Managing People in Small and Medium Enterprises in Turbulent Contexts


Book Description

Managing People in Small and Medium Enterprises in Turbulent Contexts explores a range of human resource management (HRM) issues specific to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on a series of research studies and secondary sources of data, the book’s primary aim is to contextualise HRM issues in SMEs operating in a variety of national economic contexts that are (or have recently experienced) a turbulent situation. SMEs are the backbone of these economies. It is therefore critical that we study HR practices and concepts within such enterprises. The book covers HR practices in SMEs, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, performance evaluation and employee relations, by focusing on three types of turbulent economies: emerging market economies in Asia, the Pacific, Africa and Latin America; transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe; and crisis contexts in Southern Europe. Managing People in Small and Medium Enterprises in Turbulent Contexts is a useful resource for organisations, practitioners, academics and scholars in the fields of HRM, employee engagement, small and medium business management and other related disciplines.







Critical Issues in Human Resource Management


Book Description

By problematising core HR topics and presenting significant new developments in the field, this engaging textbook will enable students to develop a nuanced and critical approach to HRM. It integrates students' understanding of the key operational aspects of HRM with the wider institutional, social, political and economic contexts in which they occur, covering important and emerging topics such as intersectionality, wellbeing, international migration, globalisation and corporate governance. Theoretically-rigorous and rich in pedagogy, this textbook will hone students' critical thinking skills, allowing them to confront higher level problems faced in HR and deal with complex real-world HR situations. A range of topical international case studies – ranging from iPhone factories in China to contemporary US politics – places HR issues in a comparative, global context. This is an essential textbook for upper-undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students studying contemporary or critical issues in HRM. It can also be used as a supplementary text by those wanting to deepen their knowledge of HRM and by practitioners keen to understand how core HRM topics intersect with wider contemporary and global issues.




HRM 5.0


Book Description




Small Business Management and Control of the Uncertain External Environment


Book Description

This edited collection investigates the potential impact of long-term planning and strategic awareness on the ability of SMEs to remain competitive. The authors demonstrate that whether SMEs are able to identify and act upon external forces and factors, or not, is the defining indicator of their likelihood to struggle, survive, or thrive.




Competitive Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises


Book Description

This book is a timely guide for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) researchers, policy makers and strategists. SMEs are the most important sources of job creation and local development especially in knowledge-based economies. As turbulence in the globalized economies expands SMEs will have to learn to sustain competitiveness by developing their ‘dynamic capabilities’. Based on the findings of a 4-year European and Latin American research project, this book provides a theoretical framework, practical instruments and cases on how SMEs in diverse economic, social and cultural contexts can develop crisis resilience, increase agility, innovate and thus successfully compete in turbulent times.




Business Transfers, Family Firms and Entrepreneurship


Book Description

‘Business transfer’ refers to the transfer of ownership and leadership from one or more outgoing owner-manager(s) to one or more incoming owner-manager(s). Apart from all the company's material assets, it presupposes that information, relationships, know-how and social capital are also transmitted from one to the other. While much of the research on entrepreneurship has focused on new business ventures, few studies have considered business transfers as an alternative way of embarking on entrepreneurial activities. Business Transfers, Family Firms and Entrepreneurship provides the international community with a more comprehensive state-of-the-art of business transfer studies, which will enrich readers’ understanding. The business transfer is examined through different prisms: family businesses, internal business transfers to employees, external business transfers, and woman in business transfers. This book deals with business transfer as a whole, following a logic of continuity and sustainability for the transferred firm. It offers a refreshing point of view on business transfers, in terms of both the process and the actors, and from both the seller’s and the buyer’s sides. It presents the research on all types of business transfer including internal and external transfers and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of entrepreneurship, small business management, family business, and strategic management. It can also be instructive for practitioners and stakeholders involved in a business transfer.




How Small-to-Medium Enterprises Thrive and Survive in Turbulent Times


Book Description

Political and financial upheaval is not a new phenomenon – from the tulip bulb bubble in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century to Black Monday in 1987, businesses throughout history have worked to adapt and cope. However, today’s climate is even more fraught with crises, raising the levels of concern for business, society, and governments. It especially poses a challenge for small businesses, who have to learn to cope with this increasingly turbulent environment, dealing with the difficulties and taking advantage of the new opportunities that turbulence can provide. Understanding how resilience capabilities can be developed to promote sustainable business is imperative. This book provides a new paradigm for conceptualizing resilience capabilities and advances current understanding both theoretically and practically in real-world business settings. Examining the processes of resilience during different phases of crisis reveals why businesses either fail, or outperform their counterparts during times of turbulence. Based on in-depth empirical research, researchers and advanced students in small business, strategic management and risk management will find this an invaluable guide to organizational resilience.




Work Organization and Human Resource Management


Book Description

This book provides support to academics as well as managers, who deal with policies and strategies related to work issues. Effective work practices and good employee relations are a real necessity of nowadays organizations, as they can help to reduce absenteeism, employee turnover and organizational costs. Instead, they support high levels of commitment, effectiveness, performance as well as productivity. The book focusses on the implications of those changes in productivity and organizations management. It explores the models, tools and processes used by organizations in order to help managers become better prepared to face the challenges and changes in work and consequently, in the way how to manage todays' organizations.




Organizations and Management in Cross-Cultural Context


Book Description

*Winner in the Management and Leadership Textbook Category at CMI Management Book of the Year Awards 2015* An ideal course text for Organizational Behaviour, Human Resource Management or Cross-Cultural Management courses. Chapters present the fundamental theoretical approaches in all key areas including leadership, ethics and change, and then explore them in the context of culture and cross-cultural management. Encourages self-reflection and critical appraisal through a series of questions and scenarios designed to get you thinking like a manager working with an international team. Provides practical guidance on tackling the most complex issues facing managers today. Contains insights into the experiences of real employees working in a multicultural environment. The companion website provides a wealth of additional material to support students and teachers alike.