La importancia del control de los costes de la no-calidad en la empresa

Una gran parte de las empresas de todo el mundo, y especialmente las PYMES occidentales, están perdiendo mucho dinero, y como consecuencia de ello gran parte de su competitividad potencial, debido a que los costes totales de calidad en que incurren, son inaceptablemente elevados. En la mayoría de los casos no existe modelo coherente alguno para gestionar dichos costes, y en otros, los modelos aplicados se utilizan de forma parcial, rutinaria y con escaso convencimiento. El resultado de ello, como cabría esperar, es obviamente decepcionante. Evidentemente hay también empresas, generalmente las de gran tamaño (líderes del mercado y multinacionales), conocedoras de la gran importancia que para la disminución de sus costes supone disponer de un sistema adecuado de gestión de los costes de calidad. Invierten sistemáticamente en ello, obteniendo resultados satisfactorios, tanto en sus cuentas de resultados como en el nivel de motivación de sus empleados. Éstos, conscientes del interés de la Dirección por mejorar la calidad de sus productos y servicios, se sienten de alguna manera partícipes de ese proyecto, entendiendo que, en definitiva, el éxito de la empresa es también el suyo propio. Hemos analizado las causas de esta situación, utilizando las experiencias plasmadas en numerosos estudios llevados a cabo por expertos internacionales. Una vez localizados, acotados y definidos los aspectos débiles de los procedimientos aplicados en la actualidad, hemos diseñado un par de nuevos modelos de gestión de los costes totales de calidad, que tienen la virtud de haber eliminado aquellas etapas que, en la práctica, se han mostrado ineficaces, e incorporando otras, que han resultado ser muy útiles en diversos campos de la gestión de la calidad. El primero de los modelos, el más simple, puede ser utilizado para gestionar presupuestos de costes de calidad sencillos, mientras que el segundo contempla la posibilidad de lograr una mayor exactitud en las cifras de las previsiones, al tiempo que introduce alguna situación de incertidumbre.

Job accessibility, employment and job-education mismatch in the metropolitan area of Barcelona

This paper analyses the effect of job accessibility by public and private transport on labour market outcomes in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Beyond employment, we consider the effect of job accessibility on job-education mismatch, which represents a relevant aspect of job quality. We adopt a recursive system of equations that models car availability, employment and mismatch. Public transport accessibility appears as an exogenous variable in the three equations. Even though it may reflect endogenous residential sorting, falsification proofs suggest that the estimated effect of public transport accessibility is not entirely driven by the endogenous nature of residential decisions.

Are we wasting our talent? Overqualification and overskilling among PhD graduates

Drawing on a very rich data set from a recent cohort of PhD graduates, we examine the correlates and consequences of qualification and skills mismatch. We show that job characteristics such as the economic sector and the main activity at work play a fundamental direct role in explaining the probability of being well matched. However, the effect of academic attributes seems to be mainly indirect, since it disappears once we control for the full set of work characteristics. We detected a significant earnings penalty for those who are both overqualified and overskilled and also showed that being mismatched reduces job satisfaction, especially for those whose skills are underutilized. Overall, the problem of mismatch among PhD graduates is closely related to demand-side constraints of the labor market. Increasing the supply of adequate jobs and broadening the skills PhD students acquire during training should be explored as possible responses.

Competing risks to breast cancer mortality in Catalonia

Background: Breast cancer mortality has experienced important changes over the last century. Breast cancer occurs in the presence of other competing risks which can influence breast cancer incidence and mortality trends. The aim of the present work is: 1) to assess the impact of breast cancer deaths among mortality from all causes in Catalonia (Spain), by age and birth cohort and 2) to estimate the risk of death from other causes than breast cancer, one of the inputs needed to model breast cancer mortality reduction due to screening or therapeutic interventions. Methods: The multi-decrement life table methodology was used. First, all-cause mortality probabilities were obtained by age and cohort. Then mortality probability for breast cancer was subtracted from the all-cause mortality probabilities to obtain cohort life tables for causes other than breast cancer. These life tables, on one hand, provide an estimate of the risk of dying from competing risks, and on the other hand, permit to assess the impact of breast cancer deaths on all-cause mortality using the ratio of the probability of death for causes other than breast cancer by the all-cause probability of death. Results: There was an increasing impact of breast cancer on mortality in the first part of the 20th century, with a peak for cohorts born in 1945–54 in the 40–49 age groups (for which approximately 24% of mortality was due to breast cancer). Even though for cohorts born after 1955 there was only information for women under 50, it is also important to note that the impact of breast cancer on all-cause mortality decreased for those cohorts. Conclusion: We have quantified the effect of removing breast cancer mortality in different age groups and birth cohorts. Our results are consistent with US findings. We also have obtained an estimate of the risk of dying from competing-causes mortality, which will be used in the assessment of the effect of mammography screening on breast cancer mortality in Catalonia.

A territorial approach to R&D subsidies: Empirical evidence for Catalonian firms

Using a database of 2,263 responses to R&D public calls in Catalonia, during the period 2007–2010, this paper proceeds to analyse the potential interaction of the territorial and policy dimensions with the propensity to apply for, and be awarded, a public R&D subsidy. Controlling for characteristics at the firm and project level, we estimate models using a twostep procedure. In the first step, our results suggest that large firms which export and which belong to high-tech manufactures are more likely to participate in a public R&D call. Furthermore, both urban location and past experience of such calls have a positive effect. Our territorial proxy of information spillovers shows a positive sign, but this is only significant at intra-industry level. Membership of one of the sectors prioritized by the Catalan government, perhaps surprisingly, does not have a significant impact. In the second step, our results show that cooperative projects, SMEs or old firms shows a positive effect on the probability of obtaining a public subsidy. Finally, the cluster policy does not show a clear relationship with the public R&D call, suggesting that cluster policies and R&D subsidies follow different goals. Our results are in line with previous results in the literature, but they highlight the unequal territorial distribution of the firms which apply and the fact that policymakers should interlink the decision criteria for their public call with other policies.

Pharmacoeconomics of Cyclamen europaeum in the management of Acute Rhinosinusitis

Objective. To carry out a pharmacoeconomic analysis of Cyclamen europaeum (CE) in the management of acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) in Spain using data from the PROSINUS study. Study Design. This was a prospective observational study to compare the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness between therapies including CE vs. other therapies in the management of ARS. Methods. The study was carried out as a secondary analysis of the PROSINUS, combining healthcare resource use, productivity loses, and health outcomes from the observational study with costs representative of the Spanish Health System. Results. CE given as monotherapy appears to be more effective (cure rate) than other monotherapies (15.3% higher, p<0.05) and combination (10.3% higher, p<0.05) therapies. The addition of CE to other single-drug or combination therapies showed a statistically significant improvement in terms of cure rates when adding CE to 2-drug combinations (93.9% vs. 76.5%; p<0.05), and no significant effect when added to combinations of three or more drugs (81.1% vs. 79.8; NS). CE based therapies generally showed lower indirect costs, although only the comparison of CE alone vs. other monotherapies, with a net cost savings of 101 per patient, reached statistical significance (331 vs. 432 , p<0.05). In addition, CE-based therapies show lower cost per cured patient in all comparisons except when CE was used in combination with three or more other drugs. Conclusions. The use of Cyclamen europaeum may be associated to better clinical outcomes at no additional cost for the healthcare system, respect to treatments commonly used for ARS in clinical practice.

Euphorbia chamaesyce L. dentro del genero Chamaesyce S.F. Gray (Euphorbiaceae)

Desde antiguo, los caracteres morfológicos han permitido agrupar las especies de Chamaesyce, bien con rango genérico independiente (Chamaesyce S. F. Gray, Anisophyllum Haw., Xamesike Rafin.), bien supeditándolas a Euphorbia L. a nivel subgenérico (E. subgen. Chamaesyce Rafin.) o seccional (E. sect. Anisophyllum Roeper). Los resultados de los estudios comparativos sobre el tipo de crecimiento, fisiología del metabolismo, morfología de los granulos de almidón del látex, carpología, fitodermología, boiquímica y palinología (cf. KOUTNIK, allertonia 4 : 331-387, 1984) aportan datos más que suficientes para considerar Chamaesyce segregado genéricamente de Euphorbia. Una vez aceptado el género Chamaesyce, se plantea el problema de la inclusión en dicho género de Euphorbia chamaesyce L.

Labor Mobility of the Chinese Graduates from British and Spanish Universities: What Happens to the "Talent Migration"?

The scholarship on migration in Europe heavily focuses on the integration of economically vulnerable migrants. In the age of commercialization of education, however, the European Union attracts a rising number of highly skilled non-EU migrants that take up studies across the continent. Despite economic downturn, the EU universities experience a rapid growth in the number of Chinese students, many of whom settle in Europe upon graduation. Surprisingly, although the number of Chinese students in the EU increases, scholars largely ignore the labor paths that these highly skilled migrants take upon graduating from European universities. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the variation in the Chinese graduates’ labor incorporation patterns and in their spatial mobility. In this project, I also examine macro-level hypotheses predicting that the EU and host states’ labor market institutions, changes in the EU policies on the highly skilled and the outburst of economic crisis matter for the Chinese highly skilled social and spatial mobility. Seizing on surveys, interviews and on the bodies of literature on stratification and social mobility, economic incorporation, social capital and human capital, I look at the Chinese students that graduated from universities in Great Britain and Spain. These states differ in the university tuition fees, migration policies towards the highly skilled workers and in the period of the Chinese students’ influx, thus providing an economically and socially diverse sample. My research will contribute to the literature on the relations between migrants’ social mobility, class and status background and spatial mobility, at the same time adding a transnational level perspective to the study of highly skilled Asian migration.

Public-private sector wage differentials by type of contract: evidence from Spain

The article examines public-private sector wage differentials in Spain using microdata from the Structure of Earnings Survey (Encuesta de Estructura Salarial). When applying various decomposition techniques, we find that it is important to distinguish by gender and type of contract. Our results also highlight the presence of a positive wage premium for public sector workers that can be partially explained by their better endowment of characteristics, in particular by the characteristics of the establishment where they work. The wage premium is greater for female and fixed-term employees and falls across the wage distribution, being negative for more highly skilled workers.

Classification models for neurocognitive impairment in HIV infection based on demographic and clinical variables

Objective: We used demographic and clinical data to design practical classification models for prediction of neurocognitive impairment (NCI) in people with HIV infection. Methods: The study population comprised 331 HIV-infected patients with available demographic, clinical, and neurocognitive data collected using a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Classification and regression trees (CART) were developed to btain detailed and reliable models to predict NCI. Following a practical clinical approach, NCI was considered the main variable for study outcomes, and analyses were performed separately in treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients. Results: The study sample comprised 52 treatment-naïve and 279 experienced patients. In the first group, the variables identified as better predictors of NCI were CD4 cell count and age (correct classification [CC]: 79.6%, 3 final nodes). In treatment-experienced patients, the variables most closely related to NCI were years of education, nadir CD4 cell count, central nervous system penetration-effectiveness score, age, employment status, and confounding comorbidities (CC: 82.1%, 7 final nodes). In patients with an undetectable viral load and no comorbidities, we obtained a fairly accurate model in which the main variables were nadir CD4 cell count, current CD4 cell count, time on current treatment, and past highest viral load (CC: 88%, 6 final nodes). Conclusion: Practical classification models to predict NCI in HIV infection can be obtained using demographic and clinical variables. An approach based on CART analyses may facilitate screening for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and complement clinical information about risk and protective factors for NCI in HIV-infected patients.

Polítiques de regulació de la mà d'obra a l'Europa dels noranta. El cas de Catalunya

El treball que presentem és el resultat d'una investigació sobre Polítiques de regulació de la mà d'obra. Aquesta investigació, patrocinada per la Fundació Jaume Bofill, s'inscriu en la convocatòria de beques titulada "L'Europa dels noranta" i forma part d'un projecte més ampli que pretén comparar l'estat de la qüestió sobre la gestió dels recursos humans en el marc europeu. La investigació consta de dues parts, la primera correspon al balanç sobre la situació de les relacions laborals a Espanya, mentre que la segona recull l'estudi de casos d'empreses. L'objectiu general és detectarles tendències que existeixen en allò que es coneix com a "managerial policies of labour regulation" a l'interior d'unes empreses cada vegada més caracteritzades pel recurs a la flexibilitat.

El absentismo laboral en el servicio de hostelería del Consorci Hospitalari Parc Taulí de Sabadell

Aquest document recull les principals conclusions de l'estudi "L'absentisme laboral al servei d'hosteleria del Consorci Hospitalari Parc Taulí de Sabadell". La perspectiva teòrica que orienta la investigació és la del model de producció-reproducció. Des d'aquest punt de vista, a les dimensions que habitualment s'utilitzen per tal d'analitzar l'absentisme, s'afegeix la de l'absentisme entès com a cost social de reproducció de la força de treball. L'estratègia d'investigació combina el tractament exhaustiu de les dades d'absències disponibles a l'organització hospitalària amb l'ànàlisi intensiva de les actituds i motivacions de la plantilla, juntament amb l'estudi del context organitzatiu en què es produeix l'absentisme. Metodològicament, els resultats obtinguts mostren la pertinença de l'ànàlisi de l'absentisme des de les materialitats i no des de les opinions. La tipologia d'absentisme construïda facilita la caracterització dels col·lectius absentistes, i permet observar la relació existent entre la polarització de la plantilla segons l'edat i l'estabilitat laboral i l'absentisme. Finalment, entre els factors afavoridors de les absències, es detecta l'existència d'una certa cultura absentista i la configuració de l'absentisme com a efecte no desitjat del procès de racionalització que vol presidir la constitució del Consorci.

Las mujeres en paro de larga duración en el Vallès Occidental

Aquest document recull les principals conclusions de l'estudi "Les dones en atur de llarga durada al Vallès Occidental". La perspectiva teòrica que orienta la investigació és la que considera el treball en la seva doble vessant productiva i reproductiva, entenent que la càrrega de treball reproductiu que acostumen a suportar les dones condiciona no només les seves possibilitats reals de treballar en el mercat sinó també les seves actituds davant d'aquest. Per tal de copsar la diversitat de situacions laborals i familiars de les dones en atur s'ha construit una tipologia d'oportunitats davant el mercat en la qual es consideren conjuntament la trajectòria sòcio-laboral i la trajectòria familiar de les treballadores. Els perfils tipus que n'han resultat han estat contrastats amb els resultats d'una anàlisi del mercat de treball de la comarca - dades d'oferta i demanda d'ocupació i entrevistes semi-dirigides als principals actors sòcio-econòmics. Les conclusions de l'estudi mostren l'existència d'un comportament laboral femení mitjançant per conductes pròpies de l'àmbit domèstic, per la qual cosa les estratègies de demanda d'ocupació de le dones se situen a l'entorn de la definició de le seves possibilitats professionals segons la magnitud i les característiques de la seva càrrega domèstica i la seva situació familiar. Això provoca l'acumulació de dones en el que podem anomenar una feble posició de mercat.

Arxiu de Relacions Laborals Teresa Claramunt

The "Teresa Claramunt Industrial Relations Registry" started as an initiative of the Grup d'Estudis Sociològics sobre la Vida Quotidiana i el Treball (Everyday Life and Work Sociological Research Group), with the aim of starting a compilation where could be centralized the main working papers and publication from enterprise and labour organizations, and to achieve a compilation of the edited production done by the labour ambit.