What is the meaning of ‘talent’ in the world of work?

The ongoing confusion about the meaning of ‘talent’ within the world of work is hindering the establishment of widely accepted talent management theories and practices. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on talent management by offering an in-depth review of the talent concept within the specific context of the world of work, and proposing a framework for its conceptualization. We group different theoretical approaches to talent into ‘object’ (i.e., talent as natural ability; talent as mastery; talent as commitment; talent as fit) versus ‘subject’ approaches (i.e., talent as all people; talent as some people) and identify dynamics existing within and between them, as well as implications for talent management theory and practice. Finally, we discuss different avenues for further research aimed at developing the talent—and consequently, the talent management—construct further.     

Gender,family ties,and international mobility: Cultural distance matters

This study empirically tests a model of associations between family-domain variables and willingness to accept an international assignment, and applies the general model to sub-samples of men and women to examine gender differences in the pattern of relationships. We further explore these patterns in culturally similar and culturally distant country destinations. Analyses conducted with a sample of 148 men and 79 women employed MBA graduates from dual-earner couples revealed that perceived spouse willingness to relocate, beliefs regarding spouse and couple mobility, relative income, and the presence of children are associated with willingness to accept an international assignment. Moreover, consistent with social role theory, significant gender differences in willingness were found across low and high cultural distance country destinations.     

Entrepreneurial dynamics of the self-employed and of firms: a comparison of determinants using Spanish data

Entrepreneurship is viewed at either an individual level (self-employment), or a firm level (firms’ creation) phenomenon. We also observe the self-employed and firms that hire employees and grow, and others that do not. This paper theorizes occupational and firm-creation decisions and uses Spanish data on industry, region and time to compare entrepreneurial indicators based on official statistics of the number of self-employed individuals and of the number of firms, both with and without employees. The results show that there are important differences in the patterns of the determinants of growth rates in the self-employed and in firms and, within each of them, between those that hire employees and those that do not. We establish sound arguments to recommend the highest level of disaggregation possible in entrepreneurship studies.     

Cross-Border Shopping: A Survey

The aim of this paper is to undertake a review of the most important literature on the phenomenon of fiscally induced cross-border shopping. Following the presentation of the principal theoretical models, the study concentrates on applied literature. Firstly, the elements common to the diverse applications are described, and then, a detailed analysis of the research undertaken into cross-border shopping for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, fuel, and lotteries is provided, concluding with a reference to the interaction between cross-border purchases and those effected over the internet. The results achieved by the empirical research coincide and support the principal result of the theoretical literature: the tax differentials between neighboring territories induce consumers to purchase in the territory where taxation is lower, on the condition that the tax saving compensates for the transport costs associated with the travel made by the purchaser in order to take advantage of the lower taxation.     

Determining the MSE-optimal cross section to forecast

In this paper, we address the question of which subset of time series should be selected among a given set in order to forecast another series. We evaluate the quality of the forecasts in terms of Mean Squared Error. We propose a family of criteria to estimate the optimal subset. Consistency results are proved, both in the weak (in probability) and strong (almost sure) sense. We present the results of a Monte Carlo experiment and a real data example in which the criteria are compared to some hypothesis tests such as the ones by Diebold and Mariano (1995),  and  and Giacomini and White (2006).     

Russian enterprises in mid-2011: Adaptation to the postcrisis environment

The paper analyzes and comments on the results of à regular survey of enterprises in the real sector carried out at the Laboratory of Analysis and Forecasting of Microeconomic Processes, Institute of National Economic Forecasting (INEF), Russian Academy of Sciences.     

Capture and Dissemination of Specialized Knowledge in Network Organizations

I present a model for the capture and retrieval of organizational memory that can help overcome the information dissemination problem faced by network organizations. Network organizations are made of small, heterogeneous, product-oriented teams. In these organizations, the specialization of knowledge that has characterized functional hierarchies can be lost as the functional units in which this expertise was created and shared are dismantled. The preservation and dissemination of expert knowledge thus becomes a major issue to be addressed by these organizations, whose competitive advantage depends on this specialization. The problem of capturing project-related organizational memory is addressed with a 3 step solution: (a) the use of explicit work processes; (b) the development of models capable of representing these processes, the artifacts that are developed, and the rationale used during decision making; and (c) the implementation and deployment of computer tools that support the development processes selected and that, in doing so, record and document the project. I address the problem of accessing information from projects developed elsewhere in the organization and propose a solution based on monitoring the user's manipulation of information and creating hypotheses of his or her information needs. These hypotheses are then used as queries by a fuzzy information retrieval engine that produces a ranked list of documents that are suggested to the user as being relevant to his or her information needs. As the user manipulates these documents, the hypothesis is updated, triggering a new retrieval and the update of the list of suggested documents. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated with the implementation of a prototype.