Time/时间：5月13日（周五）上午10:00-11:00
Venue/地点：Room 501, Jiageng Building 2/嘉庚二号楼501教室
Topic/题目： Internal labor market and labor cost behavior in Europe
Speaker/报告人：Jie Deng
Abstract/摘要：Using a large sample of privately held and publicly traded firms in 21 European countries from 2004 to 2010, we investigate the effect of business group affiliations on labor cost behavior. Internal labor markets provide labor flexibility for affiliates of business groups. This flexibility, in turn, reduces their cost of labor adjustments and enables management to make better resource commitment decisions. We find that firms affiliated with business groups exhibit less labor cost asymmetry relative to standalone firms. This effect is more pronounced for affiliates operating in countries with strong labor protection and in industries with frequent labor adjustments. Furthermore, we find evidence that the positive effects business group’s internal labor markets are stronger for smaller companies and for industries with nonroutine tasks. Overall, these findings suggest that group-affiliated firms use internal labor markets to flexibly adjust their workforces in response to external shocks.
About the Speaker/报告人简介：Jie Deng is an Assistant Professor in Accounting at the Institute for Financial and Accounting Studies in Xiamen University. Her research interests include business group and corporate governance.