A resource‐based perspective on human capital losses,HRM investments,and organizational performance

Reversing the focus on human capital accumulations in the resource‐based literature, the authors examine the issue of human capital losses and organizational performance. They theorize that human capital losses markedly diminish the inimitability of human capital stores initially, but that the negative effects are attenuated as human capital losses increase. They argue further that these effects are more dramatic when human resource management (HRM) investments are substantial. As predicted, Study 1 shows that the human capital losses (voluntary turnover rates)‐workforce performance relationship takes the form of an attenuated negative relationship when HRM investments are high. Study 2 shows stronger curvilinear effects of voluntary turnover rates on financial performance via workforce productivity under these conditions. Implications for resource‐based theory and strategic HRM are addressed.     

Higher Level Skills Training: Meeting the Needs of Small Businesses

In order for businesses to remain competitive it is suggested that across industry there is a requirement for ‘higher and broader’ skills. Universities have an important role to play in satisfying the need for higher level skills training for businesses of all sizes. With respect to small firms, the training and development provided by universities has traditionally been founded upon an educational/large firm model. In order to make significant in-roads into the small firm training market it is argued that universities need to attend more closely to the specific needs of client organisations. One way in which the small firm higher level skills training market can be segmented is in terms of sector. The present study examines the higher level skills training needs of a sample of UK small firms from the perspective of sectoral variations. Differences between firms occupying different sectors were observed in terms of funding of training, responsibility for training and types of higher level skills training undertaken. Attitudes towards universities as training providers were generally favourable with little inter-sectoral variation. It is argued that these findings need to be taken into account if universities are to address the real, as opposed to perceived or presumed, needs of small businesses. A systematic-collaborative model of the customer-supplier relationship for the small firm training market is put forward.     

Risk aversion and land allocation between annual and perennial crops in semisubsistence farming: a stochastic optimization approach

This article analyzes the effect of production uncertainty on farmland allocation decisions between perennial and annual crops, focusing on a representative farmer's attitude toward risk. A dynamic stochastic optimization model that considers net planting—the difference between new plantings and removals of perennial crops that achieve full production cycle—is used. The effect of uncertainty on the representative farmer's decisions to increase or decrease perennial crops’ acreage, on the optimal path, is examined. Our results reveal that the response of optimal path of net planting to uncertainty related to perennial crop production is highly affected by the farmer's attitude toward risk. A risk‐averse or a low‐risk loving farmer tends to reduce land allocation to perennial crops under uncertainty, while a high‐risk loving farmer will do exactly the opposite. Also, due to disutility of farming, the farmer tends to reduce land allocation to perennial crops when prices are high enough for him to attain a desired income level expectation. One implication of this research is the need for mechanization—in sub‐Saharan countries in particular—that increases per‐acreage yield and output in semisubsistence agriculture.     

Full circle support: unpacking the relationship between women entrepreneurs’ family-to-work support and work interference with family

With an anchoring in conservation of resources theory, this study examines the mediating role of women entrepreneurs’ work-related emotional exhaustion in the relationship between their family-to-business support and work interference with family, as well as the moderating role of the entrepreneurial character of their company’s strategy in this process. Survey data collected from women entrepreneurs in Argentina indicate that a notable reason that business support received from the family diminishes work interference with that same family is that it abates the sense of being overburdened by work. This benefit of reduced exhaustion is especially prominent to the extent that women entrepreneurs pursue an energy-consuming, entrepreneurial strategy for their business. For entrepreneurship scholars and practitioners, this research accordingly reveals a critical channel through which supportive family relationships can decrease the probability that women entrepreneurs bring work challenges home (i.e., diminished depletion of work energy), and it shows how this explanatory factor varies with the strategic profile they adopt for their business.

     

CAPITAL STRUCTURES IN EMERGING STOCK MARKETS: THE CASE OF HUNGARY

This paper studies developments in the Hungarian capital markets during 1992–95 and investigates the determinants of the capital structures of companies listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange. Hungarian companies had very low leverage ratios. Empirical findings indicate that the negative relationship between leverage and proportion of tangible assets was primarily caused by the lack of long‐term debt financing. The relationship between leverage and the size of the company provides some indication of the importance of trade credits for the companies. The more profitable companies had less debt than less profitable ones. This is attributed to the firms’financial incentives aggravated by the segmentation of Hungarian credit markets and credit rationing within the financial environment. Manufacturing firms and firms with the state among their major shareholders enjoyed higher levels of debt financing relative to other companies.