Premium
Comparative institutional disadvantage: Small firms and vocational training in the British manufacturing sector in comparative perspective
Author(s) -
Benassi Chiara,
Durazzi Niccolo,
Fortwengel Johann
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/bjir.12643
Subject(s) - vocational education , apprenticeship , disadvantage , german , argument (complex analysis) , perspective (graphical) , incentive , comparative advantage , training (meteorology) , politics , distribution (mathematics) , industrial organization , business , marketing , public relations , labour economics , economics , political science , economic growth , market economy , international trade , law , philosophy , mathematics , artificial intelligence , history , mathematical analysis , linguistics , chemistry , archaeology , computer science , biochemistry , physics , meteorology
This article asks why British manufacturing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle to meet their intermediate technical skills needs. While the comparative political economy literature typically attributes the failure to train in Britain to collective action problems, we complement this perspective by pointing at the ill‐conceived policy design of the quasi‐market for vocational education and training. In particular, we shed light on the role of training providers, as they respond to the incentive structure of the quasi‐market, especially the output‐based nature of standards and the system of funding distribution. To strengthen our argument, we compare the British case with the Italian statist system, which enables SMEs to access technical skills through school‐based vocational education, and with the German collective system, in which SMEs develop skills through apprenticeships.