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Suggests that coping with technical and organizational change is a particular challenge for small and medium‐sized companies. As a result, senior management will increasingly be required to carry out strategic further training and skills enhancement. Identifies restraints on this process as, among others, lack of systematic organization of further training; the effects of organizational structures; and differences in interpretation of managerial tasks. Concludes that it is necessary to use self‐initiative in order to develop professional skills enhancement, and in order to create the necessary organizational conditions.

The central focus of this paper is an analysis of the weaknesses of the current structural options that aim to allow older employees to continue working. The point of departure of the analysis is a reappraisal of the questions arising from the employment of older people in the internal and external labour market in Germany. In the course of the investigation it shall become clear that competencies, or rather, the lifelong development of competencies, constitute the key problem in laying the foundations for the further employment of older workers. There is however insufficient data in this field of research, since other than formal qualifications scarcely any information about employees’ skills is available. Particularly in the case of those over the age of 45, one simply “fumbles about in the dark”. When comparing the various structural options (e.g. part‐time work for older people, teamwork, HR planning for the future, etc.) competency development assumes a decisive role. Yet management of competency development in the technocratic sense proves unsuited to meet the requirements for the further employment of older employees. The organisation of competency development should rather be conceptualised as originating from the particular self‐regulating processes and mechanisms in question and should simultaneously be integrated into the company’s human resource and organisational development.

The understanding of competency development has changed to learning toward a higher degree of self-organization of the learning process. This shift leads to increased requirements on the communication processes of employees and superiors. It is postulated that the coordination between self-organization and external organization is deficient, so competency development activities often do not lead to the desired outcomes. An empirical study was undertaken in which a total of 106 companies were involved. The study investigated various expectations surrounding self-organization and external organization in large companies as opposed to SME, together with the conditions under which self-organization and external organization occur in these companies. The empirical study comes to the conclusion that large enterprises emphasize the central role of HR development for the innovation capacity of an organization more than SME. There are also different ways of combination of self- and external organization of competency development depending on the enterprise size. In contrast to the given assumption, it could not be identified that managers as HR developers can improve the success of competency development.

How are public libraries fairing in this era of tight money? Investigations into sources of financing have made two things clear. The first is the predominantly local nature of public library support, despite the attention given the array of federal and state programs implemented since the passage in 1956 of the Library Service Act, later the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA).

This volume of Advances in Applied Business Strategy (AABS) presents a collection of studies exploring different ways in which an organization's competences can be enhanced to create competitive advantage that is enduring or intendedly transitional.

The development of the moving automobile final assembly line was a major milestone in manufacturing. The techniques required to make it work are demanding, but the resulting increase in productivity is phenomenal. Consequently, and not surprisingly, some people have claimed a major role in its development. The initial date for this innovation is either July 1908, or August 1913 and credit is given to Henry Ford, Charles Sorensen, Clarence Avery, or W.C. Klann, depending on whom one reads. This paper tries to clarify what happened on these dates and who was responsible. Investigation reveals that each of these men did play a role in development of the moving automobile assembly line.

An examination of the commonalities and differences between performance management practices in the public and private sector.

A literature review of 100 publications in international academic journals over the last 20 years.

The chapter develops a framework which links the dimensions of the public/private-distinction (ownership, funding, control and type of goals) to the design and use of performance management systems (PMS). This framework subsequently informs a literature review, which can be summarised as follows: Multi-dimensionality of the PMS is core in both public and private sector organisations, but quite many private sector papers point to a financial focus at the top of the PMS, while public sector organisations show a broad variety of performance indicators, including those on societally relevant goals. In addition, a link between the PMS and strategies can be found in the public and the private sector, but the match between different strategies and PMS design is more elaborated in the private sector. These findings are largely in accordance with our expectations. The review also finds support for the assumption that performance information in public sector organisations is primarily used for external accountability reasons, while internal managerial control is the main purpose in private firms. The use of performance information is quite intensive and mostly functional in both sectors, which does not meet our expectations. Overall, the differences between performance management practices in the public and private sector are less stringent than expected.

Due to limited evidence about the importance of performance-related pay systems and no evidence about targeting in both sectors, a more focused literature review on these issues would be desirable.

Mutual learning between both sectors, for example the public sector can learn from the private sector on how to link strategy to the PMS and the private sector can learn from the public sector about serving a multitude of stakeholders in the PMS.

A comprehensive review of performance management practices in the public and private sector.

In the anticorrosion field the rise of zirconium has been remarkable, especially since the oxide zirconia was regarded for some years as the main industrial outlet as it became applied in furnace linings and in refractory crucibles. Zircon in precious stones was the sole use before this, yet a first move towards identifying zirconium came when Martin Klaproth, a most efficient analyst of his period, analysed zircon and noted the presence of a new element. While Humphry Davy failed to decompose zirconia during his work on electrolysis, Berzelius reduced a zirconium compound by reduction with potassium metal within a closed tube, thus preparing impure zirconium as a black powder.