Strategic flexibility and lifelong training: a key to firm servival. The Fapi interprofessional fund case in the Marche region

The awareness of the academic and working world to consider the flexibility as the strategic lever to manage the change that is under way has focused the attention on the relevance of human resources. Infact, human resources are the fundamental element that allow a fast answer to the turbulence; nowadays the instrument that allow a quick replacing and reorganization of the human resources is the lifelong training. The training enable the generation and acquisition of new competences (expertises) and knowledge that if they are properly exploited, the firm could have the possibility to exceed the economic crisis. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the company can achieve the strategic flexibility working on human resources training in order to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. After theoretical considerations, the research question is what workers and companies think about the usefulness and effectiveness of training. A monitoring carried out in the Marche region, on the effectiveness of training through the use of interprofessional funds, shows that it has a positive impact on workers skills and competitiveness of the company, or on strategic flexibility and value creation, the primary objective to survive in turbulent environments. As a matter of fact, workers and firms agree with theoretical assumptions that training (learning) makes the more flexible. The limitations of this study are associated with a partial evaluation, in fact it should be considered with caution as the effects of training processes are difficult to assess objectively and often their impact is manifested in the medium-long time. The study concludes suggesting new topics and teaching methods to be tested in training courses, together with a regional system dedicated to the certification of skills acquired by workers and the inclusion of employers in training processes.