Increased mobility and a growing presence in the workforce by millennial employees are pushing sustainability to the forefront of concerns for business leaders. Especially for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with limited human capital resources and no formal succession plans. Thus, increasing the need for insight on millennial employee development to mitigate voluntary turnover. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore successful millennial employee developmental strategies employed by 3 SMEs leaders in southern New Jersey. These SMEs leaders were the ideal population with millennial employees with 3 or more years of employment and not solely family-run organizations. The unfolding model of voluntary turnover, expectancy theory, and the human capital theory was the conceptual framework that guided introspection into this phenomenon. Semistructured interviews collected data about the perceptions held by the SMEs leaders of the phenomenon in their respective organizations. Methodological data triangulation enabled the identification of evident millennial employee development themes and the basis of millennial employment development strategies as mitigation or the exertion of motivational force. The effort to answer the posed questions identified 4 prevalent themes (a) flexibility, (b) organic culture, (c) self-governance, and (d) laissez-faire leadership, which aligned with the mitigation versus motivational conceptions. The findings may contribute to societal change by broadening perceptions held by individuals and communities, particularly leaders, about millennial employees to dispel preconceived stigmas, reduce interaction ambiguities, and minimize the escalation of generational conflicts and discourse within respective communities.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa experience one of the highest failure rates in the world with 75% to 80% of SMEs failing in their first ten years. This data suggests that few small organisations in South Africa are sustainable entities and this in turn impacts on employment and the GDP of South Africa. In order to be sustainable, organisations should be learning ones (Garvin, 1993; Marquardt in Hattingh & Smit, 2004, p2). Senge’s (1990) ground-breaking model of a learning organisation identifies the disciplines companies should practice in order to contribute to their sustainability. This model, previously researched in large global companies, is used as the basis of researching a small company in a local, South African context. This study explores whether by being a learning organisation, a small company is able to sustain itself. Senge’s concept of a learning organisation includes five disciplines. These disciplines have adult and workplace learning theories embedded in them. The study attempted to identify whether the small company drew on these learning theories in day-to-day operations and practise, and if this contributed to its development as a learning organisation. In addition to learning theories, literature reviewed included factors that impact on small business sustainability in the South African context. The study reveals an interesting blend of a business management concept (“the learning organisation”) with adult education principles that give insight into developing a small company as a learning organisation. A qualitative, ethnographic case study approach was used for this study, using an interactive model to accommodate the dynamic nature of the workplace with its variety of events and activities. Data collection took place during two intensive research periods in 2008 and 2012, in a single Johannesburg-based company. A multi-method approach was used and included observations, document analysis, questionnaires, transect walks, auto-photography, focus groups and interviews. The study revealed that a small company can ensure its sustainability by being a learning organisation, even though the company did not hold the same understanding of a learning organisation that Senge (1990) did. By practising various adult and workplace learning theories, especially the theory of communities of practice, a small company can develop the disciplines of a learning organisation. Furthermore, organisations may practise the disciplines of a learning organisation organically, without specific intent, and this may assist in their sustainability.

What other means of influence exist in business other than economic? That is the question we set out to answer in regards to the fashion industry and the specific supply chain of cashmere. The cashmere industry has been described as complex, therefore the research has taken a complex adaptive systems approach to investigate how relationships between parts give rise to the collective behaviours of a system and how the system interacts and forms relationships with its environment. This paper describes a qualitative case study research conducted to identify the potential influence that a small to medium enterprises can have on their supply chain actors to steer them towards sustainability. Looking specifically at the supply chain of one Scottish cashmere manufacturer within the luxury fashion industry we have assessed this company’s current reality to the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. This paper aims to present enablers and barriers towards influence, their correlations and complexity when looking at sustainability. In addition it will provide prescriptive thoughts for SMEs to support internal and external transition through sustainable development towards a sustainable cashmere supply chain.

I denna fallstudie undersöks hur kunskapshanteringen ser ut hos ett produktionsföretag i storleksordningen litet till mellanstort, med ett egenutvecklat Enterprise Resource Planner-system, vilket vanligen enbart större företag har. Syftet är att utreda behovet av formell struktur kring företagets kunskapshantering, samt att vid behov skapa ett åtgärdsförslag med rutin och metod för att hantera kunskap och lärande inom företaget. För att samla in empiri, genomfördes kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta medarbetare på företaget som sedan transkriberades och analyserades med en abduktiv tematisk analys. Det analysresultatet som uppkom från studien, lade sedan grund för den morfologiska matris som nyttjades för att kunna prototypa de koncept som det föreslagna åtgärdsförslaget utgörs av. Vi fann inom fallstudien vikten av ett effektivt nyttjande av det mänskliga kapitalet, dokumentation och ett aktivt arbete med kunskapsbehållning inom företaget. Detta kan i kombination med implicit och explicit kunskap utveckla och förbättra en verksamhets nyttjande av sina affärsystem samt integrationen av dess dolda processer. För att hjälpa företaget att tillgodose sig detta på ett bra sett, har ett åtgärdsförslag utformats som drar nytta av de förfarande som idag redan finns och nyttjas. Vilket är goda kunskaper om företagets processer samt en väldigt god samhörighet inom organisationen som knyter an till att medarbetarnas lärande ofta sker i dialog med andra människor. / This case study examines how knowledge management looks at a small to medium-sized production company, with an in-house developed Enterprise Resource Planner system, which usually only larger companies have. The purpose is to investigate the need for a formal structure around the company’s knowledge management, as well as, if necessary, to create a proposal for action with routines and methods for managing knowledge and learning within the company. In order to gather empirical evidence, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight employees at the company, which were then transcribed and analyzed with an abductive thematic analysis. The analysis result that arose from the study then laid the foundation for the morphological matrix that was used to be able to prototype the concepts that make up the proposed action proposal. We found in the case study the importance of effective use of human capital, documentation and active work with knowledge retention within the company. This, in combination with implicit and explicit knowledge, can develop and improve a business’s use of its business systems as well as the integration of its hidden processes. To help the company accommodate this in a good way, a proposal for action has been designed that takes advantage of the procedures that already exist and are used today. Which is good knowledge of the company’s processes as well as a very good sense of belonging within the organization, which is connected to the fact that the employees’ learning often takes place in dialogue with other people.