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Exploring the diversity of small firms, this contributed volume focuses on the crucial topic of work and the ways in which it is regulated, and offers reflections on the future of labour more generally. Traditionally managed through informal and adaptive processes, small firms allow us to understand the challenges and opportunities facing larger companies within an increasingly fragmented global production system. Analysing the case of Italy, a country characterised by a high number and wide variety of small firms, the authors draw on the results of a survey involving over 2,300 firms and face-to-face interviews with owner-managers working in 60 small and micro firms across several different sectors. Providing detailed analysis which will be useful for scholars of human resource management and small business, as well as managers, practitioners and policy-makers, the book enables a better understanding of the world of work in a globalised economy.
E-Book Content
Edited by Ida Regalia
Regulating Work in Small Firms Perspectives on the Future of Work in Globalised Economies
Regulating Work in Small Firms
Ida Regalia Editor
Regulating Work in Small Firms Perspectives on the Future of Work in Globalised Economies
Editor Ida Regalia University of Milan Milan, Italy
ISBN 978-3-030-21819-5 ISBN 978-3-030-21820-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21820-1 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
There are two purposes behind this book. One is to tackle the quantitatively significant and qualitatively diverse, and even contradictory, reality of small firms, focusing on the crucial topic of work and the ways in which it is regulated—a topic always relevant, but of particular interest in this case—and to do so on the basis of an empirical verification of facts. The other is to take advantage of the analysis of the dynamics observed within small firms as a starting point for a preliminary reflection on the future of labour in general. It is not difficult to find good reasons to take the reality of small enterprises into serious consideration. The most obvious is their actual quantitative weight and their considerable economic and social relevance in all advanced economies. In the European Union, in the United States and in Australia, small enterprises not only constitute the overwhel