Abstract
Indian economy post-COVID 19 pandemic may witness a massive reengineering of all its economic activities. Some will cherish the change, while others will perish over time. The post-pandemic scenario will have a drastic impact across industries and sectors regardless of their scale or size. The magnitude of impact on SMEs and entrepreneurship is unfathomable considering the prevailing intensity of the crisis. SMEs should come up with plausible innovation and talented human force to sustain in the market. The enterprises should develop and nourish ‘talent culture' and should focus on ‘talent', which remains the most neglected component in Indian SMEs until today. Hence, adopting an exploratory approach with a systematic literature review, the chapter focuses on positioning the importance of talent management and its components in the SME framework to manage the post-pandemic crisis. In the process, the chapter deliberates on the key strategies for rearing SMEs through proper management of critical talent and human resources.
TopLiterature Review
Despite the economic importance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), talent management in this context is under-researched. The liability of smallness and scarce resources as typical features of SMEs require a specific definition and approach to talent management. The limited knowledge about talent management in SMEs indicates major challenges in attracting and retaining talent (Festing, Harsch, Schäfer, & Scullion, 2017). Moreover, in the present day, the success and worth of businesses depend more on intellectual capital. So, knowledge is a critical resource, for any organizational growth and sustainability. For small and medium enterprises (SMEs) the latent knowledge is seen as the principal component for success and often tends to be over guarded and that sometimes becomes detrimental to the SMEs' growth (Baporikar, 2020a; 2014). This outlook towards knowledge by SMEs has to change as there is vast room for talent management.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Dynamic Capabilities: This represents the touchpoints in the organization that the management focuses on talent development. These are the specific talent development centers of the organization.
Competitiveness: Act of competing for some honor, or advantage. A rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser but not necessarily involving the destruction of the latter. The need for global competitiveness is much important for any industry to sustain in this competitive world.
Business: Pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and industrial activities.
Development: Means “steady progress” and stresses effective assisting in hastening a process or bringing about the desired end, a significant consequence or event, the act or process of growing, progressing, or developing.
Innovation: Something new or different introduced, is the act of innovating, which includes the introduction of new things or methods. Innovation is also the introduction of a new idea into the marketplace in the form of a new product or service, or an improvement in an organization or process. The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service to create value for which customers are will to pay.
Decision-Making: A rational and logical process of choosing the best alternative or course of action among the available options.
Enterprises: The act or process of organizing; a structure through which individuals cooperate systematically to conduct business and/or the administrative personnel of such a structure.
Talent Development: The formal and informal initiatives taken by the organizations that result in the holistic development of individual talent is called talent development.
Government: The organization, machinery, or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and performs functions and which is usually classified according to the distribution of power within it and usually refers to a political system.
Competitive advantage: An advantage that firms have over their competitors, allowing them to generate greater sales or margins and/or retain more customers than their competition. There can be many types of competitive advantages including knowledge, skills, structure, product offerings, distribution network, and support.
Talent: The innate or acquired quality of an individual to excel in a particular job is called talent.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): This is a term for segmenting businesses and other organizations that are somewhere between the “small office-home office” size and the larger enterprise. Country to country this term may vary, but the basis usually is on the criteria of investment, the number of employees, and turnover, etc.
Talent Derailment: A negative impact of talent management characterized by the excessive outflow of organization talent costing both money and time of the organization.
Policy: Refers to guidelines as issued by the governance.
Talent Architecture: The structure of any talent management system in an organization that is built to enhance employee and organizational performance.