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The ‘Flexible Firm’: Strategy and Segmentation
Author(s) -
Hunter Laurie,
McGregor Alan,
Maclnnes John,
Sproull Alan
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.1993.tb00404.x
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , segmentation , market segmentation , focus (optics) , industrial organization , labour economics , marketing , business , economics , sociology , management , computer science , artificial intelligence , physics , optics
This paper draws together and provides further analysis of two research projects commissioned by the Department of Employment, with a focus on employers' labour use strategies in Britain. It seeks to place on a firmer statistical basis arguments about the presence and growth of the ‘flexible firm’, and it draws also on case‐study data to explore some of the issues relating to flexibility and strategy. Our conclusions are that there has been a marked absence of strategy in this area, and reasons for this are explored, as are the implications for gender and segmentation in the labour market.