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Skills are increasingly identified by policy makers throughout the world as a central means to address social and economic challenges. The present study aims to look specifically at the Greek economy and evaluate through an extensive literature review the effectiveness of skill development strategies adopted by small manufacturing firms as a result of their chosen business strategy. The study seeks to explore whether the existing skill development strategies can ensure the future viability of small firms or not.

Various types of secondary data were used in this study (e.g. journal articles, books, government publications including industry statistics and reports) to outline the importance of a high‐skills strategy if living standards in advancing economies like Greece are to be improved and critically evaluate the existing skill development strategies of small industrial firms.

The study argues that the low‐skills strategy favored by most Greek small industrial firms can no longer ensure their survival. Therefore, a number of policy measures should be put forward to encourage small firm owners to move towards a high‐skills business model.

The study helps policy makers to take the required action in order to create a business environment in Greece that encourages the adoption of a high‐skills, high‐quality product strategy by small firm owners.

The study brings new insights around the effectiveness of cost‐cutting strategies in the context of an advancing country.

In an era of increasing demand for healthcare coupled with decreasing availability of highly skilled healthcare professionals, healthcare administrators are increasingly concerned with how they might recruit and retain talent. Increasingly, they are focusing on compensation strategies to support their recruitment and retention objectives. This article investigates the organizational efficiency and financial performance implications for hospitals of using a hybrid relative wage strategy to compensate their nursing professionals. Considering three types of nursing professionals, registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and nurse assistants (NAs), we investigated the effectiveness of paying market leading wages to higher skilled nurses and market lagging wages to lower skilled nurses. On the basis of prior utility analyses of the importance of pay practices at particular organizational levels, we hypothesize positive performance consequences as a result of pursuing these relative wage strategies. Using data from 352 short-term stay acute care hospitals in California, we found that a lead pay policy among RNs and a lag pay policies among LPNs and NAs were associated with higher Return on Assets (ROA) (i.e., financial performance) and shorter Average Length of Stay (ALOS) (i.e., organizational efficiency).

President Obama positions community colleges as a linchpin of federal policy on education and training for citizens adversely affected by the recession. Chief among recommended reforms is the notion of career pathways that enable students, especially non-traditional age adults, to participate in postsecondary education directed at employment.

This paper reviews the literature on career pathway reforms to describe these programs and the students who enroll in them. It also presents evidence from two third-party evaluations of federal grants supporting career pathway implementation.

Results suggest career pathway programs are spreading throughout the United States through unprecedented levels of federal funding. Adult learners are a primary target group, but more data are needed to determine on a deeper level who these students are and whether they are being well served.

This paper offers new information to help readers consider whether President Obama’s agenda will achieve its goals and positively impact college completion and economic recovery.

Segmented assimilation theory predicts that contemporary non-white groups follow three patterns of assimilation: mainstream, downward, or delayed. Yet, the homogenous treatment and primacy of ethnicity resigns all group members to a similar fate. Whereas few studies of ethnic incorporation consider both the classed and gendered nature of the labor market, this study investigates the extent to which intersectional group differences within the highly stratified American economy shape segmented assimilation trajectories.

This study introduces an intersectional approach to segmented assimilation theory. Using the 2000 census, this study examines how within group differences in skill and gender condition the hourly earnings, joblessness and self-employment participation outcomes of five ethnic minority groups from the first to the second generation, compared against US-born, non-Hispanic whites.

Findings generally support the mainstream assimilation hypothesis for all groups; a downward assimilation trajectory among Chinese men only; and a delayed assimilation trajectory for low-skilled Filipinas and high-skilled Cuban men and women. This study reveals that intra-group differences in skill and gender shape divergent segmented assimilation trajectories among members of the same ethnic group.

This study challenges the emphasis on and primacy of ethnicity in predicting segmented assimilation in favor of an intersectional approach that considers how multiple, interdependent, and intersecting dimensions of identity and not only ethnicity shape the process of economic incorporation among ethnic groups.

The purpose of this study is to elicit and analyze experts’ perceptions of management and leadership competence (MLC) and likely MLC developments and requirements in hospital contexts by 2030.

A three-round, web-based Argument Delphi process was used to gather critically discussed opposing perceptions of 33 Finnish experts, which were subjected to inductive content analysis to identify themes.

Current deficiencies in MLC and several trends (e.g. an ongoing shift towards collaborative management) and required improvements (e.g. a need to adopt more holistic approaches) were identified. However, there were some conflicting perceptions, regarding for example the desirability of fixed-term positions for managers.

The findings provide qualitative indications of a group of Finnish experts’ perceptions of MLC and requirements for its development, elicited using the Argument Delphi Method. Thus, they are subject to the usual limitations of the applied methodology and should be generalized to other contexts cautiously.

The identification of current deficiencies and future requirements for MLC may facilitate the formulation of robust approaches for improving it in hospital contexts.

The findings may be useful for improving MLC in hospitals, thereby enhancing efficiency, teamwork, safety and client satisfaction in healthcare settings.

The Argument Delphi Method has been rarely used in health management science studies and healthcare context. It is intended to develop relevant arguments and reveal reasons for differing views about focal issues, thereby providing deeper understanding of experts’ perceptions of MLC and its likely development.

This paper aims to highlight the main debates in the field of skill development in a UK context. We begin with an examination of the economic and labour market conditions and their potential implications for skill development. The supply of training and development is examined through a critique of policy developments in both initial and continuing education and training. Original survey data are used in combination with national statistical sources and other survey findings to present a picture of human resource development activity within organisations. In conclusion the paper considers the implications of national policy and economic and labour market conditions for the state, employers and the individual.

This paper aims to explore the determinants of training in micro enterprises in the context of Greece in order to understand what stimulates workplace training and learning interventions.

The research is based on interview evidence from 14 owners and nine workers of industrial micro enterprises.

The study reveals that training activities in industrial micro‐firms are significantly affected by the business strategy adopted by micro‐firms, the owner commitment towards employee training and development and the way work is organized.

Future research could be directed at investigating the variables affecting training provision in micro‐firms in the service sector in order to explore the differences that may exist between industrial and service micro‐firms.

The paper argues that a key challenge for policy makers in this area is to facilitate changes in owner attitudes, as well as alter the current institutional framework in order to encourage micro firms to adopt higher value added strategies and consequently improve their training efforts.

The study brings new ideas around the determinants of company training in micro‐enterprises, where there is limited understanding.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to older workers (OWs)’ subjective engagement in working and learning in the manufacturing industry. Workplace learning (WPL) literature rarely considers the subjective side of learning from a cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) account.

The paper adopts a CHAT-influenced perspective: learning is a cultural and collective process and a dimension of activity. Subjectivity is conceptualized through the ideas developed by A.N. Leontiev. The design takes the form of multiple embedded case studies, within two companies which approximate two types of production strategies, mass production and flexible specialization. OWs were interviewed about their professional lives.

The subjective side of WPL is differentiated by the two types of production strategies. These strategies, together with other life experiences, create different opportunities for the OWs’ subjective engagement. Motives for WPL are linked to the needs for learning in the workplace, and to the ideal image that OWs have of their workplace.

The theoretical framework requires an interdisciplinary study and leads to conclusive remarks which overcome the boundary of the educational field. More investigation is needed about the gender issue.

This paper enlarges the view on WPL for OWs by using the concept of the “object of activity” to connect industrial practices and OWs’ subjectivities. This concept has been used to explore the motivational aspects of learning in an original way. The findings of this paper will assist policy-makers to better understand WPL and the production strategies implications supported through industrial policies.

In line with the main idea of the book, this chapter deals mostly with the structural or socio-economic dimension of integration, with a special focus on labour market inclusion. The integration of immigrants in the Czech labour market is viewed from an institutional and organizational perspective. The main emphasis of the chapter is on immigration from outside the EU. The author first provides an outline of the general trends in labour migration since the beginning of the century and analyzes the impact of selected labour market–related migration and integration policies and practices. Based on an analysis of policy documents, official statistics and available sociological research, the text discusses some major challenges to the successful integration of immigrants in the Czech labour market, with a special focus on the main actors and institutions involved in the process. In her analysis of the integration process, the author discusses the regulatory (or rather restrictive) role of Czech employment offices, the symbolic (or rather ineffective) role of trade unions and, last but not least, the crucial role of Czech NGOs working with non-EU immigrants. The latter are seen as key facilitators of migrant integration and not only in terms of their operative function (e.g. working in the field and assisting immigrants) but also in advocating for immigrants' rights.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The concept of globalization has been much debated by academics, business leaders, and politicians alike for decades now, as the 1990s and 2000s in particular have seen this activity escalate. It has gone from something larger companies adopted to gain a competitive advantage to being a core competency and ultimately almost a hygiene factor for even small- to medium-sized enterprises. The belief all along has been that it enabled firms to cut costs and help innovate by using specialist offshoring partners, but lately these assumptions have started to be questioned.

This paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.