IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v22y1990i7p875-892.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job Quality in Small Businesses: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Firms in Dorset

Author

Listed:
  • R A Blackburn

    (Small Business Research Unit, Kingston Polytechnic, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7LB, England)

Abstract

Studies of employment change have reported with varying emphasis, the superior job-generation performance of small compared with large firms. One deficiency in this area of research, however, is on the attributes of jobs in small firms and this has led to much speculation. Therefore, evidence is examined from a survey of 106 independent electrical and electronic engineering firms in Dorset (Class 33 and 34, 1980 Standard Industrial Classification). The job characteristics investigated include: their skill and gender composition; the full-time and part-time status of staff; the stability of the jobs they provide; their type of wage payment; and the incidence of training provision. A labour-market-segmentation framework is used to emphasise the importance of products, processes, and markets and to displace the notion of size as the prime causal factor in job quality. The central theme is that any stereotypical view of employment conditions in small businesses is misconceived.

Suggested Citation

  • R A Blackburn, 1990. "Job Quality in Small Businesses: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Firms in Dorset," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 22(7), pages 875-892, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:22:y:1990:i:7:p:875-892
    DOI: 10.1068/a220875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a220875
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a220875?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Solinas, Giovanni, 1982. "Labour Market Segmentation and Workers' Careers: The Case of the Italian Knitwear Industry," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 6(4), pages 331-352, December.
    2. Berger,Suzanne & Piore,Michael J., 1980. "Dualism and Discontinuity in Industrial Societies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521231343, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Swaminathan, M., 1991. "Understanding the "Informal Sector": A Survey," Research Paper 95, World Institute for Development Economics Research.
    2. P Cooke & A da Rosa Pires, 1985. "Productive Decentralisation in Three European Regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 17(4), pages 527-554, April.
    3. Jacqueline O'Reilly, 1992. "Where do You Draw the Line? Functional Flexibility, Training & Skill in Britain & France," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 6(3), pages 369-396, September.
    4. Mark Thomas & Luc Vallée, 1996. "Labour market segmentation in Cameroonian manufacturing," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 876-898.
    5. Paul David & Dominique Foray & Jean-Michel Dalle, 1998. "Marshallian Externalities And The Emergence And Spatial Stability Of Technological Enclaves," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2-3), pages 147-182.
    6. Hie Joo Ahn & Bart Hobijn & Ayşegül Şahin, 2023. "The Dual U.S. Labor Market Uncovered," NBER Working Papers 31241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Arnaldo Camuffo, 2002. "The Changing Nature of Internal Labor Markets," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(4), pages 281-294, December.
    8. Lay, Jann & Wiebelt, Manfred, 2001. "Towards a dual education system - a labour market perspective on poverty reduction in Bolivia," Kiel Working Papers 1073, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. David Kettler & Volker Meja, 1989. "Social Progress After the Age of Progressivism: The End of Trade Unionism in the West," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_17, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. Luis Armando Galvis A., 2012. "Informalidad laboral en las áreas urbanas de Colombia," Coyuntura Económica, Fedesarrollo, June.
    11. Jamie Gough, 1986. "The purpose of local industrial policy," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 1(2), pages 69-76.
    12. M J Taylor & N J Thrift, 1982. "Industrial Linkage and the Segmented Economy: 1. Some Theoretical Proposals," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 14(12), pages 1601-1613, December.
    13. Wojan, Timothy R., 1998. "Rural Employment Growth In The 'New Economy': A Test Of The Spatial Division Of Labor Hypothesis," 1998 Annual meeting, August 2-5, Salt Lake City, UT 21023, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Hancké, Bob, 1999. "Revisiting the French model: coordination and restructuring in French industry in the 1980s," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economic Change and Employment FS I 99-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    15. Nadvi K., 1992. "Flexible specialisation, industrial districts and employment in Pakistan," ILO Working Papers 992888723402676, International Labour Organization.
    16. Camille Signoretto & Julie Valentin, 2019. "Individual dismissals for personal and economic reasons in French firms: One or two models?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 241-265, October.
    17. Ana Moreno-Monroy, 2012. "Critical Commentary. Informality in Space: Understanding Agglomeration Economies during Economic Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(10), pages 2019-2030, August.
    18. Arthur Corazza, 2020. "Power, interest and insecurity: A comparative analysis of workplace dualization and inclusion in Europe," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 153, European Institute, LSE.
    19. Christian Pfeifer, 2009. "Fixed‐term Contracts and Employment Adjustment: An Empirical Test of the Core–Periphery Hypothesis Using German Establishment Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(268), pages 92-107, March.
    20. Hancké, Bob, 1997. "Modernisation without flexible specialisation: how large firm restructuring and government regional policies became the step-parents of autarchic regional production systems in France," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economic Change and Employment FS I 97-304, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:22:y:1990:i:7:p:875-892. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.