Exploiting Growth Opportunities: The Role of Internal Labour Markets

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cestone, Giacinta; Fumagalli, Chiara; Kramarz, Francis; Pica, Giovanni
• 署名单位: City St Georges, University of London; University of London; London Business School; Bocconi University; Bocconi University; Institut Polytechnique de Paris; ENSAE Paris; Universita della Svizzera Italiana
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdad094
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 2676-2716
• 关键词: business groups; networks; COSTS; ORGANIZATION; FIRMS

摘要

We explore how business groups use internal labour markets (ILMs) in response to changing economic conditions. We show that following the exit of a large industry competitor, group-affiliated firms expand, and gain market share by increasing their reliance on the ILM to ensure swift hiring, especially of technical managers and skilled blue collar workers. The ability to take advantage of this shock to growth opportunities is greater in firms with closer access to their affiliates' human capital, as geographical proximity facilitates employee relocations across units. Overall, our findings point to the ILM as a prominent mechanism making affiliation with a business group valuable at times of change. For the ILM to perform its role in the face of industry shocks, group sectoral diversification must be combined with geographical proximity between affiliates.