As part of its analysis in the area of HR mode of work, the article presents key practical insights and experiences of companies providing guidance for HR teams seeking new solutions in human capital management. Today, companies are undergoing constant change. Increasing customer demands, constant pressure from competitors and the threat of unexpected market entries are disruptive. These disruptive changes affect both companies and their employees. The digitization and personalization of daily life, coupled with the rapid introduction of a plethora of enabling technologies in the workplace has caused a dramatic shift in the business landscape.
In impending decades Industrie 4.0 will challenge us in how to re-invent jobs in a world where machines will take our jobs. Although plenty of research has been carried out on the strategic importance of resources, capabilities, and boundaries where knowledge must be shared and assessed, no studies have been found which looking on strategic factor analysis for understanding how prepared we are for the fourth industrial revolution. Therefore asking the central research question “Is our strategy ready for the fourth industrial revolution?” Comparing the strategically related general and significant categories and subcategories of Industrie 4.0, with the strategic factor analysis summary themes and most important subcategories from firms in Estonia (n = 123), allowed answering the central research question that our strategy is only partly ready for the fourth industrial revolution. But the results of this study indicate also that we are ready in employee development, values, flexible services and products, high quality target, customer orientation, and strategy. Proposed solutions to overcome low profitability, lack of qualified manpower, and growth, could be expanding the market share into new markets, and development of innovative services. In order to be prepared for the fourth industrial revolution the development of a strategic knowledge vision is needed.
While labour market research is not a new phenomenon, interest in it is growing. Literature frequently discusses changes in the market as separate disciplines, isolated from each other. On the other hand, it can be found that more and more scientists understand and choose interdisciplinary research as a powerful tool for understanding, critique, explanation and change. But some of these approaches have difficulty accounting for change and the co- existence of similarity and diversity, as well as being ‘gender blind’.
This article critically reviews a range of theoretical approaches to employment research and practice using the lens of feminism. The appropriate integration of gender awareness into mainstream theorizing, is advocated alongside its separate development. In addition, in this article we provide a multidisciplinary approach and attempt to integrate important aspects (knowledge, education, entrepreneurship, self-employment and informality, employment and globalization) that the analysis of labour market and research puts forward. In the light of this assessment, this paper sets out to indicate potentially useful approaches for conducting employment research in the future, where gender is a core component of analysis. Such approach aims to act as a catalyst to provoke a more extensive debate on this topic.