WP 4: Enterprise LLL

Objectives

What key LLL strategies contribute to enterprise value?

 

The main objectives are:

  • Identify and unfold the key LLL strategies employed at 50 successful enterprises, across 15 EU countries and 4 EU competitors, and across 5-6 industries.
  • Gain insight into how these strategies create value for enterprises.
  • Establish a value creation model for LLL strategies at the enterprise level, where the various links between LLL activities and enterprise competitive advantage are highlighted and evidence.

 

These objectives will directly inform a comparative analysis entitled: "Effective lifelong learning strategies at enterprise level and the scope of individual contributions: A case study analysis of 50 enterprises".

Methods applied

To address the objectives listed above and provide answers to the key question, this Work Package primarily applies the following methods:

 

  • Understanding will be sought through detailed interviews with top management of participating enterprises in combination with financial and strategic background analyses of the enterprises, supported by a Complex Problem Solving skill assessment of employees in each of the enterprises.

Interim results

Research related to this Work Package is still ongoing, but the interim results show that:

 

  • High-performing enterprises give their employees a high degree of independence, decision-making capabilities, and work design influence.
  • Mitigation of risk-aversion so as to foster more courageous and creative employee behavior can be achieved through strategic LLL and work design strategies.
  • High work flexibility and collaborative work organisation is characteristic of successful enterprise LLL strategy.
  • Non-routine work fosters stronger performance with the uncertain and unfamiliar.
  • Employee soft skills are perceived as being high contributors to enterprise competitiveness.
  • Training and education activities are still not employed to their full potential, yet there is a very high demand for them; they do not necessarily have to be integrated into enterprise strategy formally, yet activities must be recognized and ongoing.

 

We can already infer as to the effects of certain LLL strategies on enterprise competitiveness. We also have the impression that company culture and employee cultivation are foundational to creating a cohesive unit comprised of employees who understand and value their own contributions to the enterprise and its goals.