Journal Article

Our research focuses on the birth of the 'risk manager'. We propose to show why and how emerges and built this function in major French industrial firms. Dresser recent history of risk management allows us to date and explain the creation of the function, to identify the actors of the emergence and put into perspective the future developments. [googletranslate_en]

Digitization is an important change factor for the organization and its environment with multiple impacts on them. Our prospective study aims to identify the HR function folders associated with the spread of digital communication tools within the organization. A first contribution of the study is to show that the five cases identified (Image employer, talent management, skills 2.0, regulation and diagnosis of the impacts of digitization) have very different challenges for the HR function. Second contribution, they also help to effectively structure management research field related to the digitization of the organization. [googletranslate_en]

The author analyzes the effects of the expansion of broadband Internet access from 1999 to 2007 on labor market outcomes throughout the United States. Recent federal policy programs have allocated $18 billion toward subsidizing the spread of this technology, especially to rural areas. Understanding the interplay between technology, firms, and the labor market is important for evaluating whether additional scarce government resources should be allocated to improve this type of infrastructure. Using models that include county and time fixed effects, the author finds that gaining access to broadband services in a county is associated with approximately a 1.8 percentage point increase in the employment rate, with larger effects in rural and isolated areas. Most of the employment gains result from existing firms increasing the scale of their labor demand and from growth in the labor force. These results are consistent with a theoretical model in which broadband technology is complementary to skilled workers, with larger effects among college-educated workers and in industries and occupations that employ more college-educated workers.

This article focuses on ecosystems type'plateforme (Koenig, 2012). It focuses in particular on the case of emerging ecosystems where the leader and the pivot platform not previously identified. It applies for this strategic prototyping methods (Chanal et al., 2011) in case of an ecosystem of Near Field Communication nascent which he characterizes the business model. In support of a theoretical framework mobilizing the literature on the platform and business model strategies open, analysis of the value proposition and NFCampus case of architectural value possible to show first that the emergence of ecosystems NFC falls within the joint of two types of pivots platforms as defined by Boudreau and Lakhani (2009). As shown in this article secondly, positioning in the leading role of a key actor is identified through the open model business (BMO) and the role of its platform. The actor identified leader ecosystem birth may instead be dethroned in expansion phases and authority (after dissemination of innovation to end users). [googletranslate_en]

In light of rapid advances in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, many scientists discuss the potentials of new technologies to substitute for human labor. Fueling the economic debate, various empirical assessments suggest that up to half of all jobs in western industrialized countries are at risk of automation in the next 10 to 20 years. This paper demonstrates that these scenarios are overestimating the share of automatable jobs by neglecting the substantial heterogeneity of tasks within occupations as well as the adaptability of jobs in the digital transformation. To demonstrate this, we use detailed task data and show that, when taking into accounting the spectrum of tasks within occupations, the automation risk of US jobs drops, ceteris paribus, from 38% to 9%.

The past decade has seen remarkable advances in digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cloud computing, data analytics and mobile communications. Over the coming decades, these technologies will transform nearly every industry - from agriculture, medicine and manufacturing to sales, finance and transportation - and reshape the nature of work.

Purpose - Although the world is rapidly ageing, the alarming explosion of youth unemployment seems to have removed the workforce ageing issue as a priority from the policy agenda. The purpose of this paper is to test and investigate the main needs and willingness to work among the older population, as well as the main advantages for organizations employing older workers. Design/methodology/approach - The main research objectives were: first, to explore the effect of demographic and socio-economic predictors on an older person’s intention to work; and second, to focus on the main advantages that should induce organizations to retain older workers in their workplace. The paper is based on a survey and an interdisciplinary review of the literature. Findings - The study indicated that educational level led to improved active behaviours in the labour market. In other words, people who obtained a higher level of education showed a greater likelihood to desire a prolongation of working life, while lower educational attainment may have lessened the willingness and capacity of older people to remain in the workforce. The main benefits for organizations with older workers are highlighted. Research limitations/implications - The survey has a number of limitations: the sample is small and was completed with reference to a single country, making it difficult to generalize results beyond this country study; the questionnaire relied solely on a few areas, while it would be better to gather additional information; the survey only targeted retired people, while it would have been interesting to also collect answers from workers nearing retirement. The association between individuals’ educational levels and their intention to work in later life suggests that continued development of educational programmes for workers could favour greater retention in the workplace. Practical implications - As the ageing population is an increasing phenomenon, the participation of older people in the labour force and lifelong learning should become commonplace in the perspective of a more equitable society. The main challenge is to rethink retirement, by abolishing the mandatory retirement age and by providing more flexible work options. Social implications - Changes in national system and corporate strategies are required to meet the economic challenges of ageing populations. Originality/value - This study advances research on age management because it provided evidence that educational background plays a fundamental role in determining the willingness to return to work. In addition, the paper proposes a new integrated approach of sustainable social change.

Technological change has brought about rapid changes in the world of work over the past decade. The World Bank’s World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work is a welcome contribution as it discusses the transformations that are taking place and tries to advise governments on how best to adapt to them. The report also brings out the concern related to the growing risks associated with tax evasion by large corporations that control the market power and have an ever-greater share of economic activity. However, the report is flawed in many ways as it portrays these changes in the nature of work as essentially benign, requiring “adaptation” and skills acquisition by workers facilitated by the provision of skills and “universal” social coverage by governments, with the latter understood as a prelude to labour-market deregulation. Such a narrow perspective ignores the growing body of research that points to very serious risks and challenges faced by workers in ensuring decent working conditions due to technological changes. This article provides a critique of the World Bank report by focusing on five areas related to technology and the future of work that are fundamental for ensuring minimum standards for workers and to ensure social cohesion: inequality, jobs, labour regulations, trade unions and social protection.

In this article we improve on the literature dealing with the polarising effects of technological change on wages by proposing more rigorous definitions of wage dispersion within industries and of the different types and effects of innovation. We carry out an analysis across 10 manufacturing and service sectors in seven European countries (France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK), for two time periods. In addition to structural economic variables, we draw data from two waves of the Community Innovation Surveys (CIS 2, 1994-1996 and CIS3, 1998-2000) and from two waves of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP, 1994 and 2001) providing information on employment, wages, education and other individual's characteristics, that we grouped in three skill groups: managers and professionals, white-collar and blue-collar workers. We set up econometric models to study the impact that different technological strategies, labour market patterns, education and training have on the levels of wage polarisation within industries. Higher wage polarisation is found in industries with strong product innovation and high shares of workers with university education. Wage compression is associated to the diffusion of new process technologies and to high shares of workers with secondary education. Finally, a fast employment dynamics favours wage disparities.