Human resources competencies: a key scale to assess HRCs, including items in knowledge business, functional expertise and managing change

Purpose The purpose was to produce a standardized tool in the form of a questionnaire to measure HR competencies Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data from 234 managers and experts in human resources of selected firms existing in the Yazd Industrial Town. A questionnaire was developed to assess HRCs. Findings The paper produced a key scale for assessing HRCs in three dimensions: knowledge business, functional expertise and managing change. Two items of the original 33 were dropped as they were found to be unreliable Originality/value The authors believed the developed questionnaire can be used as an appropriate scale for measuring HRCs in future research and also in organizations in Iran.

An introduction to the industrial town’s safety management (ITSM) system

BACKGROUND: In industrial towns, the dangers of each industry also poses a threat to other industries due to the proximity of different industries to each other. So there is a need for a safety management system. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to introduce a management system for managing the safety of industrial towns. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional and qualitative study was conducted in three main phases: (1) Identify the elements of the safety management systems using literature review, (2) Screening and determining useful elements using Delphi technique and (3) Determining the structure of safety management system. RESULTS: Participation of the industries and their compliance with the standards were considered as the system foundation. The networks of safety information of the industries, accident’s database, safety training, contractors, emergency management and management of the changes were placed on the foundation as the system columns. The Industrial Town’s Safety Management (ITSM) system as the system roof was placed on the columns. This structure was placed within a two-line framework including the trade secrets and program audit. CONCLUSIONS: The ITSM system consists of a set of factors that can help manage the safety of the industrial towns. This system will increase the safety level of industrial towns by incorporating some safety principles. However, the safety management of an industrial town is very complex and requires a great deal of efforts.

An agent of change against all odds? The case of Ledger in Vierzon, France

The literature in economic geography is increasingly interested in the role of human agency in local and regional development. The understanding of the role of agents of change on path development is especially critical for small- and medium-sized towns (SMSTs), which tend to be less diversified and to have fewer localised capabilities. The town of Vierzon in the Centre-Val-de-Loire region in France is a medium-sized old industrial town in a structural crisis. It is suffering from deindustrialisation, population decline, unemployment and poverty. This article takes a micro-perspective with a case study approach to explore the creation and growth of Ledger – a frontier blockchain start-up that designs, produces and commercialises hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies – against all odds in Vierzon, France. It underlines the role of a Window of Locational Opportunity, agency, chance, the broader institutional context in the location of Ledger in an unlikely place and subsequent unrelated diversification and path creation. It contributes to the debate on the interplay between agency and structure by linking agents of change in SMSTs to the broader institutional context and to the understanding of the emergence of place-based leadership.

The Impact of Entrepreneurial Education on Technology-Based Enterprises Development: The Mediating Role of Motivation

Technology-based enterprises play a paramount role in blooming a country economically. Nevertheless, according to a society’s capacity to launch such enterprises in various eras, their volume is less than expected in many economies. Therefore, establishing such enterprises is necessary for developing any country, although its innovation system contributes to establishing them. This paper considers the impact of entrepreneurial education on technology-based enterprise development, including motivation as a mediator variable, in Esfahan Scientific and Industrial Town. Despite much research investigating the correlation between entrepreneurial education and technology-based enterprises’ progress, it seems that no study has already considered this correlation with remarking the motivation as a mediator variable. This applied research follows a quantitative research design. The statistical population includes 500 enterprises in the Esfahan Scientific and Industrial Town, and for sampling, Cochran’s formula was applied (n = 217). Additionally, the researcher-made questionnaire and PLS3 software were used for data gathering and analysis. The results demonstrated that entrepreneurial education elements (including entrepreneurial skill, entrepreneurial learning, and entrepreneurial intention) positively affect technology-based enterprises’ development, considering motivation as a mediator variable. However, the impact of entrepreneurial intention on technology-based enterprises was not supported. It reveals that the entrepreneurial intention of motivated individuals could have a meaningful effect on the development of technology-based enterprises. Therefore, motivation is a critical issue to be considered by managers and policymakers while considering entrepreneurial education-related policies and initiatives.