Capital Intensity and Labour Productivity in Waste Companies

Martina Novotná, Ivana Faltová Leitmanová, Jiří Alina and Tomáš Volek
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Martina Novotná: Department of Applied Economy and Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Studentská 13, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Ivana Faltová Leitmanová: Department of Applied Economy and Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Studentská 13, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Jiří Alina: Department of Applied Economy and Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Studentská 13, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Tomáš Volek: Department of Applied Economy and Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Studentská 13, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: At first glance, it might seem that the economic aspects of sustainability in terms of waste management have resolved themselves already in areas of activity. In reality, however, companies in this area also need to address how to ensure their future operations. The primary priority for companies in the area of waste disposal is to provide efficient collection, sorting, and recycling, effectively using company resources. The goal of this paper was to explore the relation between capital intensity and the productivity of labour in companies in the waste sector in the countries of the Visegrad Group (V4), and consequently, to define the bonds among economic indicators in the form of the economic normal. The study used data from 875 enterprises from the V4 countries, which were divided into categories according to the development of capital intensity and labour productivity. This study found that companies mainly implement modest investment development, which was characterised by the high effectiveness of capital usage, diminishing labour productivity, low labour endowment, but at the same time, increasing profitability. The reason for the labour productivity decrease was due to the growing proportional cost of labour. This trend was typical for most of the large-sized and middle-sized companies, whereas for most small companies, there was a dominant severe capital development with decreasing labour productivity and relatively high profitability of incomes. The smallest representation takes companies with capital-intensive development with the positive development of all monitored economic indicators.

Keywords: waste; capital–labour ratio; labour productivity; economic normal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10300-:d:459503

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