Message-ID: <002201be0776$1dea9200$856e86a5@default> Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 16:05:50 -0600 From: Jerome Katz <mailto:katzja@SLU.EDU> Subject: Call For Papers - Human Resource Management Issues in SMEs To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Pardon cross-postings:Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice Call For Papers HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND THE SME: TOWARD A NEW SYNTHESIS
The hackneyed claim that "people are our most important asset" is finally becoming true. Global financial markets and the rapid spread of state of the art information technology have undermined the power of financial and physical capital to create sustainable competitive advantage. Instead, business will increasingly seek and find advantage through superior utilization of human resources. Human capital is widely recognized as an important component of national productivity growth, and of superior performance in the large and very large organizations favored by most strategic human resource management scholars.
Entrepreneurs and their less capital intensive firms have always relied more on human capital -- their own and others -- than have their bureaucratic counterparts. Continued skill at gaining advantages through people will be critical to continued entrepreneurial success. Indeed, worldwide consulting organizations report that the major concern of CEOs of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) relate to human resources -- particularly staffing issues, and the retention of key employees. HRM and Entrepreneurship researchers have begun to answer the call by focusing on the HRM issues in SMEs. Many studies represent "new" knowledge, in the form of new issues, new ideas, and new data.
To encourage development in this crucial domain, ET&P has commissioned a special issue on the topic HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND THE SME: TOWARD A NEW SYNTHESIS. The goal of this special issue is to provide a forum for the substantive development and testing of theory related to the issues, problems, contexts, or processes of developing or managing human resources that are unique to the SME, or best studied in such an environment. A cursory listing of relevant topics might include:
· HRM as a component of Entrepreneurial Strategy · Sources of HRM practice: strategic choice versus emergence · Recruitment and staffing issues associated with being new and small · Training practices: what's being done, what works, and what doesn't · Retention Methodologies · SME HRM Effectiveness and firm performance · SME Government Interaction on HRM Issues · Ethical Dimensions of HRM · Innovative HRM Practices and Outcomes
Prospective contributors are encouraged to contact the co-editors to discuss their ideas prior to sending in manuscripts. The format of the papers will follow the normal ET&P practices. papers are to be submitted to the co-editors by March 1, 1999. All papers will be blind reviewed by at least two researchers.
Jerome Katz, Murray Professor of Management, School of Business, Saint Louis University, 3674 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108 USA, Phone: 314-977-3864, Fax: 314-977-3897, Home Page: http://www.slu.edu/eweb , email: mailto:katzja@slu.edu .
Howard Aldrich, Kenan Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, CB#3210, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210 USA, Phone: 919-962-5044, Fax: 919-962-7568, Home Page: http://www.unc.edu/~healdric/
Theresa M. Welbourne, Cornell University, 393 Ives Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-3901, 607/255-1139, fax: 607/255-1836. mailto:tw19@cornell.edu
Pamela Williams, .School of Business, Saint Louis University, 3674 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108 USA, Phone: 314-977-3561, Fax: 314-977-3897,email: mailto:pamw@compuserve.com .
Jerome (Jerry) Katz, Murray Endowed Professor, Saint Louis University, 3674 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108 USA, mailto:katzja@slu.edu, 314-977-3864w, 314-275-8721h, 314-275-7513fax, www.slu.edu/eweb