| 1. |
- Achtenhagen, Claudia, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of digital technologies on vocational education and training needs An exploratory study in the German food industry
- 2019
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Ingår i: Education + Training. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0040-0912 .- 1758-6127. ; 61:2, s. 222-233
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Currently, the hype surrounding digitalization proclaims that the way in which companies create and capture value will change dramatically. Companies that adjust their business models to embrace digital technologies will need different skill sets and competences. Current research tends to focus on the impact of digital technologies on corporations or more generally the labor market, but the authors lack detailed insights into how companies perceive this development to influence their needs regarding employee qualifications. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how companies perceive the impact of digital technologies on the education and training needs of current and future employees.Design/methodology/approach - This study draws on eight case studies from the food industry. It focuses on one occupation certified within the German “dual system” of vocational education and training (VET), the machine and plant operator with focus on food technology.Findings - The findings suggest that the impact of different digital technologies on employees’ job positions, working tasks and training needs is carefully considered in decisions regarding the implementation of digital technologies. Despite some company- specific contingencies, the perceived implications for VET needs are largely similar across the sample.Originality/value - This study draws attention to the importance of reviewing VET needs in relation to the decision of implementing digital technologies.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Co-evolution at the Interface of a Family Firm and its Niche
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The interface of the organization and its industry constitutes a vital space for development. Conducting a systematic literature review, we confirm that management research has paid rather little attention to exploring the relationship between the industry context and family business management to date (see also Le Breton Miller & Miller, 2015). Despite this lack of research, many scholars and practitioners alike could name numerous family businesses that hold world class in their niches. Given the pace of environmental changes, there is a clear need to better understand the interface of family business and industry over time. Building on our findings from a longitudinal, in-depth case study of a 4th generation family business and its niche of high-quality Scandinavian Design furniture, we propose a multi-level model of co-evolution that comprises not only the micro- and macro-levels of family business and its industry, but also the meso-level of inter-actor cooperation in its market niche.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, et al.
(författare)
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Fostering growth through business development : Core activities and challenges for micro-firm entrepreneurs
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Management and Organization. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1833-3672 .- 1839-3527. ; 23:2, s. 167-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a concept stemming from practice, business development has received scarce academic attention. In this paper, we explore core business development activities of micro-firms and the challenges they perceive in conducting them. Based on interviews with 30 micro-firms, we identify three core business development activities that leverage the firm's resource base, complemented by three support activities that secure and organize the firm's resources. We find the business development activities to be tightly related to the three practices of leveraging, securing and organizing resources. We also identify three important contextual influences on business development in micro-firms: industry, age and if the firm is in an incubator. Our findings contribute to developing a conceptualization and theorization of business development for micro-firms, which is relevant as the vast majority of companies worldwide are micro-firms, but many never embark on a growth path. Based on our results, we outline practical implications, for example, how companies could overcome their perceived lack of time and an agenda for future research encouraging further studies comprising micro-firms with different qualities.
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| 6. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, et al.
(författare)
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Games in entrepreneurship education to support the crafting of an entrepreneurial mindset
- 2015. - 1
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Ingår i: Economics. - : IGI Global. - 9781466684683 - 1466684682 ; , s. 34-52
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- An increasing number of education institutions, including many universities and colleges, are offering entrepreneurship education. This development is driven by the hope that more entrepreneurs could be "created" through such efforts, and that these entrepreneurs through their newly founded ventures will contribute to economic growth and job creation. At higher education institutions, the majority of entrepreneurship courses rely on writing business plans as a main pedagogical tool for enhancing the students' entrepreneurial capabilities. In this chapter, the authors argue instead for the need for a pedagogy that focuses on supporting students in crafting an entrepreneurial mindset as the basis for venturing activities. They discuss the potential role of games in such entrepreneurship education and present the example of an entrepreneurship game from the Swedish context, which was developed by a group of young female entrepreneurs. The authors describe the game and discuss their experiences of playing it with a group of novice entrepreneurship and management students at the master's level, and they review the effectiveness of the game in terms of how it supports students in crafting an entrepreneurial mindset. The authors conclude the chapter by outlining how entrepreneurship games could be integrated into a university curriculum and suggest some directions for future research. © 2015, IGI Global. All rights reserved.
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| 7. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, et al.
(författare)
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Growth strategies in medium-sized companies - Beyond the dichotomy of organic versus acquired growth
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current research commonly investigates two different growth strategies, organic growth and growth by acquisitions. Studies on acquisition-based growth typically draw on cross-sectional quantitative studies of large US-based firms, treating all types of acquisitions as one mode. Our study takes a different approach, and explores different growth strategies of a smaller sample of medium-sized companies drawing on a longitudinal, qualitative design. This research design allows us to identify eight different growth modes. Thereby, we illustrate that dynamic growth processes in medium-sized firms are much more diverse and complex than commonly assumed.
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| 8. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, et al.
(författare)
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Introduction
- 2016
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Ingår i: Entrepreneurship and SME Management Across Africa. - : Springer. - 9789811017254 - 9789811017278 ; , s. 1-6
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter provides an introduction to this edited volume and its main themes Context, Challenges, and Cases. It briefly introduces the different chapters included in each of these themes.
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| 9. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Introduction — management challenges in Africa
- 2017
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Ingår i: Management challenges in different types of African firms. - Singapore : Springer. - 9789811045356 - 9789811045363 ; , s. 1-9
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This introductory chapter addresses manangement challenges across different types of African organizations. Based on a literature review of how management challenges in Africa have been studied to date, it introduces this volume´s three parts - Practices, Processes and Performance. It also gives a brief insight of the chapters that discuss these challenges in detail.
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| 10. |
- Achtenhagen, Leona, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Invisible struggles : The representation of ethnic entrepreneurship in US newspapers
- 2015
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Ingår i: Community Development. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1557-5330 .- 1944-7485. ; 46:5, s. 499-515
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How entrepreneurship is portrayed in media can play an important role for how attractive it is perceived as a career and/or investment option. Communities need people of all ethnicities to be interested in starting businesses because economic development is tied so closely to community development. To date, little to no community development literature has been published about how newspapers frame ethnic minority entrepreneurs and how that might affect the community. This article examined such framing and its implications. This article presents a textual analysis of how ethnic minority entrepreneurship is represented in US newspapers included in the LexisNexis Academic Database from 2003 to 2008. Overall, ethnic minority entrepreneurship, including the struggles the entrepreneurs face, is almost invisible in the newspapers, despite its importance for the economy. From the articles that were published in this field, important patterns were identified. The article concludes with suggestions about how community development officials can assist ethnic minority entrepreneurs.
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