THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

The global context for the project
  A change in paradigm : globalisation
  The development of new forms of international labour divisions
  The enlargement of the European Union
  The permanent nature of restructuring operations

The problems faced by European policy dealing with restructuring
  The “collapse” of the Lisbon strategy
  The limited progress in social dialogue

Against this background, the European Commission recently took 2 initiatives
  The creation of a community restructurings task force to compensate for the insufficiencies of the current regulatory systems
  The reactivation of the revision process for the directive on European Works Councils

THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUNDS’REQUEST (ESF)

Under the terms of article 6 of the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Commission has issued a call for proposals entitled “Innovative Approaches to the Management of Change”.

The fields covered by this call are :
  The development of anticipatory mechanisms and systems at a territorial level
  The development of anticipatory mechanisms and systems to improve the management of restructuring in a specific context (company, sector)
  The development of integrated approaches to confronting the implications of restructuring processes
  Developing and piloting specific systems and tools for supporting restructuring processes in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
  Capacity building for the players concerned

OUR RESPONSE TO THE ESF’S CALL

AgirE, Anticiper pour une Gestion Innovante des Restructurations en Europe [Anticipation for an Innovative Restructuring Management in Europe] is a 24-month project (15.11.2005 / 15.11.2007) funded by the European Union (EU), under the terms of article 6 of the European Social Fund (ESF).

AgirE is also a project involving ten European partners, all practitioners and researchers specialised in the field of restructuring : Alpha (promoter and therefore leader of the project), Sodie, EUI (European University Institute in Florence, ITALY, scientific coordinator), OSE (BELGIUM), Labour Asociados (SPAIN), Fondazione Seveso (ITALY), Alphametrics (UNITED KINGDOM), GITP (THE NETHERLANDS), PCG (GERMANY), NIWL (SWEDEN).

The AgirE project is based on two key factors :
  Case studies of restructuring processes, under the responsibility of practitioners
  Theoretical studies, undertaken by researchers
The aim being to bring together the two approaches to the problem of restructuring processes.

THE OBJECTIVES OF AGIRE

The AgirE project has given itself 3 objectives :
  Objective 1 : to draw up a typology of restructuring processes
  Objective 2 : to strengthen the capacity of players to anticipate and manage restructuring
  Objective 3 : the promotion of new methods for regulation at community level

On the basis of these 3 objectives, we wish to develop an approach that focuses on the diversity of players in order to:
  Characterise the restructuring studied (typology)
  Analyse how players have anticipated and managed the restructuring
  Put forward recommendations to the European Commission

THE INVOLVEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS IN RESTRUCTURING (1/2)

We would like players in restructuring processes to be involved in our project:
  Employee representatives, through the various bodies that represent workers (Works Councils, European Works Councils, etc.)
  Trade unions (in companies, at local, national, professional and European levels)
  The directors of the companies studied
  The representatives of local and national authorities, etc.

THE INVOLVEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS IN RESTRUCTURING (2/2)

The participation of players in this project can take any forms. They can namely :
  Accept or not the case of a particular company to be publicized and that reference could be made to it in any subsequent project work
  Take part or not in the seminars organised within the AgirE project
  Contribute actively to the elaboration of recommendations for European authorities in charge of restructuring-related-issues

This involvement in the AgirE project is an opportunity for players to share and capitalise experience, which is where future progress has to come from...

A METHOD OF ANALYSIS FOR CASE STUDIES (2/3)

In each case study, we will examine the following issues :
  Economic environment and main characteristics of the company from an economic and social perspective (1)
  Description and explanation of restructuring processes : why ? What ? How ? (2)
  Anticipation mechanisms in the firm : strategic and operational anticipation (3)
  Description of corporate governance schemes in firm (4)
  Role of various social actors, labour relations and role of bargaining in restructuring processes (5)
  Involvement of public authorities in restructuring (6)
  Handling of social issues and consequences of restructuring (7)
  Social and economic evaluation of the results of restructuring (8)
  Summary and main conclusions drawn from case studies (9)

THE CASE STUDIES ANALYSED

The restructuring-related-case studies examined by the Alpha Group are the following :

  ABN AMRO
  Alcan
  Alcatel
  Arcelor
  Azucarera
  B
  Celestica
  Dexia
  Dinosol
  Automobile equipment supplier EA
  Fehrer
  FIAT Mirafiori
  Finger Pelz
  F
  General Electrics
  GISI
  IBM
  Lejaby
  Novelis
  RKL
  SABAF
  St Microelectronics
  Ugine
  Thomson Video Glass
  V
  Zwickau

THE AGIRE SEMINAR PROGRAM IN 2007

January 15th-16th, 2007 : Brussels (BELGIUM)
General Framework for Analysing Restructuring in the European Union in Relation to the European Economy and Enterprise Strategies

March 8th-9th, 2007 : Amsterdam (THE NETHERLANDS)
Corporate Governance and Industrial Relations

April 19th-20th, 2007 : Madrid (SPAIN)
Social and Local Actors, Information-Consultation and Bargaining

June 4th-5th, 2007 : Florence (ITALY)
Role of European Public Policies on Restructuring

June 28th-29th, 2007 : Essen (GERMANY)
Social Consequences of Restructuring

January 31st-February 1st, 2008 : Bruxelles (BELGIUM)
Final Conference