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Regulating Work in Times of Productive Fragmentation

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Regulating Work in Small Firms

Abstract

This introductory chapter presents the general theme—the regulation of work in small enterprises—and analytical framework of the volume. Often considered a vestige from the past bound to disappear, for some time the growing quantitative–qualitative relevance of small firms is an unexpected effect of a fragmented global production system. Thus, reasoning on employment relations in this crucial part of the economy—although from the experience of a single country—may improve our understanding of the future of work more generally. Analytically, the adopted approach is based on the combination of three perspectives which have remained largely separate: the features of employment relations within small firms; the potential of industrial districts and more generally of the social embeddedness of the economy; the prospects of employment relations in economies varyingly characterised by the internationalisation of markets and weakening of the consolidated mechanisms of workers’ protection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Ida Regalia

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  1. Ida Regalia
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Correspondence to Ida Regalia .

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  1. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Ida Regalia

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1.1 presents the characteristics of interviewed firms.

Table 1.1 Interview list
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Regalia, I. (2020). Regulating Work in Times of Productive Fragmentation. In: Regalia, I. (eds) Regulating Work in Small Firms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21820-1_1

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