Innovative Labor Research Articles

Right to Work: Challenges of Experimental Legal Regimes

The right to work, being a fundamental right of any person, acquires special significance in the context of the introduction of digital technologies, and, above all, the implementation of experimental legal regimes. Experimental legal regimes that involve the use of a simplified approach to the legal regulation of certain social relations are associated with a number of theoretical and practical problems in the implementation of the right to work. As part of the study, in order to find a solution to these problems, the basic characteristics of innovative specialties and professions were identified. This allowed the author to formulate a definition of the concepts “innovative specialty” and “innovative profession”. Based on conceptual approaches to the legal regulation of relations within the framework of experimental legal regimes, the article proposes to use an imperative method of regulating relations for the employee to perform an innovative labor function within the framework of the employer’s activities on the basis of these legal regimes. Certain directions for improving regulatory legal and other acts in the field of standardization of professional activities of workers performing an innovative labor function are proposed.

The SMart cooperative model and scale-up experience: spreading social innovation in the cultural field across Europe

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how, in a context of economic, political, social and environmental transitions, SMart, a cultural and artistic social enterprise (CASE), has developed a relevant cooperative model to contribute to mitigate the structural labour precariousness of artists and creators.Design/methodology/approachThe research design includes a mixed-method approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies with emphasis on the former. Namely, the organisation is SMartbe and its replication across nine European countries was studied as a revelatory case study. Five main types of techniques were deployed in the course of this research, including desk review, direct (participant) observation, interviews, focus group and questionnaire (Likert-scale survey).FindingsCASEs constitute a specific institutional arrangement that offers innovative labour arrangements for cultural workers and artists to fight against precariousness. Social enterprises are embedded in the social and solidarity economy and stand at the crossroads of markets, civil society and the public, which places them in a critical position: depending on the logic, actors and contexts at play, social enterprises can ensure to varying degrees the general interest through their social mission, their sustainability via the real participation of all their stakeholders and the carrying out of economic activities that are fully consistent with their mission.Originality/valueIt is within this type of sustainability and participation that transformative social innovation can emerge within CASEs. Their potential to contribute to transformative social innovation is based on its four objectives: cultural (to imagine human, participative and sustainable alternatives); social (to achieve a social –including the environment – mission and join the ecosocial transition); participatory (empowering and impacting the public sphere); and economic (being financially sustainable and fair).

Innovative Labor Management System for Sustainable Agriculture

Innovative Labor Management System for Sustainable Agriculture

Global Financialization and Local Labour Acquisition in China's Platform Economy

Abstract The emergence of digital platforms has been viewed in scholarly narratives as a “technological fix” of global capital, to use Beverly Silver's classic term. That is, capital continues to devise innovative strategies to restructure the labour process and avoid employer legal liabilities. This study reveals an important but somewhat overlooked “financial fix” aspect of the platform economy. Through a case study of a Chinese food delivery platform, the author shows that global speculative capital and its cash-burning games have generated a form of market-value fetishism in this sector. In response, platform companies have devised innovative labour acquisition strategies to expand their market share that have profoundly shaped the work and employment dynamics within the sector. In particular, the platform companies engaged in a subsidy rivalry with their competitors in order to attract crowdsourcing/gig workers for their regular services and at the same time established a highly structured subcontracting system to secure a more reliable and committed workforce to target the relatively high-end consumer market. The author argues that the interaction between global financialization and local capital's strategic choices accounts for the peculiar structure and employment dynamics in the Chinese platform economy.

WHO Labour Care Guide: New Generation Partograph

WHO Labour Care Guide (LCG) aims to provide evidence-based, good quality and respectful maternity care during intrapartum period, regardless of the setting or available resources. On contrary to the conventional partograph, LCG is an innovative labour monitoring-to-decision tool which provides monitoring of labour progress and timely reminders on required interventions. Various available sections of LCG also facilitates early identification of potential complications and timely referral if required. The present manuscript provides a comprehensive insight on WHO LCG – its relevance, various sections and need for implementation in present scenario.

Coaching Leadership in Small Scale Normalized Living

Our human resources policy not only seeks to anticipate current developments but also wishes to play a pioneering role. This starts with a strong vision in which employees are partners in the organization of care and not mere suppliers of care. Where giving and taking responsibility, open communication and autonomy in connection are realized (and not hollow concepts). This also means that we are a flat organization where there are few or no hierarchical structures. The demand from employees for more collaboration, a different model of leadership, the convergence of responsibilities and authority was a clear message for us to tackle the organization thoroughly. A good organization is crucial for a company to function well. This includes having competent employees, sufficient finances and adequate equipment.
 Innovative labor organization
 According to the IAO (Innovative Labor Organization) method, we want to examine in each of the four residential care centers how we can come to a team that has sufficient regulatory capacity to
 
 work autonomously with responsible employees;
 ensure the quality care that we use in our vision;
 have sufficient manageability and flexibility for this;
 create more innovative capacity;
 with sufficient participation;
 in mutual cooperation.
 
 Step by step we discovered that the IAO fits seamlessly with the operating principles of Small Scale Normalized Living. From our strong belief in the power of the capacities and competencies of employees and the continuous will to invest in employees, the step to this new organizational model is a logical next step. An obvious choice that also led to confrontations: how do we distribute tasks and responsibilities in the organization today? Do we really give employees the necessary autonomy that they need? Do we let employees shine sufficiently in all their potential? Do we involve them in those processes in which they need to be involved? Which sub-processes run centrally or decentralized?
 With a critical eye and the constant desire to improve, we laid the foundation for the care model of the future.

Unraveling Informality and Precarity: New Labor Law Strategies for the Global Reproduction Network of Cross-Border Surrogacy.

This paper provides an analysis of the complex global reproduction networks driving the rapidly expanding cross-border surrogacy industry in Asia's reproductive bioeconomy. It sheds light on the unique features of informal surrogacy networks, notable for their flexible business ties and non-standardized surrogate mother recruitment. These factors contribute to heightened vulnerability for surrogate mothers operating within these networks. While previous literature has underscored the merits of labor law in regulating the surrogacy industry, its application in informal cross-border surrogacy remains under-examined. To address this gap, this research delves into innovative labor law strategies with potential to better regulate the surrogacy sector. Drawing inspiration from progressive labor regulations and supply chain strategies in Bulgaria and Australia, the proposed model aims to redefine the traditional employment relationship. This shift is aimed at bolstering protection for surrogate mothers and enforcing accountability throughout the surrogacy business network. The model further advocates for a collective framework that fosters collaboration and mandates the documentation and registration of surrogacy contracts. Moreover, it underscores the critical significance of international collaboration in bridging regulatory gaps and distributing accountability across consumer and supply states.

Nulliparous Women's Expectations and Experiences of Early Labor.

To describe the expectations of early labor by nulliparous pregnant women in their third trimester and first-time mothers' experiences of early labor after they had given birth. A descriptive qualitative approach involving semi-structured, video-call interviews conducted between September 2020 and April 2021. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Twenty-two women took part in this study. Only 3 of the 10 nulliparous pregnant participants reported pain as an expected symptom of early labor. There were two themes identified from interviews with pregnant participants: Desire to stay at home in early labor and Lack of knowledge and two themes from interviews from postpartum participants: Expectations didn't match experiences and Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty during early labor . Nulliparous women lack knowledge of and skills to effectively cope with pain during early labor while at home. There is a need for an innovative labor support program for childbearing women to remain safely at home in early labor.

The Practice of Labor Education and Training for New Financial and Economic Talents in the Context of the New Era—A Case Study on Innovative Labor Education Courses

The Practice of Labor Education and Training for New Financial and Economic Talents in the Context of the New Era—A Case Study on Innovative Labor Education Courses

The interplay between volunteers and firm’s employees in distributed innovation: emergent architectures and stigmergy in open source software

AbstractThis paper focuses on the interplay between firms and open and collaborative innovation communities. We develop a formal model where both volunteers (agents setting their agendas freely) and firm’s employees (agents whose agenda is mostly set by their employer) participate in the creation of a common artifact. In this framework, we discuss how firms can influence the architecture of the emerging product to assure fast and performant development and a desirable distribution of innovative labor within the project team. We find that closing the project only to employees implies high speed and performance if employees are given autonomy in certain dimensions and are directed in others. In this case, however, we observe a trade-off in terms of ideal core–periphery division of labor on one side and development speed and performance on the other side. At the opposite extreme, creating a volunteer-only project can ease the trade-off but assures positive results only if the firm is able to set up an entry mechanism that “surgically” selects volunteers with specific preferences. A mixture of both employees and volunteers can strike a good balance, relaxing the two constraints.

Market Entry, Capability Development, and Innovation: External Technology and Complementary Assets

Should firms reconfigure their complementary assets to capture value from innovation? And, if so, which firms stand to gain most from altering complementary assets? Combining fine-grained data from the Division of Innovative Labor Survey with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office data, we study innovator firms’ strategic choices in three distinct categories of complementary assets: equipment and employee skills, sales and distribution, and trademarks. We correlate changes in specific complementary assets with market entry, external sourcing, and innovation outcome. The results suggest that when entrants commercialize external technology, they are more likely to reconfigure their complementary assets and, in turn, have better innovation outcomes. The relationship is more robust for younger firms.

Organisation of the innovative labour and the innovation process at the modern European enterprise

The innovative work of managerial specialists includes the organisation of the labour resilience of workers. The aim of this article is theoretical substantiation of the approach to the organisation of the innovative labour and innovation process at the modern European enterprise. Methods used in this research: morphological analysis, comparative analysis of literature sources, logical generalisation, analysis and synthesis. New interpretation of the essence of the category "organisation of the innovative labour of managerial specialists" is proposed in this article. The classification of stages and steps of the innovative labour and innovation process has been improved in presented research. The approach to the organisation of the innovative labour and innovation process at the enterprise in modern conditions has been substantiated, in particular, the content of individual stages of the innovation process. The sequence of choosing a model for organising the innovation process is determined. It has been substantiated that under the influence of high uncertainty of the environment, it is necessary to use linear form and linear feedback form of the organisation of the innovation process.

Research on the impact mechanism of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity from the perspective of innovative human capital.

Green total factor productivity (GTFP) improvement is an important way to achieve sustainable development, and how to improve GTFP has become the focus of attention of governments and scholars. This paper constructs a GTFP evaluation index system to characterize social, economic, ecological, cultural, and politically sustainable development, and analyzes the impact of environmental regulations on GTFP in the context of increasing innovative labor force. The results of the study are as follows: Firstly, China's GTFP continues to improve, with a decrease in low-value provinces and an increase in high-value provinces; there is an agglomeration effect of GTFP in the eastern and western regions. Secondly, under the role of innovative human capital, the threshold effect of China and the eastern and western regions is significantly positive in the first stage and insignificant in the second stage. The threshold effect of the central region is not significant in the first stage, but significantly negative in the second stage (- 11.650); the effect of environmental regulation in the eastern region is the strongest. Thirdly, the control variables in the upper period GTFP, national and eastern R&D investment, level of foreign openness, local fiscal expenditure, central and western information construction, western tertiary industry development, urbanization, foreign direct investment, level of foreign openness, and local fiscal expenditure can increase GTFP. In this regard, the government should adhere to innovative talent cultivation and investment in science and technology to build a talent ecological environment for regional sustainable development, adjust environmental regulations in time to meet the demand for sustainable development to realize the GTFP regional linkage enhancement.

Инициация внедрения инновационных цифровых инструментов в деятельность муниципальных организаций

Digital labor tools effectively penetrate into the sphere of public administration, in particular, into the activities of local governments in 2022. There have been found such negative factors as technical and technological contradictions, an increase in the duration of user training, organizational opposition to innovation, which is stipulated by the lack of a single technology for the introduction of innovative digital labor tools adapted to the specifics of municipal organizations. The technology of initiating the innovative digital tools in the activities of local governments is being developed. The initiation process is considered as the first phase of the technological model of using the innovative digital tools in the local governments and is a set of stages that combine activities that precede the material embodiment of an innovative labor tool. The main factors influencing the initiation of an innovative digital tool have been identified; the analysis of processes for structuring the reasons for implementation was carried out; the basic criteria for the effectiveness of the implementation of digital innovative implementation of an innovative digital tool are determined. A complex model of the phase of initiation of the introduction of an innovative digital tool into the activities of a local government has been developed. Within the framework of the developed model, this process is divided into stages: realization of the need for an innovative tool, characterization of the problem, identification of the admissibility of alternatives, determination of the purpose of implementation, determination of implementation criteria. For each stage, the content, universal aspects of the process, characteristic of local governments, are indicated. It is noted that the results of the study can be widely applied in the framework of providing a structural approach for the practical informatization of the activities of local government personnel, as well as for developing the new digital tools.

Sitting on the Fence: Integrating the two worlds of scientific discovery and invention within the firm

Applying a within-firm perspective to the topic of the division of innovative labor, I explore the organization of scientific discovery at the firm level — specialized or integrated with invention. Using data on inventors and authors related to U.S. publicly-traded science-performing firms for the period 1980–2015, the paper deepens our understanding of the determinants and the tradeoffs associated with the strategic choice of scientific discovery organization. I show that integration is related to a tradeoff between short-term applied R&D and long-term fundamental R&D; while integration is beneficial for invention, it has adverse effects on its scientific output, which decrease invention in the long run. The negative relationship between integration and publication reduces the direct increase in patents due to integration by approximately 90%. To better understand firms’ R&D organizational choice, I present internal and external factors that have implications on the benefits and costs associated with integration: reliance on science, stage of technology, external market for technology, and R&D spillins. Finally, I present consistent implications in terms of market value and show that value creation is related to organizational structure.

Science and the Market for Technology

Well-functioning markets for technology (MFT) allow inventors to sell their inventions to others that may derive more value from them. We argue that the growing use of science in inventions enhances MFT. Science-based inventions have higher gains from trade and lower transaction costs. This relationship is amplified in equilibrium because science-based inventions are also likely to feature smaller inventors with a greater propensity to trade. Using large-scale data, we show that patents citing science are more likely to be traded, especially for novel patents and for smaller inventors. We conclude that the growing use of science in invention is beneficial by encouraging the expansion of MFT and supporting a division of innovative labor. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Концептуально-методологічний підхід до організаційно-економічного забезпечення інноваційної праці

The current difficult situation in the sphere of innovative labor in Ukraine causes the need for further development and deepening of research on the state of the organizational-economic provision for innovation activity and innovative labor. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the conceptual-methodological approach to the organizational and economic foundations of the provision for innovative labor. It is determined that innovation activity and innovative labor can be considered in modern conditions only in combination and represent altogether an innovative component of enterprise. To ensure the most effective management of innovations at the enterprise, conceptual provisions are developed on the organizational-economic principles of ensuring innovative labor, which are based on an integrated approach that is an integration of the process, functional, system, situational and strategic management approaches. It is concluded that the organizational-economic provision of innovative labor should take into account both the generalization of the theoretical foundations of organizational-economic provision in modern conditions, as well as the substantiation of its elements and relationships according to individual management subsystems, which must be presented in the form of a mechanism. The conceptual-methodological approach to the organizational and economic provision of innovative labor is formed, the methodological basis of which is the provisions of the modern theory of organizations, the humanistic concept of management together with the innovative paradigm and which is based on the system approach. The subjects of organizational-economic provision are innovative labor and innovative component of the enterprise. And the objects, respectively, are special requirements, as result of the transformation of which (in the process of innovation activity) an aggregate of rules and norms, tools and levers of their interaction is formed, aimed at achieving the efficiency of innovative labor.

Науково-методичний підхід до управління інноваційною працею на підприємстві

The purpose of the study is to substantiate the scientific and methodological approach to the management of innovative labor in the enterprise. Innovative labor as a component of innovation activity is considered as one of the important prerequisites for ensuring economic growth and obtaining competitive advantages. The methodology of management of innovative labor as a dynamic component is proposed to be considered on the basis of an integrated approach. The theoretical basis of enterprise management, focused on innovation, is based on a modern understanding of the essence of innovation labor management as a system that requires the substantiation of the principles and functions of management based on an understanding of the new nature of innovative labor and the features of the modern stage of economic system development. The relationship between the stages of the life cycle and the types of organizational structures that can most effectively provide labor at these stages are substantiated. It should be noted that at such stages as scientific research, design developments, and the acquisition of innovations – the best, preferred organizational structures are linear, functional, and linear-functional. As result of the generalization, it is concluded that at all stages of the life cycle, the best possible are the following organizational structures: matrix, project, divisional. To ensure the most effective management of innovations at the enterprise, scientific and methodological provisions for the management of innovative labor are formed, based on an integrated approach, which represents an integration of the process, functional, systemic, situational and strategic approaches to management. The methodological provisions of this approach are developed taking into account the construction of organizational structures and their susceptibility to various types of innovations. The use of an integrated approach facilitates the substantiation of a set of organizational structures for different stages of the life cycle of innovation and the choice of adequate methods for assessing the efficiency of innovative labor.

Розробка механізму організаційно-економічного забезпечення управління інноваційною працею на підприємстві

The mechanism for organizational-economic provision of the management of innovative labor at enterprise requires the development of certain principles, functions, means, factors and management instruments. The study is aimed at developing such a mechanism for organizational-economic provision of the management of innovative labor at enterprise. Based on the results of research of the modern conception of management and the essence of the category of «mechanism», the mechanism for organizational-economic provision of the management of innovative labor at enterprise is methodologically substantiated together with the determination of the composition of its elements, which are grouped into four constituents. It is determined that it is necessary to distinguish four constituents: the organizational one, which includes organizational structures, regulations and instructions; the economic one, i. e. – norms, standards and incentives; the managerial one, based on both functional and target subsystems; the provisional one, where information provision (regulatory, legal, and regarding the state of the external environment) and resource provision (information, financial, material, technological, and human resources) are separately allocated. Such systematization allows to clearly define the constituents of the mechanism for organizational-economic provision of innovative labor, to differentiate the instruments and levers of the mechanism in accordance with the characteristics of the defined constituents. Based on the account and sequencing of the constituents of the organizational-economic provision of the management of innovative labor at enterprise regarding their interaction as parts of the relevant mechanism, the list and content of individual constituents are arranged. It is proved that the elements of the subsystem of provision of the organizational-economic mechanism include staff, principles, instruments, information, organizational structure of management in conjunction with approaches and methods of management, resources and standards. Based on the generalization, the content of all types of provision is determined, which are: economic, organizational, informational, functional, and resource.

University-industry collaboration importance in innovative brazilian industrial firms: a sectorial model


 
 This article examines empirically the university-industry collaboration (UIC) importance in innovative
 firms on Brazilian industry. This relation is considered an important tool for economic growth in innovation-led firms. It was used a hierarchical regression model for 25.667 innovative industrial firms in the year 2005, the innovation involves product, process, or organizational change. The Total Factor Productivity was introduced as independent variable, because it can be used in all firms as performance measure, and it was average centralized. The TFP is explained by firm’s internal capabilities, and in industry by the UIC importance. The found results are upward average (positive sign), and downward average (negative
 sign). The sectorial impact of UIC in the TFP is positive, but near zero. The internal capabilities present exchanged signs between the firm and the industry, only innovative labor have both signs positive. The random effects identify nine industries with upward productivity gains, 8,26 % of total Brazilian industry, and these industries are traditional, low-tech intensity, only the automotive industry is medium-technology. Twenty industries have downward productivity gains, 18,35 % of total Brazilian industry, and between them are high-technology industries, as diverse capital tools, and electronics.