CUFE-BS Academic Seminar: Digitally-enabled innovation in a socially responsible way: the role of the state and firms as key institutional actors for human resource development
Time:22 November2019,9:00-11:00 AM
Location: Room 615, CUFE Business School
Speaker: Professor Fang Lee Cooke
Dr.Fang Lee Cooke (PhD, University of Manchester, UK) is Associate Dean (Graduate Research) and Distinguished Professor of Human Resource Management (HRM) and Asia Studies at Monash Business School,Monash University, Australia. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.Previously, she was a full professor (since 2005) at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief ofInternational Journal of Human Resource management; Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resourcesand Associate editor ofHuman Resource Management;International Business Review; Gender, Work, and Organization;andAsian Business and Management;Senior Editor ofAsia Pacific Journal of Management; and Regional Editor ofGender in Management: An International Journal. Fang’s recent research projects include: employee resilience, HRM in the care sector, including healthcare, aged care and disability care; and digitalization and implications for skill, employment and HRM. Fang is the recipient of the Dean’s Award for PRME Research Excellence (2018) and the 2011 Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Australia. She was also a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Scheme) Visiting Professor,Georg-August-Universität Goettingen, Germany (2016).
Abstract:
Drawing on empirical evidence of recent developments in the global context, this presentation explores the role of the state and multinational firms as two powerful institutional actors in shaping the adoption of digital technology at macro and micro levels, with implications for human resource development (HRD) and decent work across different sectors and workforce groups. At the macro level, it examines the role of the state as a regulator, promoter and user of digitally-enabled innovation in its governance. It illustrates how the state and multinational firms can join force in shaping urban management, and in doing so, triggers public management transformation with new skill needs and innovative thinking in public management. The presentation shows that the alliance of power between political and business elites, empowered by technology, determines what businesses the municipality may attract and become competitive in – such decisions are often influenced by their cognitive limitations and development agenda. As such, each city/region will have its own industrial clusters, investment environment, economic characteristics and labor market behavior, which consequently shape human resource management (HRM) practices, including the capacity to attract and retain talent from other regions.At the micro level, the presentation also critically assesses some of the radical strategies large firms adopt in harnessing creative talent through an open innovation system. These strategies call into question the relevance of existing strategic HRM theories and practices on the one hand, but also sow seeds of risks in terms of the firm’s sustainable resources on the other. The intention of the presentation is to highlight new developments in some parts of the world and stimulate research efforts to capture these new phenomena and to conceptualize HRD in more innovative angles.
