Technology and Human Resources in Their National Context
A Study of Strategic Contrasts
Published on 6. November 1995
Book
Hardback
255 pages
978-1-85972-180-3 (ISBN)
Description
This is an examination of technology and human resource strategies in two large companies, Robert Bosch GmBH and Lucas Industries PLC, in a period of dramatic change in their technological, competitive and political environments. It provides an in-depth study of these two companies between 1989 and 1992 and compares and contrasts the approaches taken by each. The focus is on how the companies managed change and on how their strategies to deal with that change were supported by the national infrastructure of education and training, industrial relations and finance. Its examination of two leading companies in the world automotive industry and its similarly detailed analysis of the German and British infrastructure provides some useful insights into the strategic management of new technology and work organization as well as contributing to existing Anglo-German comparisons of industrial structure.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
tables, figures, bibliography
Dimensions
Height: 157 mm
Width: 223 mm
Weight
450 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85972-180-3 (9781859721803)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Part 1 Introduction: change and individual companies; change and the industrial focus; change and the international focus; strategy and change; the aims and objectives; the structure of the book. Part 2 Technological continuity and change: the context of technological change; strategy and organizational learning - stability, control and change. Part 3 National advantage - some theory and evidence: the national environment - systems of technology transfer; education and training; industrial relations; the financial system. Part 4 Technology and human resources - a strategic overview: introduction - the aims of the chapter; strategy and competitiveness; technology strategy - the literature; human resource strategy; strategy and the car industry. Part 5 International comparisons of corporate and technological performance: introduction; international research; Anglo-German comparisons; choice of methodology; conclusion - testing the hypotheses. Part 6 The automotive components industry: continuity and change - competitive success in the automotive industry; strategic dependence in the components industry; the automotive components industry; the development of industrial practice; the post-Japanese model and the industrial environment faced by Lucas and Bosch; appraisal of the model; including human resource and technology strategies; conclusions - achieving the post-Japanese model. Part 7 Lucas Industries PLC and Robert Bosch GmBH: Robert Bosch GmBH; Lucas Industries PLC; the two companies within the components industry; strategy and the components industry in the eighties; Lucas and Bosch in their national context; institutional factors. Part 8 Bosch and Lucas at a plant level - the case of Feuerbach and Sudbury: Bosch - Feuerbach; Lucas Diesel Systems, Sudbury. Part 9 Lucas car braking systems: Lucas car braking systems; Lucas car braking systems - performance indicators; Lucas car braking systms - technology strategy; Lucas car braking systems - human resource strategy; the two plants - Koblenz and Pontypool; Lucas car braking systems, Koblenz; Lucas car braking systems, Pontypool; comparisons of the two plants. Part 10 Analysis of the questionnaire: examining the questionnaire; the sample; attitudes to change consultation procedures; attitudes to personal development and company training; conclusions - convergence, dispersion, location and extremes in the two distributions. Part 11 Conclusions: introduction - change and company strategy; main findings - testing of hypotheses; implications of the research findings; reflecting on the research - learning by doing!