Reluctant Entrepreneurs and their Clients The Case of Selfemployed Freelance Workers in the British Book Publishing Industry

Abstract

JOHN STANWORTH IS DIRECTOR OF THE Future of Work Research Group at the London Management Centre, University of Westminster, England; Celia Stanworth is a researcher with the Future of Work Research Group and also a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at Greenwich University Business School, England. The twin processes of large firm job loss and small firm job creation have traditionally been seen as essentially compartmentalised processes that is, jobs shed by large firms are seen as gone forever, while the jobs created by their small firm counterparts are seen in the opposite sense as completely new economic creations. However, the research reported here, drawn from the publishing industry in Britain, illustrates a more symbiotic relationship. It observes employers' changes in labour-use strategies, resulting in former in-house employees becoming externally located (homebased) and changing their employment status to 'freelance' selfemployed.

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