Premium
Do U.S. Firms Invest Less in Human Resources?: Training in the World Auto Industry
Author(s) -
MACDUFFIE JOHN PAUL,
KOCHAN THOMAS A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.1995.tb00366.x
Subject(s) - competitor analysis , assertion , training (meteorology) , sample (material) , business , human resources , industrial organization , production (economics) , marketing , key (lock) , economics , management , microeconomics , computer science , meteorology , chemistry , physics , computer security , chromatography , programming language
We investigate the common assertion that U.S. firms invest less in human resources than key international competitors, testing four alternative explanations for differences in training effort found in survey data from an international sample of fifty‐seven automobile assembly plants. We find the strongest support for the view that the level of training is derived from the requirements of the business/production strategy and the overall “bundle” of human resource policies—beyond training—adopted by the firm.