IWS Documented News DAILY POSTINGS

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

European Commission

Eurostat

PURCHASING POWER PARITIES IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD [30 April 2014]

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Purchasing_power_parities_in_Europe_and_the_world

[excerpt]

Data from April 2014. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article presents a summary of the results of the latest (2011) round of the International Comparison Program (ICP). The ICP is a worldwide statistical partnership to collect comparative price data and compile detailed expenditure values of countries’ GDP, and to estimate purchasing power parities (PPPs) of the world’s economies. Using PPPs instead of market exchange rates to convert currencies makes it possible to compare the output of economies and the material welfare of their inhabitants in real terms (that is, controlling for differences in price levels). In total, 177 countries participated fully in the 2011 round of the ICP^[1]. The complete results can be found on the ICP website. Eurostat is a partner in the ICP and provides the required data for the 28 EU Member States, three EFTA Member States, four candidate countries and two potential candidate countries. This article focuses on the position of the EU-28 in the world. The positions of individual European countries within the EU can be found here.

Shares in world GDP

In 2011, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the EU-28 represented 18.6% of the world's GDP, expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS). The United States was the second biggest economy with a share of 17.1% and China ^[2] the third biggest with 14.9%, followed by India and Japan, with 6.4% and 4.8% respectively. Figure 1 shows the shares of all countries (outside the EU) that have a share larger than 1%. For comparison: Germany is the largest EU country with a share in world GDP of 3.7%.

AND MUCH MORE….

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

European Commission

Eurostat

FOREIGN AFFLILIATES STATISTICS--EMPLOYMENT BY BUSINESS FUNCTION [30 April 2014]

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Foreign_affiliates_statistics_-_employment_by_business_function

Data from April 2014. Most recent data:Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article investigates the employment record of foreign affiliates, by business function, of enterprises in 14 European Union (EU) Member States and Norway. It shows that employment in foreign affiliates of European enterprises is falling less than in the domestic enterprises.

Most of the foreign affiliates, however, are located within Europe and are found more often in the manufacturing sector than in the services sector. Furthermore there is no evidence of substantial movement of knowledge-intensive business functions to destinations outside Europe. The business function with the highest share of employment in foreign affiliates is marketing and sales, indicating enterprises' desire to establish a commercial presence in foreign markets.

The main findings of the analysis are:

§  Enterprises report more falls in employment domestically than in foreign affiliates;

§  The foreign affiliates are mostly located in EU Member States;

§  Manufacturing enterprises are more likely than services enterprises to have established foreign affiliates;

§  Employment relating to knowledge intensive support functions in foreign affiliates is mainly located in the EU;

§  The support business function with the most foreign affiliate employment is sales & marketing, which reflects the importance of commercial presence and;

§  Most domestic and foreign affiliate employment is in core business functions.

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

Census

2012 Survey of Public Pensions: State- and Locally-Administered Defined Benefit Data [29 April 2014]

http://www.census.gov/govs/retire/

Tip Sheet 29 April 2014

2012 Census of Governments: Finance — Survey of Public Pensions: State- and Locally-Administered Defined Benefit Data

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/governments/cb14-tps32.html

Provides a comprehensive look at the financial activity and membership information for the nation's approximately 4,000 state- and locally-administered public-employee pension systems, including revenues, expenditures, cash and investment holdings, membership and beneficiaries. The Census of Governments: Finance — Survey of Public Pensions, conducted quinquennially (years ending in "2" and "7"), is the only source of data on all state and local pension systems. The total cash and investment holdings of the nation's state- and locally-administered defined benefit pensions systems totaled $3.1 trillion in 2012.

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

Beyond the Numbers, April 2014, vol. 3, no. 7

GLOBAL ECONOMY

THE IMPACT OF THE FALLING YEN ON U.S. IMPORT PRICES [25 April 2014]

By David Mead and Sharon Royales

http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-3/the-impact-of-the-falling-yen-on-us-import-prices.htm

or

http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-3/pdf/the-impact-of-the-falling-yen-on-us-import-prices.pdf

[full-text, 10 pages]

[excerpt]

In the fall of 2012, Japan set forth economic policies aimed at turning around the country’s historic deflationary slide that began in the 1990s. These policies led the Japanese yen to fall dramatically in value relative to the U.S. dollar, reversing what was a long upward trend of strength against the dollar. From September 2012 to May 2013, the yen–dollar exchange rate plummeted 22.5 percent. Although the rate of decline decelerated considerably over the remainder of the year, the yen fell an additional 2.4 percent against the U.S. dollar between May and December. A falling yen means the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar increases for goods imported from Japan. Parallel to the drop in the value of the yen, import prices of Japanese goods fell 3.5 percent from September 2012 to December 2013. The drop in the value of the yen particularly influenced prices in major product areas such as nonelectrical machinery, computers and electronic products, and chemicals, which combined make up nearly 40 percent of U.S. imports from Japan. The industry that is most affected by Japanese import prices is the transportation vehicles industry, which alone represents 42 percent of U.S. imports from Japan.

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

Urban Institute (UI)

Fewer Marriages, More Divergence: Marriage Projections for Millennials to Age 40 [29 April 2014]

by Steven Martin, Nan Astone, Elizabeth Peters

http://www.urban.org/publications/413110.html

or

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/413110-Fewer-Marriages-More-Divergence.pdf

[full-text, 17 pages]

Abstract

Declining marriage rates suggest a growing fraction of millennials will remain unmarried through age 40. In this brief, we use data from the American Community Survey to estimate age-specific marriage rates and project the percentage of millennials who will marry by age 40 in different scenarios. We find that the percentage of millennials marrying by age 40 will fall lower than for any previous generation of Americans, even in a scenario where marriage rates recover considerably. Moreover, marriage patterns will continue to diverge by education and race, increasing the divides between mostly married “haves” and increasingly single "have-nots".

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

Urban Institute (UI)

The Best Evidence Suggests the Effects of the ACA on Employment Will Be Small [29 April 2014]

by Bowen Garrett, Robert Kaestner

http://www.urban.org/publications/413109.html

or

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/413109-The-Best-Evidence-Suggests-the-Effects-of-the-ACA-on-Employment-Will-Be-Small.pdf

[full-text, 6 pages]

Abstract

A recent report by the CBO concluded that the ACA could reduce the number of people working, almost entirely because workers would choose to work less due to incentives in the law. This report places the ACA and its employment effects in the context of other social programs. It assesses the evidence on likely employment effects from four recent and directly relevant studies. The best evidence to date suggests the employment effects of the ACA are likely to be small, and that the CBO estimate may be toward the high end of the range of potential ACA effects on employment.

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

STRIVING FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS: VOICES OF LIBERIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS [April 2014]

http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/ifc+sustainability/publications/publication_striving_for_business_success_voices_of_liberian_women_entrepreneurs

or

http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/ea80d20043d0bcdaa54bbd869243d457/WB+Liberian+Women+4-1-14+web.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

[full-text, 52 pages]

This report is an overview of the women’s market in Liberia and provides insights on the experiences of women entrepreneurs in post conflict and fragile affected states. Through the journey of seven Liberian women business-owners, the report highlights the many challenges women enterprises in post conflict countries face. The report also provides recommendations to governments, private sector entities, donors and practitioners looking to increase opportunities for women enterprises in these countries.

Table of Contents

Acronyms................................................................................................................................... IV

Foreword ................................................................................................................................... V

Acknowledgements......................................................................................................... VI

Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... VII

I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 1

II. VOICES OF LIBERIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS...................................... 3

Who are Liberian Women Entrepreneurs? ............................................................................................................3

A Better Investment Climate to Foster Women’s Entrepreneurship in Liberia......................................................4

Common Obstacles Faced by Women Entrepreneurs..........................................................................................6

Girls and Young Women Entrepreneurs ..............................................................................................................14

Supportive Factors for Women’s Entrepreneurship.............................................................................................15

III. CONCLUSIONS: WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT WOMEN

DOING BUSINESS IN FRAGILE AND CONFLICT-AFFECTED SITUATIONS........................................................... 17

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN LIBERIA..................................................... 19

Business and Skills Programs ............................................................................................................................19

Access to Assets and Finance ...........................................................................................................................19

Networking and Business Information Sharing: Women Business Entrepreneurs’ Associations and Networks...................................................20

Institutional and Policy Reform for Women’s Economic Empowerment...........................................................21

Appendix I. Policy Recommendations to Support Women Entrepreneurs........................ 23

Appendix II. Case Studies of Liberian Women Entrepreneurs.........................................25

References................................................................................................................................ 35

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

UPDATED ECONOMIC OVERVIEW OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 2013 [April 2014]

http://www.eclac.org/cgi-bin/getProd.asp?xml=%20/publicaciones/xml/6/52696/P52696.xml&xsl=/tpl-i/p9f.xsl%20&base=/tpl-i/top-bottom.xslt

or

http://www.eclac.org/publicaciones/xml/6/52696/UpdatedEconomicOverview2013.pdf

[full-text, 29 pages]

ABSTRACT

This report updates the analysis set out in the Preliminary Overview of Latin America and the Caribbean 2013, released in December 2013, on the basis of official data published by the countries in the region in the subsequent months, and presents a revised economic outlook for 2014. In addition, it examines the external factors influencing the region's performance and their impact on the different components of the balance of payments and summarizes the challenges and main trends in relation to monetary, exchange-rate and fiscal policy. It confirms the deceleration of growth analysed in the Preliminary Overview, giving a revised regional rate of 2.5% for 2013. This slowdown curbed job creation, but did not drive up the rate of unemployment. The second part of the report reviews the main internal and external factors that will determine the region's economic performance in 2014. Although the world economy is expected to pick up with respect to 2013, Latin America and the Caribbean will grow at a similar rate to the previous year as a result of several factors.

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

EMPLOYMENT COST INDEX - MARCH 2014 [30 April 2014]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/eci.nr0.htm

or

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/eci.pdf

[full-text, 21 pages]

and

Supplemental Files Table of Contents

http://www.bls.gov/web/eci.supp.toc.htm

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month

period ending March 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries

(which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.3 percent, and benefits (which

make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 0.4 percent.

Civilian Workers

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.8 percent for the 12-month period ending March

2014. In March 2013, the increase in compensation costs was 1.9 percent. Prior values for this series,

which began in June 1982, ranged from 1.4 percent to 7.5 percent. Wages and salaries increased

1.6 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2014, unchanged from March 2013. Benefit costs

increased 2.1 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2014, compared with a 2.4 percent increase

for the 12-month period ending March 2013. 

Private Industry Workers

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 1.7 percent over the year. In March 2013

the increase was 1.9 percent. Wages and salaries increased 1.7 percent for the current 12-month period

ending March 2014, unchanged from March 2013. The increase in the cost of benefits was 1.8 percent

for the 12-month period ending March 2014. In March 2013, the increase in the cost of benefits was 2.0

percent. Employer costs for health benefits increased 2.4 percent over the year. In March 2013 the

increase was 3.0 percent.

Among occupational groups, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the

12-month period ending March 2014 ranged from 1.1 percent for service occupations to 1.9 percent for

management, professional, and related; natural resource, construction, and maintenance; and production,

transportation, and material moving occupations. 

Among industry supersectors, compensation costs for private industry workers for the current 12-

month period ranged from 0.8 percent for information to a 2.3 percent increase for trade, transportation,

and utilities. 

State and Local Government Workers

Compensation costs for state and local government workers increased 1.9 percent for the 12-month

period ending March 2014, unchanged from March 2013. Wages and salaries increased 1.2 percent for

the 12-month period ending March 2014, compared with 1.0 percent in March 2013. Benefit costs

increased 3.0 percent in March 2014. In March 2013, the increase was 3.5 percent.

________________

The Employment Cost Index for June 2014 is scheduled to be released on

Thursday, July 31, 2014, at 8:30 A.M. (EDT).

AND MUCH MORE...including TABLES....

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

INC.

How to Stop Growth From Killing Innovation
BY Samuel Bacharach  
Scaling up your company should be paramount. Just don't let innovation take a back seat.
http://www.inc.com/sam-bacharach/how-to-grow-without-killing-your-company-.html

It's a little talked about secret in the startup world: Growth doesn't always beget growth.

Scaling a company is exciting, but paradoxically, growth can limit your company’s ability to innovate--and, well, grow.

You or your employees don't become less creative. But with growth, it can be more difficult to harness the creative spirit. With growth, you face the impact of size.

Organizational psychologists and organizational behaviorists have long studied the tendency of growing organizations to inhibit the very creative energy that allowed them to achieve success in the first place. At their very heights, organizations regularly smother the innovative seed that led to their initial success.

As your organization becomes larger, here are four tips for maintaining your innovative edge:

1. Encourage creativity.
Often as organizations become larger, there's a tendency to compartmentalize--creating separate departments, functions, and sectors. Inevitably, organizations reinforce the notion of "turf," as everyone hunkers down carrying out their unique function in their particular segment of the organization. Coordination between departments continues, but you lose the informal chitchat, the noise, the exchange of ideas, the sporadic discussions that can lead to new ideas and new directions.

This improvisation is often the backbone of activity. What's lost is the informal networking that allows for this creative energy. In the maze of large organizations, you may achieve a degree of coordination, but you'll likely lose some of that innovation muscle.

Bottom line: It's crucial that as a leader, you don't let growth kill the informal chatter that's the essence of innovation.

2. Set short- (and long-) term goals.
As the organization expands, there's a tendency to put in place metrics that will hold everyone accountable to specific outcomes and accomplishments. This drive for accountability and need to quantify results often leads to short-term thinking. The more you judge activities under a tight metric, the more people focus on the short-term--what's measurable, deliverable, and immediately practicable.

Bottom line: As a leader, make sure that people focus on the short-term, but give them space to think about the long-term.

3. Avoid customer domination.
Clearly, customers are important. You’ve grown because you focused on customer needs, and you delivered. But your customers want what your customers want. They see the world from the perspective of their immediate necessity. You have to look beyond that. You have to ask yourself not what your customer wants today, but what your customer wants in the future.

The best way to make this happen is to provide customers with what they want immediately, but you also have to apply resources toward developing solutions to future customer needs.

Bottom line: By acquiescing to all customer demands, your company may limit its ability to think about the bigger picture.

4. Sell solutions, not products.
Organizations are often built on the sale of specific products or services. Larger organizations usually have a sales force used to selling a conglomeration of products--some related, some not.

To save time and hurry to their next sales meeting, your sales team wants to sell off-the-shelf products--especially if they have set sales goals. If your sales team pushes a one-time fix and doesn’t work with a customer to create a solution, new, innovative ideas may never crop up.

Bottom line: Get out of your own way.

Last updated: Apr 28, 2014

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

This service is supported, in part, by donations. Please consider making a donation by following the instructions at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/support.html

National Income and Product Accounts

Gross Domestic Product: First Quarter 2014 (advance estimate) [30 April 2014]

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm

or

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2014/pdf/gdp1q14_adv.pdf

[full-text, 17 pages]

or

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2014/xls/gdp1q14_adv.xls

[spreadsheet]

and

Highlights

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2014/pdf/gdp1q14_adv_fax.pdf

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property

located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the first quarter (that is, from

the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014), according to the "advance" estimate released by

the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.

      The Bureau emphasized that the first-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source

data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page 3 and

"Comparisons of Revisions to GDP" on page 5).  The "second" estimate for the first quarter, based on

more complete data, will be released on May 29, 2014.

      The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected a positive contribution from

personal consumption expenditures (PCE) that was partly offset by negative contributions from exports,

private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment, residential fixed investment, and state and

local government spending.  Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.

BOX___________

Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts

      The annual revision of the national income and product accounts will be released along with the

"advance" estimate of GDP for the second quarter of 2014 on July 30.  In addition to the regular revision

of estimates for the most recent 3 years and the first quarter of 2014, GDP and select components will be

revised back to the first quarter of 1999 (see the Technical Note).  The August Survey of Current

Business will contain an article that describes the annual revision in detail.

FOOTNOTE______

      NOTE.  Quarterly estimates are expressed at seasonally adjusted annual rates, unless otherwise

specified.  Quarter-to-quarter dollar changes are differences between these published estimates.  Percent

changes are calculated from unrounded data and are annualized.  "Real" estimates are in chained (2009)

dollars.  Price indexes are chain-type measures.

This news release is available on BEA’s Web site along with the Technical Note

and Highlights related to this release.

______________

      The deceleration in real GDP growth in the first quarter primarily reflected downturns in exports

and in nonresidential fixed investment, a larger decrease in private inventory investment, a deceleration

in PCE, and a downturn in state and local government spending that were partly offset by an upturn in

federal government spending and a downturn in imports.

      The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents,

increased 1.4 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 1.5 percent in the fourth.

Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 1.4 percent in

the first quarter, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent in the fourth.

AND MUCH MORE...including TABLES.....

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

The Conference Board (TCB)

INTERNATIONAL LABOR COMPARISONS (ILC)

The former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) program, the International Labor Comparisons, was discontinued last year at BLS but picked up by The Conference Board (TCB).

Here’s the ILC homepage at TCB:  http://www.conference-board.org/ilcprogram/

For the latest updates, subscribe without charge to the ILC monthly newsletter.  Click here to Sign Up! or http://www.conference-board.org/ilcprogram/index.cfm?id=22007

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

IWS Documented News Service

_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

________________________________________________________________________

METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT -- MARCH 2014 [29 April 2014]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.nr0.htm

or

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/metro.pdf

[full-text, 23 pages]

and

Supplemental Files Table of Contents

http://www.bls.gov/web/metro.supp.toc.htm

Unemployment rates were lower in March than a year earlier in 333 of the 372

metropolitan areas, higher in 30 areas, and unchanged in 9 areas, the U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Twenty-five areas had jobless rates

of at least 10.0 percent and 59 areas had rates of less than 5.0 percent. Two

hundred ninety-nine metropolitan areas had over-the-year increases in nonfarm

payroll employment, 59 areas had decreases, and 14 areas had no change. The

national unemployment rate in March was 6.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted,

down from 7.6 percent a year earlier.

Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif., had the highest unemployment rates in March,

22.5 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively. Midland, Texas, had the lowest

unemployment rate, 2.7 percent. A total of 213 areas had March unemployment

rates below the U.S. figure of 6.8 percent, 153 areas had rates above it, and

6 areas had rates equal to that of the nation. (See table 1.)

Rocky Mount, N.C., had the largest over-the-year unemployment rate decrease in

March (-2.8 percentage points). Twenty-one other areas had rate declines of at

least 2.0 percentage points, and an additional 139 areas had declines of at least

1.0 point. Anniston-Oxford, Ala., had the largest over-the-year jobless rate

increase (+1.0 percentage point). The next largest increase was in Cape Girardeau-

Jackson, Mo.-Ill. (+0.9 percentage point).

Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more,

Providence-Fall River-Warwick, R.I.-Mass., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario,

Calif., had the highest unemployment rates in March, 9.4 percent each. Austin-

Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas, had the lowest jobless rate among the large areas,

4.4 percent. Forty-five of the large areas had over-the-year unemployment rate

decreases, while two had increases and two had no change. The largest unemployment

rate declines occurred in Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C., and Indianapolis-

Carmel, Ind. (-1.9 percentage points each). The two over-the-year rate increases

occurred in Birmingham-Hoover, Ala. (+0.5 percentage point), and St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.

(+0.2 point).

AND MUCH MORE...including TABLES....

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.