills mismatches and changing worker-employer relationships. A new 21st century world of work is emerging from this disruption.
The document discusses theories of labor market segmentation. It describes the dual labor market theory which depicts a primary market of stable unionized jobs and a secondary market of unstable low-paying jobs. It also discusses the internal and external labor market theory, and the Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis analysis which statistically decomposes wages into internal firm effects and external market effects to estimate the internal-external wage differential. Empirical issues around validating theories of segmentation are also noted.
Earnings and discrimination ppt bec bagalkot mbaBabasab Patil
The document discusses differences in earnings between occupations and explores possible causes for these differences. It notes that physicians typically earn $200,000, police officers $50,000, and farm workers $20,000. Earnings are determined by factors like labor supply and demand, human capital like education, and potential discrimination. While competitive markets tend to reduce discrimination, it can persist if supported by customer preferences or government policies.
Labour Market Economy by Pathik patel 40Pathik Patel
This document discusses the labour market in India. It covers several key points:
1. The Indian labour market consists of three main sectors: rural workers make up over 60% of the workforce, the organized sector employs 8% and produces 40% of GDP, and the growing informal urban sector represents the residual.
2. The labour force size is approximately 430 million workers as of 2004-05, growing at 2% annually. Women's participation is lower at 28% and unemployment is relatively low at 3.1%, but disguised unemployment is high.
3. There is debate around whether India's labour market is rigid or flexible. While some argue for greater flexibility, evidence does not strongly support nominal or real
Employment protection legislation's effect on labor market performanceTanuj Poddar
This document analyzes the effects of employment protection legislation (EPL) on labour market outcomes in transition and Western countries. It explores both the potential benefits and costs of strict EPL. While EPL may provide stability and security, it can also reduce flexibility and increase unemployment. The document reviews mixed empirical evidence from Western countries and develops new indicators to analyze EPL impacts in transition countries like Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, and Russia.
This document contains a literature review and descriptive analysis of income determinants in the South African labour market. The descriptive analysis includes graphs and tables examining income distribution and average income by factors like race, gender, age, location and more. Key findings are that income is highly skewed with most earning low wages, and that on average white individuals earn the most while African individuals earn the least. Males also earn more than females on average. Urban areas have higher average incomes than traditional or farm areas. The analysis provides insights into inequality in the South African labour market.
This document discusses challenges women face when re-entering the workforce after taking time off for family reasons. It covers the topic from multiple perspectives, including the woman's perspective on career continuity, the project manager perspective on project continuity, and economics of diversity in the workplace. The document also presents 5 case studies of women in different situations dealing with re-entering the workforce. It concludes with lessons for working women and project managers, such as resetting expectations, re-skilling, flexibility, matching demand and supply, and leveraging loyalty. The overall message is that facilitating women's re-entry into the workforce has social and economic benefits but also presents challenges that require consideration from multiple viewpoints.
Este documento presenta la información sobre el llenado de zapatas en una construcción civil. Detalla los materiales necesarios como cemento, hormigón y piedra, asi como las herramientas como martillo, pala y nivel. Explica también los equipos de seguridad requeridos como casco, botas y lentes. Finalmente, identifica posibles peligros como golpes, cortes o caídas y comparte experiencias de incidentes ocurridos durante esta actividad.
The document discusses open educational resources (OER) and the benefits of adopting OER, known as #GoOpen. It defines OER as educational materials that can be freely used, modified, and shared. OER include courses, textbooks, videos and more. The document outlines the "5 R's of Openness" that define how OER can be reused and redistributed. It discusses how OER can increase equity, save costs, and empower educators. An example is provided of a school district that adopted OER. Large OER repositories and content providers are also listed. Implementation tips include devoting less time to content creation and more to teaching.
Què pot oferir l'escola plurilingüe? L'aprenentatge significatiu en el món di...Neus Lorenzo
"Fomentem les competències comunicatives, plurilingües i interculturals en un món complex en transició". Dues versions d'aquest document es van presentar a terme a Girona (Novembre 2010) i Castelló (gener 2011) en el marc de Jornades plurilingües.
The presentation was about a horror story told through an LMS. It began with introducing the characters of a learning management system and set up the creepy atmosphere of the online course. Tension built as strange glitches occurred on the platform and assignments were mysteriously graded before being submitted, culminating in a terrifying twist at the end that left users unsure of what was real and what was just part of the LMS.
Gerente de Calidad y Sustentabilidad de Acciona Infraestructuras para Perú, Ecuador y
Chile. Constructor Civil, Especialista en Gestión Internacional, y Diploma en Diseño y Construcción de Hormigón de Alto Desempeño, de la Universidad de Chile.
Carmen Paz Muñoz E. - Criterios de aceptación de la Resistencia en Hormigón P...Jean Pierre Malebran Suil
CARMEN PAZ MUÑOZ EFFA es Constructor Civil de la U. Santa María Y Magister de la U.
de Chile, su experiencia profesional inicial estuvo en empresas relacionadas a materiales de
construcción, a cargo de laboratorio en ensayos físicos de cemento y hormigón, el año
2006 se desempeña como Asesor Técnico a clientes en la misma organización.
Desde el año 2008 al 2012 se desempeña como Jefe del Laboratorio de Materiales en la
Escuela de Obras Civiles de la U. Andrés Bello y como profesor en la misma casa de
estudios, además participa como Secretaria Técnica en el proyecto Innova Corfo para la
actualización de normativa de hormigones y morteros. En 2012 se reintegra a la industria
del hormigón como Asesor Técnico en el Departamento de Asesoría Técnica y Control de
calidad de Ready Mix.
Actualmente es directora de la carrera de Ingeniería en Construcción de la Universidad
Andrés Bello y participa activamente con ICH en certificaciones ACI y otros proyectos relacionados.
Innovation: Understanding, assessing and acting with purpouseNeus Lorenzo
The document is a presentation about innovation in education. It discusses understanding innovation, assessing innovative models, and acting with purpose. It provides examples of innovative learning environments and theories that empower learner-centered education and collaboration. The presentation emphasizes understanding practices, analyzing procedures for assessment, and identifying tools to generate coherent criteria to support innovation in education.
Este documento trata sobre procesos geológicos y erosivos que ocurren en la Tierra. Explica que las cordilleras y volcanes se forman por la colisión de placas tectónicas o en puntos calientes, y que los sismos ocurren cuando grandes masas de roca chocan o se desplazan bruscamente dentro de la Tierra. También menciona que el Perú se encuentra en el Cinturón de Fuego del Pacífico debido a la subducción de la placa de Nazca, y que los sismos más dañinos
El documento presenta una revisión del estado actual y las perspectivas de desarrollo de los prefabricados en Chile. Se discuten las áreas de trabajo del Comité de Prefabricados, los desafíos en la normalización, calidad y coordinación. También se analizan ejemplos concretos de obras que usan prefabricados y las opiniones de distintos actores sobre las oportunidades y barreras para una mayor adopción de estas soluciones. Las conclusiones enfatizan la necesidad de evaluar los beneficios de los prefabricados de forma integral considerando aspect
Este documento describe diferentes métodos para medir la planeidad y nivelación de pisos, incluyendo los Números F, Fmin y las normas DIN, TR34 y ASTM. Explica que los Números F miden la planeidad y nivelación general de una superficie, mientras que Fmin simula específicamente la trayectoria de apiladores. También cubre conceptos como tráfico aleatorio vs definido y diferentes sistemas constructivos para lograr distintos niveles de lisura en pisos.
4-Interacció del centre amb el contextNeus Lorenzo
Sessió 2- Materials del Mòdul 8 del Master de Lideratge, Blanquerna-AXIA (Escola d'Administració Pública de Catalunya), 2016. Interacció del centre amb el context
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Unit Lesson Economic Systems An economic system can be defined as the method in which a
nation chooses to distribute resources to the community or specific area (Cullen & Parboteeah,
2017). The economic system of a country may be structured as socialism, capitalism, or a mixed
system. For example, the United States economic system is characterized as a mainly capitalist
economic system. Capitalist economics take place when companies are privately owned and
are able to carry out activities in a competitive market to make profits. In a socialist economy,
the state owns companies or makes decisions about production and pricing in pursuit of a
collective goal (Cullen & Parboteeah, 2017). The mixed economy is a combination of socialism
and capitalism. An example of a mixed economy is India. The businesses in India are
government and privately owned, producing a mixed economy. UNIT II STUDY GUIDE
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and economic changes that are brought about by fundamental changes in how production is
organized and distributed in society” (Cullen & Parboteeah, 2017, p. 67). The authors categorize
three specific industrializations—a preindustrial society, an industrial society, and a
postindustrial society—which affect both organizations and individuals. The preindustrial society
is dominated by agriculture. Whereas a preindustrial society can provide a company with cheap
labor, it can cost the company more in the long run due to the lack of infrastructure and support.
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requires a vast range of skill levels for workers to handle production and technology. Lastly, the
postindustrial society emphasizes services employing highly trained personnel that were trained
for their job positions through formal education. All three levels of industrialization play a vital
role in the success of strategic multinational management (Cullen & Parboteeah, 2017).
Multinational companies (MNCs) can use the levels as a gauge to determine where to do
business. How one chooses to worship and believe in a structure of faith is known as religion. In
most societies, religion can be characterized as a formal method of worship. Religion can be
reflected by dress, diet, behavior, and even holiday beliefs. Max Weber, a German sociologist,
is best known for his Protestant work ethic theory. The theory argues that Protestant ethics are
important as these result in hard work, success, and wealth (Cullen & Parboteea.
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Have you ever been confused by the myriad of choices offered by AWS for hosting a website or an API?
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1. ISSN 1466-0814
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN SELF-EMPLOYMENT SUCCESS
Aki Kangasharju* and Sari Pekkala$
August 2001
Abstract
This paper analyses the effect of the education of the self-employed on the
success of their firms during economic downturn and upturn in the 1990s in
Finland. We find that the business cycle affects the relative closure rates of
firms run by the self-employed with any level of education. Exit probability
is lower for the highly educated during bust, but higher in boom. This is
accounted for by two facts. First, running a small firm is argued to be a less
attractive choice to wage work particularly for the highly educated due to
lower earnings prospects, less stable stream of earnings and the cultural
tradition of working in large corporations. Second, the highly educated face
a higher outside demand for their labour than the less educated during
economic upturn. Finally, we find that regardless of the state of the
aggregate economy, firms run by the highly educated have higher growth
probabilities than those run by less educated ones.
Keywords: Education, self-employment, firm growth, exit, selectivity
JEL classification: D21, E32, I29
Acknowledgements: This paper is a part of research project financed by TEKES, the
National Technology Agency in Finland. Detailed comments by three anonymous referees are
gratefully acknowledged.
Address for Correspondence: Aki Kangasharju, Government Institute for Economic
Research, Mameentie 3, 00531 Helsinki, Finland. email: aki.kangasharju@vatt.fi
* Government Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki, Finland and University of Kent at
Canterbury, UK
$ School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland and University of
Kent at Canterbury, UK
2. 1
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN SELF-EMPLOYMENT SUCCESS
1. Introduction
Education is traditionally viewed as an investment for the future. There is abundant evidence
in every-day life and scientific literature for the fact that the acquisition of education improves
the future earnings and overall success of individuals (Angrist and Krueger, 1999). Another
issue, then, is whether this holds in the case of self-selected groups, such as self-employed
persons. They are generally regarded as rather original persons who may have learned their
business skills without too much of formal education. There are numerous studies on various
links between self-employment, education and the success of self-employed (Chandler and
Hanks, 1994; Evans and Leighton, 1990; Holtz-Eakin et al., 2000; Mosakowski, 1993). The
paper adds another feature to this research tradition by scrutinising the effect of the level of
education on the success of firms run by the self-employed in relation to the developments in
the labour market.
We measure the success of these firms (some of which have a few employees) in two ways:
the survival and growth of firm. It is presupposed that the smaller the firm, the more the
manager personifies the internal determinants of its success, since in larger firms it is harder
to point out the effect a single person has on its success. Hence, the most obvious way to
study such personification is to analyse self-employed people and their firms; the self-
employed person is actually the key capability or constraint on resource acquisition (Brown
and Kirchhoff, 1997). The experience, skills and competency are widely regarded as
influencing organisational survival and development (Bates, 1998; Westhead, 1995).
Entrepreneurs provide a variety of tangible and intangible resources to an organisation
(Bloodgood et al. 1996). These include several types of human capital, i.e. general human
3. 2
capital, management know-how, industry specific know-how and ability to acquire financial
capital (Cooper et al., 1994). These resources and assets accumulate throughout their careers
and are accrued largely through education and experience (Kats, 1994). Indeed, several
studies have found that there is a positive relationship between the resource base of firms –
where the owners are in a crucial role – and the probability of venture survival and growth
(Cooper et al., 1994; Chandler and Hanks, 1994; Gimeno et al., 1997; Mosakowski, 1993;
Westhead, 1995).
In general, higher education of self-employed people should improve the growth opportunities
of their firms. This is because higher education improves the ability to comprehend market
prospects, resulting in better exploitation of the demand on the market. This is our first
hypothesis.
Intuitively, one might think that the survival of firms also depends positively on the education
level of the owner-manager, since higher education improves the awareness of the risk levels
in business and adaptability in changing circumstances. It is possible, however that higher
education does not necessarily increase the rate of survival. The argument could be based on
the fact that even though the success of the firm is certainly of importance for the self-
employed, their own labour market success (whether as self-employed or as an employee) is
still more important. In other words, we must separate the success of the owner from that of
the firm. Thus, in certain circumstances the closing of a firm may not be considered a failure,
but it is a result of a better job market offer for the owner. This argument presupposes that
wage work is a more attractive choice than self-employment. If self-employment was more
attractive alternative to wage work in all circumstances, then we would observe higher
survival rates for firms run by highly educated self-employed in every phase of the business
4. 3
cycle. However, if wage work was more attractive, then the survival rate for highly educated
would not necessarily be higher in each phase.
There indeed is some evidence to suggest that self-employment tends to be a less attractive
choice compared to wage work, particularly for the highly educated people. First, highly
educated persons earn more as employees than they would do as self-employed (Lucas, 1978;
Parkkinen, 2000; Uusitalo, 2001; Wilkinson, 1981; You, 1995). This also applies to persons
with mere basic education but the earnings difference is much smaller due to lower average
wage level of employees with basic education. Second, the stream of earnings is less secure as
self-employed than as employee, due to higher inherent risks in operation of small firms
compared to large ones or the public sector (Storey, 1994). Taking the higher risk into
account the income from self-employment should in fact be even higher than that from wage
work, for self-employment to be more attractive than wage work. On the other hand, possible
capital gains from self-employment can contribute to the total earnings from self-
employment. Finally, the cultural tradition plays a role in our case. Finns are traditionally
used to working as employees in large corporations. The firm size distribution is so
dominated by large firms that many instances have called for more small and medium sized
firms in Finland (Kohi, 2001). When these findings are considered together with a recent
labour market trend in which labour demand is more focused on individuals with higher
education in most industrialised countries (Bound and Johnson, 1992; Piekkola, 2001), we
may observe that higher education of self-employed in fact increases the possibility for
closure of their firms. Therefore, our second hypothesis is the following. If general
employment in the economy is improving, more often than those with a lower level of
education, highly educated people may cease operating as self-employed and go to work for
another firm as an employee. If, on the other hand, general employment in the economy is
5. 4
deteriorating, self-employment becomes a more attractive alternative for individuals with any
level of education. In this case firms run by a highly educated self-employed, rather than less
educated, may even have a higher probability of survival, due to the reason explained above.
There is yet another mechanism that causes the observed firm closure rate to be higher for the
highly educated. If the growth of firms run by the highly educated is faster than that run by
the less educated, there is a higher chance that the highly educated start receiving their
earnings as wages instead of entrepreneurial income. This means that they become employees
in the firm they own. This, in turn, results in the disappearance of the individual from the pool
of self-employed of our data, which (artificially) raises the failure rates of highly educated
relative to others. Of course, the same result would apply to the less educated if the growth
probability was higher for them than for the highly educated. However, if relative growth
differences between highly and less educated do not change over different labour market
conditions, then it does not bias the result concerning relative closure rates in bust and boom.
We test the hypotheses stated above analysing the success of self-employed and their firms in
two periods, economic downturn (1990-1992) and the following upturn (1993-1995). These
are excellent periods for our analysis due to strong economic fluctuations. Our data set is a
sample of ‘Labour Employment Statistics’, which contain register data from various official
sources. Results show that, regardless of the general economic conditions, the growth
possibilities of firms increase with higher education of the self-employed owner. In contrast,
the phase of the business cycle tends to affect the relative survival rates of firms run by self-
employed with different levels of education. In economic downturn, a higher level of
education raises the probability of survival, whereas in economic upturn it actually decreases
the probability. We may thus conclude that general labour market conditions determine the
6. 5
likelihood of firms to stay in the markets. Moreover, higher education improves the
performance of firms in the self-selected group of the self-employed (just like it improves the
labour market success of the population in general).
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. In section 2, we discuss the relevant literature. In
section 3, we describe the time periods under investigation, and the aggregate change in
employment and labour market transitions by the level of education. In section 4, we describe
the micro-level data analysed and variables used. In section 5, we present the results and in
section 6 conclude the paper.
2. Determinants of Firm Success
To date, there is no unified theoretical model on firm success. There are, however, several
models that shed light to the issues from various perspectives. Literature surveys are
provided, inter alia, by Bartelsman and Doms (2000), Caves (1998), Sutton (1997 and 1998)
and You (1995). For example, in traditional neoclassical models, the size of firms is
determined by efficiency (Baumol et al., 1982; Panzar, 1989; Viner, 1932). In analyses of
firm size and growth the research question has been whether the growth rate is random
(Gibrat, 1931; Simon and Bonini, 1958; Ijiri and Simon, 1977; Evans, 1987a, 1987b; Dunne
and Hughes, 1994; Dunne et al., 1988). When compared with these models, equal in
importance are also the following: the transaction costs perspective (Coase, 1937); the
industrial economics perspective (Marris, 1966); stage models of business development (Scott
and Bruce, 1987); the model of the firm lifecycle based on learning (Jovanovic, 1982;
Hopenhayn, 1992; Cabral, 1993; Ericson and Pakes, 1995); the strategic management
7. 6
perspective (O’Farrel and Hitchens, 1988); the resource/based view of the firms (Penrose,
1959 and 1995); and the resource/based view of the entrepreneur (Cooper et al., 1994).
This study builds on the resource-based view of firms, where the growth of firms consists of
internal and external resources (Bridge et al. 1998; Cooper, 1993; Davidson, 1991; Gnyawali
and Fogel, 1994; Greene and Brown, 1997; Penrose, 1959). The growth of a firm is motivated
by external opportunities, such as promising demand prospects for the firm's product, and/or
internal inducements, such as a shift to a more efficient utilisation of existing resources of the
firm. On the other hand, external and internal factors may also function as obstacles to
growth.
As far as external success determinants are concerned, demand for the firm’s products is the
major factor. Second, the market actions of competitors, the supply of production factors and
the features of the local business environment are typically external to a small firm. Internal
success determinants include the features of the firm itself, such as the size and age of the
firm, the characteristics of the resources (such as those of the employees and the manager) as
well as the strategic choices of the firm. In particular, various types of capital are crucial.
These types include human, social, physical, financial and organisational capital (Greene and
Brown, 1997; Hart et al., 1997). Studying the relative importance of human versus financial
capital in explaining the survival of firms in the UK, Cressy (1996) finds that access to
financial capital is determined both by learning that takes place within firms and by different
human capital endowments at start-up. There is also evidence to show that human and
financial capital of a principal new firm founder can influence venture performance (Bates,
1998; Cooper et al., 1994).
8. 7
In brief, internal factors determine the success of the firm in the market structured by external
factors. For example, barriers to business survival and development may be internal as well as
external. It is often the case that entrepreneurs blame external events for failures whilst they
highlight internal reasons as being important in case success takes place (Covin and Slevin,
1989).
In this theory context, empirical work has found several factors to determine the success of
firms. To be able to test our hypotheses, i.e. analyse the effect of education, we have to
control for those other determinants. First of all, there is evidence in favour of the firm life-
cycle effect. According to this hypothesis for any given size class of firms, younger firms tend
to have lower survival rates than their older counterparts, whereas the growth rates are higher
particularly for those young firms that do survive (Caves, 1998; Dunne and Hughes, 1994;
Dunne et al., 1989 and 1988; Evans 1987a and 1987b; Geroski, 1995; Mata, 1994; Mata and
Portugal, 1994; Sutton, 1997). Our expectation is that this also applies to our Finnish data.
Secondly, we may expect that the life-cycle effect applies also to the age of the self-employed
people (Kangasharju, 2001). Younger managers are often more highly motivated than older
ones, since they want to test their own abilities. The older ones usually have more realistic
views of their possibilities, and therefore their firms are more likely to have reached the
desired (or sufficient) size than are those run by younger ones. Therefore the hypothesis
suggests that firms run by younger managers tend to have a higher growth probability than
those run by their older counterparts, providing that the firms do survive in the first place. On
the other hand, firms run by older self-employed are more likely to survive, since the need for
risk-taking is lower due to lower motivation for growth, and the possession of higher levels of
9. 8
experience. The exit rate increases, however, after the self-employed reaches the age of 50
years, due to early retirement and age related illnesses.
Thirdly, there is a growing literature on the effects of other characteristics of entrepreneur on
small firm success (Barkham et al., 1996; Storey, 1994; Kivimäki, 1998; Littunen, 1996).
Self-employed people have several characteristics that affect the success of their firms, most
of which are not measurable, however. Storey (1994) provides an extensive survey that
highlights characteristics such as age, gender, the level of education, whether the owner-
manager is also the founder of the firm, and whether he/she has prior managerial experience.
The survey indicates that the most successful entrepreneur is middle-aged, relatively well
educated, has prior managerial experience, and has been running a firm already earlier and is
now running a firm founded jointly with other entrepreneurs. The gender of the owner-
manager does not affect the success of the firm, although men are more likely than women to
set up a firm in the first place (Chell and Baines, 1998; Johansson, 1999). Apart from the
effects of age discussed above, we test below whether there are any gender-differences in our
Finnish data.
As already mentioned, external factors affect the success of firms, too. Differences in the
growth rates of industries result in large differences in inter-industry firm performance. Hence
the industry in which a firm operates plays an important role for its growth and survival
chances (Beesley and Hamilton, 1984; Kangasharju, 2000; Keeble and Walker, 1994).
Actually there is a variety of external factors that determine firm formation and success. Most
important of these factors are local demand growth and the presence of other small firms. The
presence of other firms serves as seedbed for future entrepreneurs as well as a source of
entrepreneurial example, culture and way of life (Reynolds, 1994).
10. 9
Demand and economic growth are obviously very important, too. Aggregate economic
fluctuations inevitably affect the success of firms. The next section describes overall market
fluctuations in Finland during the 1990s.
3. Economic Upturn and Downturn in the 1990s
The present paper argues that aggregate labour market conditions affect the closure rates of
firms run by self-employed with different levels of education. The beginning of the 1990s is
an excellent period to test the validity of such an argument in the Finnish case, due to strong
macro-economic fluctuations. Note that figures presented in this section are aggregate
register-based statistics for the whole population of Finland. In contrast, the following
sections use our sample of self-employed persons obtained from the population census and
the Register of Firms compiled by Statistics Finland. Neither of these data is based on
questionnaires or interviews, and therefore they do not include information on attitudes,
inclinations or other ways of thinking.
The overheating period of the Finnish economy in the late 1980s was followed by a sudden
and severe economic crisis in the early 1990s. GDP dropped altogether by some 10%,
unemployment rose from less than 4% to nearly 17%, property values practically collapsed
and the public sector debt expanded vastly (Honkapohja and Koskela, 1999). The first signs
of recovery emerged in 1993. The average annual growth rate of GDP remained at around 5%
from 1993 to 2000, the rate of unemployment dropped below 10% by the end of the decade
and, currently, the national budget is in surplus.
11. 10
During the recession, employment deteriorated for workers with all levels of education. This
suggests that the self-employed who had been considering whether to transit from self-
employment to wage work, had to postpone their plans (Table 1). In contrast, during the early
recovery, employment of the highly educated improved by some 8% and the employment of
those with intermediate grades by almost 6%, whereas that of the less educated continued to
deteriorate. This suggests that particularly the highly educated had more opportunities to
choose between wage work and self-employment compared to the earlier period.
A brief examination of employment streams reveals that self-employed persons (some of
which may also have employees in their firms) with higher education indeed transited more
often to wage work than did those with less education between 1993 and 1995 (Table 2).
More than 26% of the highly educated self-employed transited from self-employment to wage
work. The difference to the self-employed with lowest level of education is particularly
strong. The transition of the self-employed with the lowest level of education was less than
12%. This implies that the more the general employment improves for a certain educational
group, the larger the fraction of self-employed who transit to the pool of wage workers.
Indeed, despite the increasing demand for the products of their firms, the highly educated
transited to wage work. All this suggests that self-employment is a less attractive choice to
wage work.
To sum up, higher education should decrease the probability of remaining self-employed in
economic upturn, since self-employment is a less attractive choice to wage work and the
employment of the highly educated grows faster than that of others. In contrast, in economic
downturn higher education should increase the probability of remaining self-employed, if
education indeed improves the ability to comprehend market fluctuations. Moreover, there are
12. 11
less alternatives for self-employed in the labour market during recession. These hypotheses
will be tested in the following sections.
4. Data, Variables and the Method of Estimation
We use a sample of rich longitudinal data from 'Labour Employment Statistics' that include
virtually all employed persons in Finland. The present paper investigates a sample of
individuals who have been self-employed either in 1990 or 1993 or both. Some of them may
have had employees. It appears that most of the self-employed in data did work alone,
whereas the largest firm had 10 employees. We concentrate on these small firms since we
want to study personification of the self-employed people in the success of their firms.
These self-employed individuals are followed until 1992 and 1995, respectively. In other
words, the periods of analysis include the years 1990-1992 and 1993-1995. These time
periods match perfectly with distinctive phases of the business cycle of the 1990’s described
above. One limitation, however, is that we do not have information on the location of the self-
employed people. Thus, we cannot take into account possible regional differences in the
phases of the business cycle. An interesting feature of the data at hand is that information on
the sector of the firm and the firm size in terms of the turnover of the firm was also linked
with each self-employed.
Due to data protection laws in Finland, other information than size and sector of firms were
not provided. Hence, firm survival and growth were the only available measures for firm
success, though literature could have suggested additional measures (Cooper, 1993; Cooper et
al., 1994; Storey 1994). Moreover, the firm size information can only be obtained as
13. 12
transitions between the size (or turnover) classes. The use of classified instead of continuous
growth variable causes measurement error into the dependent variable. In other words, for
firms, whose turnover is initially near the lower limit of the group even a high growth may not
result in a rise to a higher turnover class. In contrast, firms, whose turnover is initially near the
upper limit of their turnover group tend to rise to a higher group even with modest actual
growth. Since it is plausible to assume that the observations are evenly distributed within each
turnover class, we may argue that the measurement error does not bias the results. This means
that the estimates obtained should be unbiased but the equation standard error is higher than
in the non-erroneous case. Due to this classification, the present paper investigates whether
various factors affect the growth probability, rather than the actual growth rates of firms.
The variables used in empirical analysis are constructed in the following manner. The firm
exit equation in 1990 (1993) has the dependent variable:
Y1
=
1 if firm operates in 1990 (1993) but ceases operation in 1992 (1995)
0 otherwise
The firm growth equation has the dependent variable:
Y2
=
1 if firm grows in terms of the turnover class in 1990-92 (1993-95)
0 otherwise
Moreover, the probability that a firm grows is conditional on having survived in the first
place: Pr(Y2 = 1 | Y1 = 0). Both equations were estimated using probit-models.
The independent variables are constructed as follows (description of variables in Appendix 2).
The age of owner-managers is classified into four groups, those between 18 and 35 years
(reference group), 35-44, 45-54 and 54-62 years. We recognise the possibility of using the age
variable as continuous. Nevertheless our dummy variable approach is able to capture the same
notion of data as age and age squared could have done. This is the possibility that the effect of
14. 13
age is not linear, but the probability of survival and growth is higher for the “middle aged”
(35-44 and 45-54 year-olds) than for the youngest or oldest group of people in data.
The level of education has three groups. In the first one (reference group) self-employed
people have acquired education for no more than 9 years, in the second they have obtained
education for 10-12 years, and the final group has some amount of higher education, i.e. at
least 13 years of education. These three categories correspond to the three levels of schooling
in Finland.
In our data firms are classified into four sectors: services (reference group), manufacturing,
construction, whole sale and retail trade. Finally, we have information on the age of firms.
Our data only allow us to distinguish between entrants, one-year-olds and incumbents. If firm
does not operate in 1989 but operates in 1990 (or does not operate in 1992 but operates in
1993), it is considered an entrant. If a firm appears in the data a year earlier than the entrants
do, then it is a “one-year-old”. The rest of the firms are older than these and serve as the
reference group in estimations.
We have estimated the growth and exit models with and without selectivity correction.
Selectivity correction is needed since individuals with higher education may also possess
higher innate abilities than those with lower education for reasons other than the education
itself (Chamberlain, 1977; Griliches, 1977). That ability both causes the persons to obtain
more education and improves their success in the business. In other words, education of the
self-employed is, in a sense, an endogenous variable in determining the growth of his/her
firm. Hence the resulting self-selection bias is to be corrected in order to obtain a true effect
of education on the firm success that applies also to population that are not currently self-
15. 14
employed. If the bias is not accounted for, as is the case with most of the relevant firm growth
literature (Storey, 1994; Barkham et al., 1996), we are likely to obtain biased estimates for the
effect of education and other personal characteristics of self-employed people.
The selectivity is taken into account using a version of the Heckman two-step procedure
(Heckman, 1979). At the first stage, the selection equation for ‘being self-employed’ is
estimated. The following selection-equation was used:
Z
=
1 if self-employed
0 otherwise
Since our data include self-employed people only, the first-stage is modelled using another
sample of the ‘Longitudinal population census data’ and ‘Labour Employment Statistics’.
This sample includes, importantly, also employees and persons outside the labour force. We
utilise a one-percent random sample of the population in Finland in 1990 and 1993. The
proportion of self-employed in the sample is around 10% in both years.
Various personal and family characteristics were included in the vector of explanatory
variables in the first-stage models. Results of the first-stage logit-models are presented in
Table 1 in Appendix 1. Using those results, the selectivity correction term (the inverse Mill’s
ratio) was calculated (Table 2 in Appendix 1), merged in the second stage with our first data
for 24 different types of self-employed (4 age groups times 3 educational groups times 2
gender groups), and used as an additional variable in the firm-success equations that are
estimated at the second stage. The basic version of this selection-correction framework is
generally known as the Heckit-procedure (Heckman, 1979; Maddala, 1983; Greene, 1999).
When there is a binomial non-linear model in both stages, the conventional method of
controlling for selectivity is to use the instrumental variable estimator. We do not apply it
here, however, due to the obligation to use two separate data sets.
16. 15
5. Results
Let us start with a summary of the most important findings. Using results reported in Tables 3
and 4, we computed the changes in exit and growth probabilities for firms run by self-
employed with the highest level of education compared to those with less education during
both time periods (Figure 1). Firstly, results show that higher education strongly decreases the
exit probability in the recession period. The exit probability for firms run by owner-managers
with the highest level of education collapses by 11 percentage points when compared to those
run by owner-managers with less education. In the recovery period, the effect is reversed. The
exit probability is increased by 8 percentage points for the highly educated owner-manager.
Secondly, the effect of higher education on growth probability remains positive in both
periods. Compared to the less educated, the growth probability is nearly 5 percentage points
higher for the highly educated in the recession period, and over 6 percentage points higher in
the recovery period. Finally, selectivity alters the effect of education according to the phase of
the business cycle. In recession selectivity decreases the positive effect of education on firm
success. In recovery the effects change: selectivity increases the effect of education on both
the exit and growth probability.
Now, let us turn to discuss the results in a closer detail. We estimated the probit-models for
firm exit probability. The results for the recession period (1990-1992) indicate that a higher
age of self-employed reduces the exit probability of the firm up to the age of 54 years, beyond
which the exit probability does not significantly differ from that of the 35 year-olds and
younger (Table 3). This result accords with our hypothesis that the life-cycle effect applies to
the age of owner-managers. Our results also support the firm life-cycle hypothesis that the
failure probability is higher for young firms. Moreover, females tend to exit more often than
males, a result which is somewhat unexpected. Most interestingly, higher level of education
17. 16
decreases the exit probability, as expected. We also find that firms in manufacturing have the
same exit probability as those in services, whereas firms in construction and those in the
wholesale and retail trade (sales) had a higher exit probability during recession.
We also computed separate marginal effects for those with the highest level of education and
those with a lower level (not shown in Table 3). In the group of the highly educated, the
marginal effects of non-education related variables are smaller in magnitude compared to the
group with lower levels of education. This indicates that a higher level of education not only
decreases the exit probability, but also decreases the effects of non-education variables.
Though the selectivity parameter (lambda) is not statistically significant, it does affect the
marginal effects to some extent. First, selectivity correction turns the age and gender variables
insignificant. The same happens to the manufacturing variable. Secondly, the correction
decreases the level of significance of higher education variable. Moreover, the correction
slightly increases the effect of education on exit probability. This implies that once we
account for the fact that the self-employed differ from the general population, higher
education by itself has a smaller effect on exit probability. Note, however, the rather low level
of significance.
In contrast, selectivity does not affect the results during the recovery period (1993-1995). The
results for the latter period are very distinct from those for the recession period in two main
respects (Table 3). First, in the latter period the oldest group of self-employed are, in a
statistically significant manner, more likely to exit than the youngest ones, and the firms in
the manufacturing sector have higher exit probabilities than those in the service sector.
Second, a more important change in the results concerns the effects of the level of education
18. 17
on exit probability. In the former period the effect of higher education on exit probability was
negative (and significant only at the 10 percent level), whereas in the latter period having
more education leads to a higher exit probability. This result supports our hypothesis that, in
an economic recovery, the labour market improves more for those with higher education
leading to higher exit probability, as self-employment is an inferior choice to wage work.
The growth equations only include the firms that survived the two-year period in question
(Table 4), i.e. growth is conditional on having survived. According to the results of the
recession period, the negative effect of owner-manager’s age becomes stronger the older the
age group in question. Selectivity correction reveals that, in fact, only the oldest age group of
owner-managers have a significantly lower growth probability than the youngest group. A
higher age of the firm decreases the growth probability, just as it decreased the exit
probability. In contrast, there are no differences in the growth probabilities between sectors,
whereas there were differences in the exit probabilities.
The effect of education is positive without selectivity correction, but turns to be insignificant
when selectivity is taken into account. This result suggests that without selectivity correction
the education variable absorbs the effect of ability on the success of firms. The corrected
estimates reveal, however, that higher education of the owner-manager alone did not help the
firm to grow in recession.
When the marginal effects are split according to the level of education, we find that each
variable has a higher marginal effect in the high education group, indicating that a higher
level of education not only improves the growth probability, but also strengthens the effects
of other, non-education related variables (not shown in table).
19. 18
Generally speaking, selectivity alters the levels of significance and signs of variables clearly
less during the recovery than in recession period, a result which also applied to exit
probabilities. This suggests that small business owner-managers differed more from general
population at the beginning of the recession than later (Appendix 1). This is either due to the
fact that the most ‘original’ self-employed exited the market during the recession and entered
the pool of ‘other population’, which balanced these two groups. The other explanation
(perhaps less plausible) is that the recession changed characteristics of the population to better
reflect those of small business owner-managers.
There is a marked difference in the growth dynamics between the recovery and the recession
periods (Table 4). Firstly, firms run by females are less likely to grow in the latter period (the
effect was not statistically significant in the former period). Secondly, firms in the
manufacturing, construction and sales sectors are more likely to grow than those in other
service sectors (again, no differences were found in the former period). Finally and most
importantly, the effect of higher education on firm growth turns positive in the latter period.
This supports our hypothesis that, among the firms that do survive, owner-managers with
higher education have a better ability to comprehend market opportunities in economic
upturn. Somewhat surprising is that the selection correction does not decrease, but increases
the effect of education on growth in economic upturn. This implies that, when compared with
general population, the type of ability, which makes owner-managers acquire more education,
is negatively related to growth probability of firms.
20. 19
6. Conclusion
This paper analysed the effect of education on the success of firms in an economic downturn
and the following upturn. We find that the general labour market conditions greatly affect the
relative closure rates of small firms run both by highly and less educated self-employed, some
of which had employees. The main result is that the exit probability is lower for the firms run
by highly educated in the economic downturn, whereas it is higher in the economic upturn.
This result is mainly accounted for by two facts. First, self-employment is a less attractive
choice particularly for the highly educated due to lower earnings prospects, less secure stream
of earnings and the cultural tradition of working in large corporations. Second, the different
behaviour of highly and less educated magnifies in booms, as the highly educated face higher
external demand for their labour than do the less educated. In the economic recovery of
1990’s in Finland this feature was particularly strong, since the period was accompanied by
strong economic restructuring, speeded up by the previous depression, joining to the
European Union, deepening globalisation and continuing technical progress. As a note for
future research, it would be interesting to see whether or not the result obtained here also
applies to other countries with similar socio-economic structure and business culture.
In addition, our findings indicate that firms run by the highly educated self-employed have
higher growth probabilities than those run by the less educated ones, regardless of the market
situation.
Empirical evidence has shown that the proportion of self-employment is much lower in
Finland than that in most other European countries and the USA (Kanniainen, 1998; Kohi,
2001; OECD, 1998). Moreover, a recent international survey showed that only one in 67
persons is considering the possibility of starting a firm (Autio et al., 1999). Instead, Finns are
21. 20
historically used to working as employees in large corporations. The current policy regime, on
the other hand, is in favour of encouraging self-employment, with fancy sounding
programmes such as “1995-2005 - The decade of entrepreneurship”. If indeed the aim is to
raise the level of self-employment in Finland to a more international level, the results
presented here show that there is a certain need to improve the earnings possibilities of the
self-employed. One measure for improving the earnings possibilities of the self-employed
would be to decrease the level of taxation in small firms. This would help preserving the self-
employment of those already running a firm and maybe even encourage the formation of
further new firms.
22. 21
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27. 26
Table 1
Change in Employment by the Level of Education
Level of education 1990-1992 1993-1995
Low -19.8% -4.5%
Intermediate -12.8% 5.6%
High -0.9% 7.9%
Notes:
Low = 9 years of education or less
Intermediate = 10-12 years of education
High = 13 years of education or more
Table 2
Number of Self-employed in 1993 (aged 19-64) by Level of Education
and Labour Market Status in 1995
Self-employed in 1993 Labour market status in 1995
Level of education: Number: Wage work Unemployed Self-employed
Out of
labour force
Age 65+ or
emigrated
Low 125151 11.8% 17.3% 58.7% 10.4% 1.8%
Intermediate 150682 20.9% 17.3% 53.1% 7.7% 1.0%
High 31462 26.2% 10.5% 56.0% 5.3% 1.9%
28. 27
Table 3
Marginal Effects for the Exit Model 1990-1992 and 1993-1995
No selectivity correction With selectivity correction
Sample period: 1990-1992 1993-1995 1990-1992 1993-1995
Constant -0.213*** -0.223*** -0.226*** -0.271***
Age (18-34)
Age 35-44 -0.063*** -0.057*** -0.072 -0.055***
Age 45-54 -0.071*** -0.085*** -0.082 -0.083***
Age 54-62 -0.004 0.025** -0.010 0.029**
Gender (male)
Female 0.039*** 0.032*** 0.032 0.032**
Level of education (Low)
Intermediate -0.031*** -0.013* -0.030*** -0.014*
High -0.113*** 0.077*** -0.102* 0.079***
Sector (services)
Manufacturing 0.017*** 0.026** 0.017 0.026**
Construction 0.066*** 0.055*** 0.066*** 0.055***
Sales 0.041*** 0.063*** 0.040*** 0.062***
Age of firm (> 1 year)
Entrant 0.145*** 0.101*** 0.145*** 0.101***
1 year 0.100*** 0.058*** 0.100*** 0.058***
Selectivity parameter:
Lambda 0.078 0.026
Number of observations 6178 13808 6178 13808
Notes:
1. Reference groups of variables are given in parentheses.
2. * denotes significance at the 10% level, ** denotes significance at the 5 % level and ***
denotes significance at the 1 % level.
29. 28
Table 4
Marginal Effects for the Growth Model 1990-1992 and 1993-1995
No selectivity correction With selectivity correction
Sample period: 1990-1992 1993-1995 1990-1992 1993-1995
Constant -0.153*** -0.197*** -0.142*** -0.309***
Age (18-34)
Age 35-44 -0.016* -0.009 -0.019 -0.005
Age 45-54 -0.026** -0.024*** -0.017 -0.018*
Age 54-62 -0.047*** -0.063*** -0.042* -0.052***
Gender (male)
Female -0.000 -0.085*** 0.005 -0.085***
Level of education (Low)
Intermediate 0.003 -0.001 0.003 -0.002
High 0.048*** 0.061*** 0.039 0.066***
Sector (services)
Manufacturing 0.005 0.061*** 0.005 0.061***
Construction -0.027 0.053*** -0.027 0.053***
Sales 0.006 0.018** 0.006 0.018**
Age of firm (> 1 year)
Entrant 0.080*** 0.126*** 0.079*** 0.137***
1 year 0.026** 0.070*** 0.025** 0.070***
Selectivity parameter:
Lambda 0.065 0.061
Number of observations 4972 11253 4972 11253
Notes:
1. Reference groups of variables are given in parentheses.
2. * denotes significance at the 10% level, ** denotes significance at the 5 % level and ***
denotes significance at the 1 % level.
30. 29
Figure 1
Effect of Higher Education on Exit and Growth of Firms
-15 %
-10 %
-5 %
0 %
5 %
10 %
Exit eq. 1990-1992 Exit eq. 1993-1995 Growth eq. 1990-1992 Growth eq. 1993-1995
No selectivity correction
Selectivity correction
31. 30
APPENDIX 1
Table A1
First Stage of Selectivity Correction Framework: Logit Model for ‘Being an
Entrepreneur in 1990 and 1993’
1990 1993
Coefficient p-value Coefficient p-value
Constant -2.872 0.000 -2.132 0.000
Female -0.541 0.000 -0.628 0.000
Age under 35 (reference)
Age 35-44 0.508 0.000 0.255 0.000
Age 45-54 0.752 0.000 0.354 0.000
Age 55+ 0.543 0.000 -0.075 0.338
Basic education or less (reference)
Secondary education -0.070 0.097 -0.259 0.000
Higher education -0.757 0.000 -0.974 0.000
Married 0.476 0.000 0.457 0.000
Size of family 0.166 0.000 0.205 0.000
Lives in Uusimaa -0.532 0.000 -0.839 0.000
Regional unemployment rate 0.023 0.009 -0.011 0.070
Unemployment duration -0.424 0.000 -0.377 0.000
Number of observations 28408 27918
Log likelihood -8786.4 -8147.3
Significance level 0.000 0.000
Table A2
Mean Values of Selectivity Parameter for Different Groups in 1990 and 1993
1990 1993
Education level: Education level:
Group Basic or less Secondary Higher Basic or less Secondary Higher
Men:
Under 35 -0.223 -0.216 -0.125 1.845 1.863 1.533
35-44 -0.367 -0.356 -0.221 1.831 1.772 1.750
45-54 -0.411 -0.399 -0.250 1.682 1.762 1.760
55+ -0.351 -0.359 -0.188 1.710 1.689 1.419
Women:
Under 35 -0.177 -0.164 -0.110 1.902 1.854 1.750
35-44 -0.277 -0.262 -0.148 1.757 1.781 1.764
45-54 -0.300 -0.291 -0.143 1.755 1.711 1.756
55+ -0.227 -0.238 -0.114 1.628 1.843 1.498
Self-employed
averages
-0.326 -0.281 -0.180 1.739 1.794 1.684
Population
averages
1.456 1.623 1.904 1.744 1.761 1.778
32. 31
APPENDIX 2
Table A3
Description of Endogenous and Exogenous Variables
Variable Description Mean; SD
Endogenous variables
Survival of firm, 1990-1992 Self-employed and firm appear in data
both 1990 and 1992
=1 if survives from 1990 until 1992 0.195; 0.396
Survival of firm, 1993-1995 Self-employed and firm appear in data
both 1993 and 1995
=1 if survives from 1990 until 1992 0.189; 0.388
Growth of firm, 1990-1992 Firm’s turnover class rises between
1990 and 1992
=1 if grows in terms of turnover class 0.071; 0.257
Growth of firm, 1993-1995 Firm’s turnover class rises between
1993 and 1995
=1 if grows in terms of turnover class 0.138; 0.343
Exogenous variables
Age of self-employed:
Age (18-34), 1990 Age of self-employed in 1990 =1 if age between 18 and 34 0.180; 0.384
Age (18-34), 1993 Age of self-employed in 1993 =1 if age between 18 and 34 0.209; 0.406
Age (35-44), 1990 Age of self-employed in 1990 =1 if age between 35 and 44 0.388; 0.487
Age (35-44), 1993 Age of self-employed in 1993 =1 if age between 35 and 44 0.353; 0.478
Age (45-54), 1990 Age of self-employed in 1990 =1 if age between 45 and 54 0.278; 0.457
Age (45-54), 1993 Age of self-employed in 1993 =1 if age between 45 and 54 0.319; 0.466
Age (55-62), 1990 Age of self-employed in 1990 =1 if age between 55 and 62 0.135; 0.341
Age (55-62), 1993 Age of self-employed in 1993 =1 if age between 55 and 62 0.119; 0.324
Gender:
Female, 1990 Female self-employed in 1990 =1 if female 0.361; 0.480
Female, 1993 Female self-employed in 1993 =1 if female 0.333; 0.471
Level of education:
Low, 1990 Years of education in 1990 =1 if less than 10 years of education 0.480; 0.500
Low, 1993 Years of education in 1993 =1 if less than 10 years of education 0.340; 0.490
Medium, 1990 Years of education in 1990 =1 if 10-12 years of education 0.463; 0.499
Medium, 1993 Years of education in 1993 =1 if 10-12 years of education 0.507; 0.500
High, 1990 Years of education, 1990 =1 if at least 13 years of education 0.057; 0.232
High, 1993 Years of education, 1993 =1 if at least 13 years of education 0.093; 0.291
Sector of firm:
Services, 1990 Firm in services sector in 1990 =1 if services 0.247; 0.431
Services, 1993 Firm in services sector in 1993 =1 if services 0.555; 0.497
Manufacturing, 1990 Firm in manufacturing sector in 1990 =1 if manufacturing 0.212; 0.409
Manufacturing, 1993 Firm in manufacturing sector in 1993 =1 if manufacturing 0.097; 0.296
Construction, 1990 Firm in construction sector in 1990 =1 if construction 0.062; 0.241
Construction, 1993 Firm in construction sector in 1993 =1 if construction 0.130; 0.337
Sales, 1990 Firm in wholesale/retail trade in 1990 =1 if sales 0.476; 0.499
Sales, 1993 Firm in wholesale/retail trade in 1993 =1 if sales 0.217; 0.412
Age of firm:
Entrant, 1990 Firm appears in data first time in 1990 =1 if entrant 0.050; 0.218
Entrant, 1993 Firm appears in data first time in 1993 =1 if entrant 0.058; 0.233
1 year, 1990 1990 is second year for firm in data =1 if one-year-old 0.084; 0.277
1 year, 1993 1993 is second year for firm in data =1 if one-year-old 0.063; 0.243
Incumbent, 1990 Firm is older than 1 year old in 1990 =1 if incumbent 0.840; 0.367
Incumbent, 1993 Firm is older than 1 year old in 1993 =1 if incumbent 0.838; 0.368