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This paper contributes to the theory of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and innovation at small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by conducting a conceptual analysis of the question why Germany boasts by far the highest number of “Hidden Champion” SMEs. This is done by case studies from the army and public financial management of aid disbursal in developing countries. Implications for HRM at SMEs are discussed.

Conceptual analysis using case studies.

Contributing towards filling the gap concerning theoretical underpinnings of the link between HRM and innovation, we suggest that interdisciplinary work from relevant organisational case studies indicates that the concept of institutional design to provide motivational incentives may be relevant, especially concerning high performance systems with bundles of HRM practices. Specifically, the fundamental principle of subsidiarity is found to be important.

The research is broadly applicable to organisations of all kinds, as the diverse case studies indicate. We point towards tentative implications for the firms that account for the majority of the work force, namely SMEs, and among them the most successful ones, the so-called “Hidden Champions”.

HR managers can improve motivation, performance and innovation by decentralising decision-making as far as possible, while ensuring the overall organisational goals are well understood and shared, and resources are dedicated to train and educate staff. Additionally, the conception of rank-order competitions complements the institutional design.

Greater productivity and material performance as well as greater job satisfaction via larger autonomy and decision-making power on the local level can be achieved by the application of subsidiarity as key HRM configuration. This can be employed at SMEs, as discussed, but also other organisations. Further, the principle of subsidiarity and the greater emphasis on staff training and education may help reduce inequality.

Our paper contributes towards filling the gap in the literature on the link between HRM and innovation, by identifying the role of subsidiarity. We introduce an interdisciplinary perspective, with contributions from economics and psychology, among others. We also contribute to the history of HRM.

This paper aims to achieve four things: to build on recent discussion on the neglect of Frances Perkins’ contribution to the understandings of management and organization (MOS); to surface selected insights by Perkins to reveal her potential as an important MOS scholar and practitioner; to explain some of the reasons for the neglect of Perkins, particularly by MOS scholars; and to interrogate the role of management history in the neglect of Perkins and her management and organizational insights.

This paper adopts a feminist post-structural lens through which the authors focus on major discourses (dominant interrelated practices and ideas) that influence how people come to define themselves, others and the character of a particular phenomenon (e.g. management history). To that end, the authors have undertaken Foucauldian discourse analysis, where they examine various sources that collectively work to present a dominant idea of a given set of practices (in this case, management and organization studies and associated histories of the field). In Foucauldian terms, these interrelated practices constitute an archive that consists of various selected materials (e.g. the Roosevelt Library and the Columbia University Oral History Collection) and, in this case, works on and by Francis Perkins. Thus, the authors analyzed various materials for their discursive value (viz. the extent to which they produced and reinforced a particular notion that excluded, neglected or ignored women from any privileged role in MOS and management history).

The findings are discursive, which means that the purpose is to disrupt current knowledge of MOS and management history by revealing how its practices as a field of study serve to leave certain people (i.e. Frances Perkins), influences (i.e. the impact of the “settlement ethos” on the New Deal), and social phenomena (i.e. the New Deal) out of account.

The objective is to ask for a rethink of the field definition of MOS and management history, to include broader levels of social endeavour (e.g. labour, social welfare and politics) and a range of hitherto neglected theorists, in particular Frances Perkins. Achievements in labour, industry and management of organizations, credited to the New Deal, are overlooked in MOS and management and organizational history. As Secretary of Labour, Perkins researched, lobbied and ushered in critical New Deal measures which transformed working environments for men, women and children with social welfare and labour policies that contributed to the understanding of managing and organizing in the modern world.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the European and British activities of Wallace Clark and his consulting firm with public sector agencies and private firms implement Henry L. Gantt’s chart concept.

Archival records and secondary sources in English and French.

Developed to meet the shipbuilding and use needs for the Great War (World War I), the Gantt chart was disseminated through the work of Wallace Clark during the 1930s in numerous public sector and private organizations in 12 nations. The Gantt concept was applied in a variety of industries and firms using batch, continuous processing and/or sub-assembly lines in mass production. Traditional scientific management techniques were expanded for general management, such as financial requirement through budgetary control. Clark and his consulting firm were responsible for implementing a managerial tool, the Gantt chart, in an international setting.

Some firms with which Clark consulted could not be identified because the original records of the Wallace Clark Company were disposed of by New York University archival authorities. Industries were identified from the writings of Pearl Clark and Wallace Clark, and some private or public organizations were discerned from archival work and the research of French and British scholars.

This is the first study of the diffusion of a managerial tool, developed in America by Henry L. Gantt, into Europe and Britain through the contributions of Wallace Clark.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how to improve the contribution of farmers markets (FMs) to the local food economy and improve their management through a new temporary clustering management approach.

The research encompasses 78 structured interviews with farmers’ market vendors in the central coast region of California. A descriptive statistical and exploratory analysis to capture and evaluate the extent of various clustering activities currently existing in FMs is presented.

Analysis suggested an existing clustering behavior in FMs with different degrees that would enhance the role of these markets in local food economy. The improved social capital and financial performance of these markets shown in this study outperformed other cluster metrics monitored. Furthermore, there were some positive relationships between knowledge sharing (as a cluster activity) and both integration and financial activities among FMs vendors, highlighting interesting dynamics generated by the temporary nature of these clusters.

The study was based on an exploratory research design, investigating a selected number of vendors in the central coast region of California. The research does not claim to provide a comprehensive survey of all FMs.

The analysis resulted in recommendations to improve efficiency of FMs’ practices at both the management level and the strategic level. These recommendations will enhance the contribution of these markets to the local food economy. The results also expand the practical knowledge bodies of regional and local food business development. Finally, the study highlights the social role of FMs through showing social capital as one of the main clustering drivers.

This study contributes to theoretical knowledge concerning the impact of clusters on operation performance by exploring a new temporary proximity that can be added to the existing geographical and digital proximity enriching the clustering approaches debate. Furthermore, the analysis provides specific novel insights into potential operational improvements for current farmers’ market management to enhance their economic and social roles.

Our Dublin correspondent telegraphed last night:

This paper aims to investigate the introduction of rationalist concepts through Taylorization to Turkey during the early republican era, using Wallace Clark’s case of the Turkish State Monopolies.

The study uses a historical narrative approach to explore the roles of foreign experts in the transfer of rationalist and Taylorist ideas to Turkish State Monopolies (Inhisarlar Idaresi).

This study illuminates the introduction and adoption of Taylorist principles in early republican Turkey through multiple lenses. First, it underscores the era’s fervent drive for rapid modernization, rooted in emulation of Western models perceived as progressive. Second, using a historical narrative approach, this research highlights the pivotal role of foreign expertise in catalyzing and formalizing rationalization efforts.

This study makes a unique and meaningful contribution to the history of management in terms of demonstrating the international influence of the Scientific Management Movement through the neglected case of Turkey.

Since the implementation of the National Organic Program in 2002, the US organic market has grown in both scale and scope, consequently placing pressure on the organic supply chain. The crucial role of matching consumer demand for final products with farm-level production falls to certified organic handlers, the intermediary firms that process, manufacture and distribute organic products. Locating certified organic commodities and products that meet their needs, in a timely manner, is costly and challenging. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A mixed-methods study was designed to better understand organic sector supply chain relationships in the USA. Data were collected from certified organic handlers via survey and semi-structured interviews. Those interviewed were randomly selected from 153 survey respondents who expressed an interest in being interviewed. This paper presents an analysis of interviews with 26 certified organic handlers regarding the relationships with their suppliers.

Three key concepts characterize the relationships between handlers and their suppliers: closeness, support and commitment. Nearly all handler supplier relationships possess some degree of closeness, where the handler expresses interest in their supplier. The relationships follow a spectrum of intensity, where the least engaged handlers provide little support and commitment, and the most engaged handlers provide support and commitment through a long-term relationship or contract.

Research into the organic supply chain is challenging to undertake, given the proprietary nature of the relationships. As the organic market continues to grow, the relationships along the supply chain will need to evolve to allow firms to meet consumer demand.

Discusses the theories of Thorstein Veblen and C. Wright Mills on status emulation and craftsmanship. Applies these theories to the business situataion, especially public administration. Concludes that, if contamination by emulatory values and behaviours can be limited, the ideal of authentic public administration emphasizing organizational humanism and craftsmanship is still possible.

The organizational structure of the modern poultry industry that developed in the US South has been advanced as the future model of agriculture and agro-industrial globalization. This “Southern Model” characterized by asymmetrical power relationships between the integrating firms and production growers and reliance on informal labor patterns in processing is being diffused to other countries. Research on the diffusion of this model deserves special attention from those concerned with the socio-economic implications of the globalization of the agri-food system. This chapter first provides an overview of the industrialization of the poultry industry in the United States, then documents the diffusion of this model globally and in Mexico through the activities of Tyson Foods, Inc. and Pilgrim's Pride, Inc. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the relationship between neoliberal restructuring in Mexico and the globalization of the poultry industry.

Technical education in the twentieth century played an important role in the cultural life of Australia in ways are that routinely overlooked or forgotten. As all education is central to the cultural life of any nation this article traces the relationship between technical education and the national social imaginary. Specifically, the article focuses on the connection between art and technical education and does so by considering changing cultural representations of Australia.

Drawing upon materials, that include school archives, an unpublished autobiography monograph, art catalogues and documentary film, the article details the lives and works of two artists, from different eras of twentieth century Australia. Utilising social memory as theorised by Connerton (1989, 2009, 2011), the article reflects on the lives of two Australian artists as examples of, and a way into appreciating, the enduring relationship between technical education and art.

The two artists, William Wallace Anderson and Carol Jerrems both products of, and teachers in, technical schools produced their own art that offered different insights into changes in Australia's national imaginary. By exploring their lives and work, the connections between technical education and art represent a social memory made material in the works of the artists and their representations of Australia's changing national imaginary.

This article features two artist teachers from technical schools as examples of the centrality of art to technical education. Through the teacher-artists lives and works the article highlights a shift in the Australian cultural imaginary at the same time as remembering the centrality of art to technical education. Through the twentieth century the relationship between art and technical education persisted, revealing the sensibilities of the times.