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The aim of this chapter is to ascertain the degree to which a training policy developed through corporate training centers is recognized as a source of competitive advantage for attracting, developing, and retaining valuable staff. The fieldwork is based on a survey of Human Resource (HR) managers from 66 cooperatives of the Spanish Mondragon cooperative group. The empirical test carried out confirms that Mondragon's training policy, backed up by its corporate training centers, is perceived by HR managers as a tool that provides advantages to attract, develop, and retain valuable human resources. The results also suggest that those advantages are more moderate than has been cited in classic literature on Mondragon. The results of this study can be helpful for the growing number of companies choosing to create and reinforce corporate training centers. The link between training policy and the perceived ability to attract and retain valuable employees showed in this case can also be helpful for other companies that, as Mondragon, face limitations in wage policy. This chapter contributes to the literature on the educational fabric of Mondragon adding updated empirical evidence and incorporating the point of view of HR managers of the group's cooperatives. With respect to the contribution of this chapter to the literature on training policy, the chapter's findings, in particular those regarding the effect of training on worker attraction and retention, add empirical evidence to the few studies on the subject.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the French reform of employees’ access to lifelong learning by addressing the issue of the relationship between corporate training policy and employees’ capability to aspire for learning.

The investigation is based on the French linked employer‐employee survey DIFES1, which allows for responses from employees and human resource management to be analysed together. From a mixed ascending hierarchical clustering, the paper highlights the different ways in which the reform was applied within firms, and identifies capability‐friendly backgrounds. From bivariate probit models, it examines what factors affect employees’ capability to aspire.

First, the results identify 10.5 per cent of French firms as capability‐friendly. Second, it reveals that the capability to aspire is even more influenced by the environment as shaped by the corporate training policy than by professional pathways, occupational groups and other determinants, whilst training experiences themselves have no influence. Third, it raises the key issue of capability for voice as a matter of fundamental importance.

Because of the cross‐sectional nature of the survey, the research is not able to address the temporal dynamics of the capability to aspire, how it evolves over time.

In contrast to political pronouncements attributing employees’ lack of aspiration to a personal inclination, the results show how corporate training policies may increase employees’ capability to aspire for training by making it a collective issue and provide insights to combat adaptive preferences.

The research provides, for the first time, an understanding of the relationship between corporate training strategies and the capability to aspire.

This study sets out to explore questions such as: “Does mission statement matter? If so, in what ways?” Using data on mission statements of 128 large Japanese firms, the paper aims to show that corporate mission has a significant impact on corporate policies that determine employment, board, and financial structures.

The paper provides evidence that strong‐mission firms are more likely to retain incumbent employees, promote managers from within firms, and have less debt and a higher percentage of interlocking shareholdings than weak‐mission firms.

The evidence supports the view that strong‐mission firms value their organizational capital and thus tend to adopt policies to preserve it. It also confirms that corporate mission and its embedded policies contribute to better corporate performance. The paper suggests that the effect of explicit corporate mission and its implementation has practical impacts in corporate policies and business outcomes.

The sample is based on firms from Japan. The criteria used to discriminate between strong mission and weak mission firms need further refinement with more rigorous sub‐dimensions. In the Japanese context the percentage of inside directors is an important indication of internally promoted managers – one might argue that a measure of external pressures (e.g. law, codes, investors, etc.) might be a better one. The small number of cases and the richness of statements need a richer qualitative analysis in the future.

The empirical results provide helpful insight on the organizational behavior of Japanese firms during the long economic downturn from the 1990s to 2000s in Japan and an insight on what to do in view of the challenges facing Japanese firms.

The paper presents a model that clarifies the role of mission statement. The extensive literature review includes a diverse set of papers on the role of mission statement. The empirical results suggest how strong Japanese corporate mission, expressed in mission statements, might have impact on corporate outcomes through the formation and utilization of Monozukuri.

To ensure business continuity the security of corporate information is extremely important. Previous studies have shown that corporate information is vulnerable to security attacks. Companies are losing money through security breaches. This paper describes an MSc project that aimed to investigate the issues surrounding corporate information security management. Postal questionnaires and telephone interviews were used. Findings indicate that companies are not proactively tackling information security management and thus are not prepared for security incidents when they occur. Reasons for this lack of action include: awareness of information security threats is restricted; management and awareness of information security is concentrated around the IT department; electronic information is viewed as an intangible business asset; potential security risks of Internet access have not been fully assessed; and surveyed companies have not yet encountered security problems, and therefore are unprepared to invest in security measures. The recommendations include that companies: carry out a formal risk analysis; move information security management from being an IT‐centric function; and alter perceptions towards electronic information so that information is viewed as a valuable corporate asset.

The development of training in industry, commerce and the public sector during the last 25 years is discussed, with reference to the role of training officers, external services available to organisations, and the involvement of line managers in training their subordinates. Constraints on training are addressed and key issues are detailed, including the need for individually designed corporate training policies, the role of external training agencies, the recruitment of qualified staff and the measurement of training performance. Finally, an itemised agenda is recommended for adoption by developing countries and bilateral and international funding agencies to improve organisational training and project success rates.

The aim of this article is to gain insight into some of the factors that determine personnel‐training efforts in companies introducing advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs). The study provides empirical evidence from a sector with high rates of technological modernisation.

Ad hoc survey of 90 firms in the manufacturing sector with advanced manufacturing technologies in production processes.

Managerial decision to develop training is determined by a factor that is extraneous to the investment in new production technologies, that is to say, recruitment policies. As for the existence of a specific training budget, implementation of AMTs does not appear to determine a company's decision to allocate specific budget items to personnel‐training programmes. It is concluded that training policies are strongly influenced by factors outside the inner context of the organisation.

Similar research could be conducted on informal corporate training, working with additional variables to determine how they affect company training policies. The propositions were tested in a specific industry and area. Further research would be convenient in different regions and sectors.

Contributes to the literature in human resources about the adaptation of human resources strategy to necessary changes in the workplace.

The purpose of this tri‐sectoral comparative study is to analyze the scope and content of vocational training policies, and their practical implications and outcomes for employers and employees at three French‐based companies, one in the pharmaceutical sector, the second in the consultancy and information technology sector, and the third in the automobile industry.

The paper is a qualitative study and relies on a cross‐fertilization of methods valorizing the triangulation approach: in‐depth informal interviews with different categories of personnel, participant and non‐participant observation, and documentary investigation.

Our results show that though the three companies investigated rank as training friendly organizations both in terms of the level of financial investments and training densities, these statistical regularities mask significant qualitative differences. The focus, goals, opportunities and outcomes of training policies at the three firms share few common attributes. The paper goes on to propose a typology identifying three types of training organisations: skill up‐dating, learning, and capability enhancing.

The paper demonstrates that product specificities and the technology associated with it matter less than the system of work organisation and the mode of management in determining the scope and content of training programmes as well as their outcomes in matters of professional development. Whereas researchers have invariably monopolized the term of learning organizations to designate service‐sector corporations, staffed by highly skilled workforces, operating at the core of the knowledge economy, our findings shows that even neo‐taylorist industrial firms can justifiably qualify to be learning organizations. Finally, the paper proposes a comprehensive analytical grid to facilitate further qualitative research in the field of vocational training.

Based on a background paper on the same subject, written on invitation by the World Bank, as a contribution to a general policy review on vocational and technical education and training. Draws primarily on the practical experience of the author and several of his colleagues in the International Training Service during the period 1961‐87 and on his personal consultancy activities since 1987 in a wide range of developing countries in addition to the UK. Pursues the following main themes: practical guidelines for developing enterprise training strategies and policies; the role and training of the enterprise trainer and the industry level training adviser; criteria for determining the location of training and the resources needed for it inside and outside the enterprise; financing training and measuring its results; and the special problems of training in the small enterprise. Focuses throughout on case examples and practical experience rather than on other people’s theories.

Suggests that structured on‐the‐job training, offered to operators in most divisions of the Dutch steel giant Hoogovens IJmuiden, has led to a more complete understanding of the chemical and mechanical processes involved, and a shorter induction period. Presents a case study of the way two groups of employees in the company are being trained for their jobs. Part of the training takes place on the job and part of it in an off‐the‐job course, and handbooks are found to play a major role in the actual training process. Documents were studied, and trainees, instructors, supervisors and training co‐ordinators were interviewed to find out if the training is effective on the shopfloor.

Reports that although the results of the World Bank’s programme of policy research on vocational and technical education and training are available in published form, the process through which these publications are developed is known only to those directly involved. Asserts that the process of policy research is as important as the product. Reviews the policy study programme and research conducted or sponsored by the World Bank and other international agencies. Reviews the literature and addresses key policy areas with recent information.