Industrial Prospective

Industry 4.0 is announced as a great challenge for the industry, which comes hand in hand with deep changes generated by technologies and innovative ways of producing and working.

The changes announced by the 4.0 model are not only technological and will affect many different areas, such as employment, training, but also the way in which we consume or interact. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze and even question the model from a multidimensional perspective; Assess what type of industry 4.0 we want, and make it easier for companies, workers and society to know this ecosystem of technologies, what can be expected of them and how they will change the ways of producing, working or training.

Because of this avalanche of technologies and changes that are already being implemented in the industry, it is necessary to highlight the technological characteristics of the model, but also to assess in what way and how these changes can change the way in which it is produced or worked . This multidimensional perspective, considering the different spheres and aspects that interact in the model, is the one that has been followed for the elaboration of the present work.

Stability, economic prosperity or social progress are not objectives that governments, employers or workers can obtain if they act alone. Through the Social Dialogue, a unique opportunity is offered to all of them to work together in the definition and achievement of agreements related to the creation of wealth, social and economic progress and also industrial.

Through the analysis of the contributions that from the social dialogue are incorporated into industrial measures and policies in different Spanish and European cases, the key points that drive or impede the development of each model are identified.

Policies to encourage companies to access international markets have recently become a common objective in the industrial and economic policies of advanced countries, because of their strategic value and competitiveness. This requires having an adequate response to overcome the obstacles that many companies - especially SMEs - arise in these internationalization processes.

Throughout the study are exposed, in addition to the key aspects related to the mechanisms, obstacles and costs of the internationalization processes, some European models and how they have faced the obstacles and challenges posed in the internationalization of companies in a global economy.

At present, flexicurity is sometimes invoked as one of the most solid alternatives for maintaining the European social model, since it seems to combine the granting of generous flexibility - traditionally demanded by companies - with a high level of security for workers. , also completed with the implementation of a broad coordination of social policies and creation or promotion of employment.

This study addresses the principles of flexicurity from the perspective of flexibility and security in employment that seem to favor these models, collecting some contributions derived from the successful examples that apply them. This concept is also developed in a double perspective: as a model and reference, but also as a set of objectives, techniques and measures that are part of it.

The districts of Bierzo and Laciana, in the northwest of the province of León, face a very complex economic and productive situation. To the consequences of an economic crisis that has triggered unemployment levels, has caused the general productive activity and the consumption of homes and businesses to fall, we must add the uncertainty of how to face the reduction or progressive disappearance of mining in two regions where they have traditionally formed the nucleus of their economic activity.

This study points out some strategies and mechanisms that could be used to boost the productive economy of these regions, based on an analysis of activities that could be reinvented and encouraged and others that could be a viable reference or alternative for these territories.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a recent concept that derives from the idea that companies keep not only responsibility with respect to their owners or shareholders, but also to those who are part of it - their workers - or who more directly they support it - customers, collaborators and suppliers. From European policies, on the other hand, it is advocated more and more because CSR is a central integral part of economic policy, general and sectorial production.

Throughout the study a brief review of the concept and the facets that integrate CSR is made, especially to the environmental dimension of it and some experiences and good practices in this field are reviewed that can serve as a reference to organizations and companies of Castilla y León.

The formation of industrial clusters is a tremendously effective instrument to optimize, through collaborative and summative tools, the profitability of a sector through the grouping of activity corresponding to a specialized productive area.

In the study, developed from the methodology of case analysis, we examine some experiences and models of industrial clusters of special relevance, whose trajectory can be considered successful and that can be used as a reference to assess and improve the model and trends in policy cluster in Castilla y León.

Business services are one of the activities with the greatest strategic value for developed economies. The generalized outsourcing of services and tertiary activities of intermediate consumption has become a majority behavior in companies that seek to increase their efficiency, productivity and flexibility. The main objective of this study is the exploration of the effects and processes related to competitiveness generated by the set of entities that provide advanced services in Castilla y León.

The restructuring of companies is an issue that has become increasingly important in the European public debate in recent years, both among social partners and in public administrations and even in non-specialized media.

This study aims to make a theoretical approach to this phenomenon, providing elements of reflection on the processes of restructuring of companies and analyzing the areas of action in which it occurs. In addition, some of the cases of business restructuring that have taken place in Castilla y León in recent years are analyzed.

The choice of the object of this study is determined by the importance that, in a knowledge-based economy, the Technological and Scientific Parks of Castilla y León have, and will have even more in the future, and by the need to deepen in the knowledge of employment and competence profiles of companies, technology centers, institutes, knowledge centers, etc., installed in these innovation spaces that relate technology to the productive system. The purpose of the study is to broaden the knowledge of the identifying characteristics of these, as well as analyze and interpret the situation, evaluation and trends in everything related to employment.