Informal learning and work engagement among older workers

Purpose Transfer of key skills and knowledge between older and younger workers remains vital for ongoing firm success. The effectiveness of this process can be increased when organizations provide opportunities for informal learning that serve to heighten levels of work engagement among older employees. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Transfer of key skills and knowledge between older and younger workers remains vital for ongoing firm success. The effectiveness of this process can be increased when organizations provide opportunities for informal learning that serve to heighten levels of work engagement among older employees. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers’ hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Sustainable Development in Family Firms

This chapter outlines the relevance of sustainable development as a key for family firm success and its ability to guarantee long-term survival and spread positive effects in social, economic, and natural environments. By particularly analyzing a single case study of a Sardinian family business, this work explores the intertwined relationships among sustainability, owner innovativeness, and firm success. Moreover, the importance of family businesses and the scarcity of the study conducted to date have suggested a focus on how these companies tackle sustainability challenges.

Matching and Winning? The Impact of Upper and Middle Managers on Firm Performance in Major League Baseball

We investigate the joint impact of managers at different hierarchical levels on firm performance in Major League Baseball. We separately quantify the contribution of upper and middle managers and the impact of their match quality—the degree to which managers cooperate effectively across layers to impact firm success. We establish that match quality is a statistically significant and economically meaningful driver of firm performance. Higher-quality managers tend to be matched together across levels and achieve higher match quality during their joint employment. Match quality does not improve over the length of a joint employment spell, but lower match quality is found in pairs with more divergent educational attainment and prior strategic approaches. Hence, match quality is partly innate, and manager pairings may have difficulty improving their cooperation through learning. When we control for match quality, we find significantly lower estimates of heterogeneity in manager ability compared with commonly used estimators of managerial impact. Still, both middle and upper managers retain a meaningful impact on firm performance. This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.

Sustainable Development in Family Firms

This chapter outlines the relevance of sustainable development as a key for family firm success and its ability to guarantee long-term survival and spread positive effects in social, economic, and natural environments. By particularly analyzing a single case study of a Sardinian family business, this work explores the intertwined relationships among sustainability, owner innovativeness, and firm success. Moreover, the importance of family businesses and the scarcity of the study conducted to date have suggested a focus on how these companies tackle sustainability challenges.