Liability of smallness in SMEs – Using co-creation as a method for the 'fuzzy front end' of HRM practices in the forest industry. Issue 3 (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ulvenblad, Pia; Barth, Henrik
• Is Part Of: Scandinavian journal of management. Volume 37:Issue 3(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Co-creation -- SME -- Human resource management (HRM) -- Forest industry; Industrial management -- Periodicals; Industrial management -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; Gestion d'entreprise -- Périodiques; Gestion d'entreprise -- Scandinavie -- Périodiques; 658
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2021.101159
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0956-5221

Abstract

Highlights: The "fuzzy-front end" in the development of HR management practices. Using co-creation to help SMEs in the HR development of the business. Increasing understanding for HR co-creation with an IRL multi-method approach. Abstract: This study explores the co-creation part in the early stage of need analysis and the formation of work towards formal HRM practices in the forest industry. While SMEs are shown to be of great importance for the development in society they often suffer from Liability of Smallness (LoS) especially in the area of HRM. In smaller firms, HRM practices are characterized by ad hoc and idiosyncratic solutions and less formality. In this paper, we show how co-creation can be used to develop HR practices in an SME. The overall methodological approach in this study is action-oriented research. The empirical data is collected with a mixed-method approach including documents, interviews, focus groups, observations, pulse meetings and feedback on the process and results. The co-creation process benefits from using co-creation activities to drive the process forward as well as consolidate the results during the process. Dialog, access, risk, transparency, and openness have been valuable in this process.