Sustaining Employment In Economic Crises
Viable alternatives to layoffs
The main goal of the study “Employment Sustainability Strategies during Economic Crises, Good Business Practices” was to identify good business practices, in Portugal, aimed at sustaining employment in times of crisis.
The analysis was based on case studies centred on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, from two sectors – moulds and plastics enterprises and traditional urban retailing. The moulds and plastics enterprises were mainly SMEs, situated in the municipality of Marinha Grande, and the traditional urban retailers mainly micro-enterprises, established in the city of Lisbon.
Furthermore, it was also carried out a survey of good international practices on this issue, with the aim of analysing coincidences and noting possible good practices not used in Portugal.
The objective accomplished was not that of ascertaining the policies and measures carried out by the state to combat unemployment, over the years and in the present economic crisis, but the measures that enterprises themselves have implemented in the light of this challenge.
It is also hoped that the publication of the study may encourage other enterprises to proceed in a similar way, with positive effects on the effective maintenance of employment.
This work was conducted by the IPI Consulting Network Portugal and sponsored by the IAPMEI - Institute for the Support of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Investment, after being approved by the Operational Programme for Technical Assistance, POAT, co-funded by the European Social Fund, in June 2009.
The study's Portuguese language version is already available online.
Conference papers and proceedings of the study presentation are available online.
