The present article attempts to investigate the validity of the Comanor–Wilson Minimum Efficient Size (MES) measure. The basic assumption is that firms that have exhausted scale economies are in non-increasing returns to scale. The same firms are also assumed to have a size greater than MES estimated on sales (total turnover), employment or fixed assets. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used,...

This paper adds new knowledge to the phenomenon of transferring embodied knowledge through labor mobility by means of a comparative study of the entertainment and manufacturing industries. Explorative in nature, the paper takes advantage of unique data on the Danish labor market (i.e. IDA) to investigate labor mobility patterns for the two selected industries and to detect internal differences ...

Labour Use and Its Adjustment in Indian Manufacturing Industries This study provides an empirical investigation of the adjustment process of labour in Indian manufacturing industries, which evolved through structural transformation in the era of globalization. The analysis is based on a dynamic model applied to a panel of 22 two-digit manufacturing industries for the time period of 22 years cov...

Mass customization enhances profitability through a synergy of increasing customer-perceived value and reducing the costs of production and logistics. It inherently makes high value-added products and services possible through premium profits derived from customized products. This strength is particularly attractive to OEM-based industries. This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges ...

This chapter proposes a knowledge space concept and a recursive approach to servitizing in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing companies need to move up the value chain and compete on the basis of value delivered rather than on the basis of typical products. Therefore, more corporations are adding value to their core corporate offerings through services, which is called servitization, and...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of technological opportunities on the innovation activities of firms, depending on their absorptive capacities. The importance and impacts of the ability of firms to use external knowledge sources were inquired especially for external knowledge stemming from scientific research. Using a simple theoretic model, different innovation effects were emp...

Wood processing is usually performed in environments with large amounts of endotoxin-rich bioaerosols that are associated with a variety of health effects. The aim of this preliminary study was to assess the relation between endotoxin levels in settled and airborne dust in wood-processing industry. Ten pairs of airborne and settled dust samples were collected in a sawmill and parquet manufactur...

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Industry-specific ergonomics guidelines are an important component in the four-pronged approach to workplace ergonomics currently pursued by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The American Furniture Manufacturers Association has taken the initiative of developing such a guideline for its members. The result of this effort is the "AFMA Voluntary Ergonomics Guideline...

In order to reach the EU: s 20-20-20 primary energy savings target, energy efficiency needs to increase. Previous research on energy use and energy efficiency has focused mainly on the diffusion of energy efficient technologies. The discrepancy between optimal and actual implementation of energy efficient technologies has been illustrated in numerous articles and is often referred to as the ene...