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- 1. Training as a Human Resource Strategy: The Response to Staff Shortages and Technological Change ArchivedArticles and reports: 11F0019M2001154Geography: CanadaDescription:
This paper examines the ways that innovation status as opposed to technology use affects the training activities of manufacturing plants. It examines training that is introduced as a response to specific skill shortages versus training that is implemented in response to the introduction of advanced equipment.
Advanced technology users are more likely to have workers in highly skilled occupations, to face greater shortages for these workers, and they are more likely to train workers in response to these shortages than are plants that do not use advanced technologies.
The introduction of new techniques is also accompanied by differences in the incidence of training, with advanced technology users being more likely to introduce training programs than non-users. Here, innovation status within the group of technology users also affects the training decision. In particular, innovating and non-innovating technology users diverge with regards to the extent and nature of training that is undertaken in response to the introduction of new advanced equipment. Innovators are more likely to provide training for this purpose and to prefer on-the-job training to other forms. Non-innovators are less likely to offer training under these circumstances and when they do, it is more likely to be done in a classroom, either off-site or at the firm.
These findings emphasize that training occurs for more than one reason. Shortages related to insufficient supply provide one rational. But it is not here that innovative firms stand out. Rather they appear to respond differentially to the introduction of new equipment by extensively implementing training that is highly firm-specific. This suggests that innovation requires new skills that are not so much occupation specific (though that is no doubt present) but general cognitive skills that come from operating in an innovative environment that involves improving the problem-solving capabilities of many in the workforce. These problem-solving capabilities occur in a learning-by-doing setting with hands on experience.
Release date: 2001-04-04 - 2. Innovation and Training in New Firms ArchivedArticles and reports: 11F0019M2000123Geography: CanadaDescription:
Recent studies have demonstrated the quantitative importance of entry, exit, growth and decline in the industrial population. It is this turnover that rewards innovative activity and contributes to productivity growth.
While the size of the entry population is impressive - especially when cumulated over time - the importance of entry is ultimately due to its impact on innovation in the economy. Experimentation is important in a dynamic, market-based economy. A key part of the experimentation comes from entrants. New entrepreneurs constantly offer consumers new products both in terms of the basic good and the level of service that accompanies it.
This experimentation is associated with significant costs since many entrants fail. Young firms are most at risk of failure; data drawn from a longitudinal file of Canadian entrants in both the goods and service sectors show that over half the new firms that fail do so in the first two years of life. Life is short for the majority of entrants. Only 1 in 5 new firms survive to their tenth birthday.
Since so many entrants fall by the wayside, it is of inherent interest to understand the conditions that are associated with success, the conditions that allow the potential in new entrepreneurs to come to fruition. The success of an entrant is due to its choosing the correct combination of strategies and activities. To understand how these capabilities contribute to growth, it is necessary to study how the performance of entrants relates to differences in strategies and pursued activities.
This paper describes the environment and the characteristics of entrants that manage to survive and grow. In doing so, it focuses on two issues. The first is the innovativeness of entrants and the extent to which their growth depends on their innovativeness. The second is to outline how the stress on worker skills, which is partially related to training, complements innovation and contributes to growth.
Release date: 2000-12-08 - Journals and periodicals: 88-518-XGeography: CanadaDescription:
The food-processing industry benefits from a wide a range of new advanced technologies. Technological advances include computer-based information and control systems, as well as sophisticated processing and packaging methods that enhance product quality, improve food safety and reduce costs. Continuous quality improvement and benchmarking are examples of related business practices.
This study examines the use of advanced technologies in the food-processing industry. It focuses not just on the incidence and intensity of use of these new technologies but also on the way technology relates to overall firm strategy. It also examines how technology use is affected by selected industry structural characteristics and how the adoption of technologies affects the performance of firms. It considers as well how the environment influences technological change. The nature and structure of the industry are shown to condition the competitive environment, the business strategies that are pursued, product characteristics and the role of technology.
Firms make strategic choices in light of technological opportunities and the risks and opportunities provided by their competitive environments. They implement strategies through appropriate business practices and activities, including the development of core competencies in the areas of marketing, production and human resources, as well as technology. Firms that differ in size and nationality choose to pursue different technological strategies. This study focuses on how these differences are reflected in the different use of technology for large and small establishments, for foreign and domestic plants and for plants in different industries.
Release date: 1999-12-20
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- 1. Training as a Human Resource Strategy: The Response to Staff Shortages and Technological Change ArchivedArticles and reports: 11F0019M2001154Geography: CanadaDescription:
This paper examines the ways that innovation status as opposed to technology use affects the training activities of manufacturing plants. It examines training that is introduced as a response to specific skill shortages versus training that is implemented in response to the introduction of advanced equipment.
Advanced technology users are more likely to have workers in highly skilled occupations, to face greater shortages for these workers, and they are more likely to train workers in response to these shortages than are plants that do not use advanced technologies.
The introduction of new techniques is also accompanied by differences in the incidence of training, with advanced technology users being more likely to introduce training programs than non-users. Here, innovation status within the group of technology users also affects the training decision. In particular, innovating and non-innovating technology users diverge with regards to the extent and nature of training that is undertaken in response to the introduction of new advanced equipment. Innovators are more likely to provide training for this purpose and to prefer on-the-job training to other forms. Non-innovators are less likely to offer training under these circumstances and when they do, it is more likely to be done in a classroom, either off-site or at the firm.
These findings emphasize that training occurs for more than one reason. Shortages related to insufficient supply provide one rational. But it is not here that innovative firms stand out. Rather they appear to respond differentially to the introduction of new equipment by extensively implementing training that is highly firm-specific. This suggests that innovation requires new skills that are not so much occupation specific (though that is no doubt present) but general cognitive skills that come from operating in an innovative environment that involves improving the problem-solving capabilities of many in the workforce. These problem-solving capabilities occur in a learning-by-doing setting with hands on experience.
Release date: 2001-04-04 - 2. Innovation and Training in New Firms ArchivedArticles and reports: 11F0019M2000123Geography: CanadaDescription:
Recent studies have demonstrated the quantitative importance of entry, exit, growth and decline in the industrial population. It is this turnover that rewards innovative activity and contributes to productivity growth.
While the size of the entry population is impressive - especially when cumulated over time - the importance of entry is ultimately due to its impact on innovation in the economy. Experimentation is important in a dynamic, market-based economy. A key part of the experimentation comes from entrants. New entrepreneurs constantly offer consumers new products both in terms of the basic good and the level of service that accompanies it.
This experimentation is associated with significant costs since many entrants fail. Young firms are most at risk of failure; data drawn from a longitudinal file of Canadian entrants in both the goods and service sectors show that over half the new firms that fail do so in the first two years of life. Life is short for the majority of entrants. Only 1 in 5 new firms survive to their tenth birthday.
Since so many entrants fall by the wayside, it is of inherent interest to understand the conditions that are associated with success, the conditions that allow the potential in new entrepreneurs to come to fruition. The success of an entrant is due to its choosing the correct combination of strategies and activities. To understand how these capabilities contribute to growth, it is necessary to study how the performance of entrants relates to differences in strategies and pursued activities.
This paper describes the environment and the characteristics of entrants that manage to survive and grow. In doing so, it focuses on two issues. The first is the innovativeness of entrants and the extent to which their growth depends on their innovativeness. The second is to outline how the stress on worker skills, which is partially related to training, complements innovation and contributes to growth.
Release date: 2000-12-08 - Journals and periodicals: 88-518-XGeography: CanadaDescription:
The food-processing industry benefits from a wide a range of new advanced technologies. Technological advances include computer-based information and control systems, as well as sophisticated processing and packaging methods that enhance product quality, improve food safety and reduce costs. Continuous quality improvement and benchmarking are examples of related business practices.
This study examines the use of advanced technologies in the food-processing industry. It focuses not just on the incidence and intensity of use of these new technologies but also on the way technology relates to overall firm strategy. It also examines how technology use is affected by selected industry structural characteristics and how the adoption of technologies affects the performance of firms. It considers as well how the environment influences technological change. The nature and structure of the industry are shown to condition the competitive environment, the business strategies that are pursued, product characteristics and the role of technology.
Firms make strategic choices in light of technological opportunities and the risks and opportunities provided by their competitive environments. They implement strategies through appropriate business practices and activities, including the development of core competencies in the areas of marketing, production and human resources, as well as technology. Firms that differ in size and nationality choose to pursue different technological strategies. This study focuses on how these differences are reflected in the different use of technology for large and small establishments, for foreign and domestic plants and for plants in different industries.
Release date: 1999-12-20
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